Thursday, September 22, 2005

Photos by Bridget A. Barrett / Special to The Detroit News The canine gang, from left, Maggie (Lab mix), Meesha (standard poodle), Rosie (Airedale) and Molly Rose (bichon frise, on table) beg for more chow before scarfing down their frosted canine confections.

More mutt loaf, please

Furry friends lap up healthy servings of pawsta salad, yappetizers and frozen dogsert

By Kate Lawson / Detroit News Food Writer

Shelly the sheltie gives a big smile when she thinks about biting into a homemade canine cookie. 10 tips on cooking for your dog 1. Check with your vet first. 2. Understand that dogs need a diet that consists of 40 percent meat, 30 percent vegetables and 30 percent starch. Follow this formula to ensure that your dog has a well-balanced diet. 3. Always cook meat before feeding it to your dog. 4. Organ meat (such as liver, kidneys, etc.) and eggs are good for your dog. 5. Try making a mixture of ground turkey, rice and carrots for your own dog food. Meals made of ground beef, brown rice, brewer's yeast and carrots are also popular. 6. Rotate the foods you feed your dog so that your pet gets a variety of foods. 7. Add garlic to your dog food. Dogs enjoy the flavor, and garlic is a natural flea repellent. 8. Use oatmeal, pasta, rice or potatoes for your dog's starch requirement. 9. Grind eggshells and add them to your dog's meal. They have a lot of nutrients. 10. Keep cooked dog food in the refrigerator no longer than three days. Washington Post Where to buy treats • Uppity Puppy, 706 S. Washington Ave. in Royal Oak, offers a wide array of treats that are natural, organic, vegetarian, vegan and wheat-free. Call (248) 336-2380. • The Leland Cherry Co. distributes Hip Bones, a dog treat made from cherries and other natural ingredients which can relieve inflammation caused by arthritis. A 1-pound bag contains about 40 bones and costs $8.95. Go to www.lelandcherry.com/ to order. • Foppers Cuddly Critters Pet Bakery offers a wide variety of treats made from 100 percent human-grade ingredients with no additives or preservatives. They're available at www.foppers.com, or call (765) 429-8844. Treats range from $4.80-$34 plus shipping • Whole wheat "bones" (90 cents each) are available at Great Harvest Bread Co. stores. Washington Post Canine recipes Canine Cookies Frosted Canine Confections Hound Dog Hash Pawsta Salad Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Like most 5-year-olds, Molly Rose Finkel loves apples, carrots and peanut butter. But truth be told, the fuzzy, white bichon frise will eat most anything she finds in her Bloomfield Township home.

Her owners, Beth Ezmerlian and Mary Finkel, adore their little girl but worry that she's turning into one round hound. They want her to live healthier and longer, so they keep a close eye on her diet and try to cut back on the "num-nums," which is Finkelspeak for doggie treats.

"She stayed with a neighbor while we were away on vacation, and they caught her up on their dining room table eating a stick of butter," Ezmerlian says. "What a little piggy she is."

Molly Rose's neighbor, Rosie, a 6-year-old Airedale, has more eclectic tastes. "So far, she's passed a pair of pantyhose, a $5 bill and a shoe liner -- Dr. Scholl's, I believe it was," says Rosie's owner, Heidi Hudson. "That's not to mention the other sundry items that never made it." She laughs now, but wasn't so amused when Rosie required surgery, not once but twice, for her eating habits.

So it was no surprise that when presented with some creative canine cuisine cooked at home, the two chow hounds did indeed happily chow down.

Cooking for your dogs at home is one of the best things you could "pawsibly" do for them, say Mark Beckloff and Dan Dye, founders of the Three Dog Bakery, the world's original bakery for dogs which originated in Kansas City in 1989 and authors of the "Cooking the Three Dog Bakery Way (Broadway Books, $14). That's because whether mutt or pedigree, dogs require balanced, complete nutrition to maintain good health.

According to veterinarian Richard Pitcairn, author of "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" (Rodale Press, $17.95), the dog-food industry routinely tries to offer products that use inexpensive raw materials, including intestines, heads, feet, feathers, bones and beaks. Some products even contain dangerous slaughterhouse waste, toxic additives, pesticides, drug residues and artificial preservatives.

OK, would you eat that? Heck no, this isn't food you'd give to a dog. Plus, these meals are hard to digest and fail to provide adequate nutrition. Ingredients such as corn also can be risky, since dogs often have difficulty digesting it because of their short intestines.

The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the dog chow. Last weekend, Molly Rose invited a few of her personable pedigreed friends to join her tableside to see just how appealing some nutritional, wholesome, human-quality meals can be.

On the delectable menu was Pawsta Salad featuring pasta, carrots and green beans tossed with a light dressing, a dish you could easily serve to your human friends; Hound Dog Hash, a concoction of rice, chicken and vegetables created for dogs that need a bland diet; some healthy wheat germ biscuits as "yappetizers" and a frosted frozen "dogsert" consisting of yogurt, peanut butter and bananas.

The four-course menu was given four paws up by discriminating doggie diners including sheltie Shelly Millar, 5; cocker spaniel Libby Polodori, 4; standard poodle Meesha Wojtczak, 6, and her sister, lab mix Maggie, 1 1/2 , who joined Molly Rose and Rosie tableside for a bow-wow banquet. And the great thing was Rosie didn't try to eat the napkin.

None of the well-deserving dogs' owners said they had ever created "from-scratch" meals for their otherwise pampered pets, save for Ezmerlian, who keeps a supply of frozen treats on hand for Molly Rose.

Linda Millar, Shelly's owner, says she's concerned about Shelly's weight gain, and Joellin Wojtczak says she serves Meesha a specially-formulated diet she gets from her vet. But after watching the happy hounds devour the creative kibble chock-full of fiber, vitamins and minerals, it's clear the four-legged member of the family loves food that's surprisingly similar to what the rest of the family eats.

Dogs are considered man's best friend for a reason. They keep us company and warm at night. They protect us from strangers and ward off dangers and do it unselfishly and unconditionally. Wouldn't it be nice to return the love? Cooking snacks and occasional meals is one way to cater to that special canine, and homemade treats are surprisingly easy to make.

Instead of dumping out a dish of highly processed dog food for your pooch, you, too, can provide your pet with meals and treats made from wholesome, high-quality ingredients.

That doesn't mean you have to prepare pheasant under glass or beef Wellington every night of the week. And granted, preparing a heaping pot of Hound Hash is more time consuming than opening a can of commercial chow, but there are plenty of benefits that you and your darling dog will reap in the long run. For him, good health, for you, fewer vet bills.

So the next time you head to the kitchen to make meat loaf for the family, consider a mutt loaf for Fido. He might be so happy he'll leave your pantyhose alone.

You can reach Kate Lawson at (313) 222-6026 or klawson@detnews .com.