Friends have teased me for years.  Do I care?  Not one bit. 

So…I cook for my dogs.  When I prepare a delicious meal for friends they are all appreciative, and if dogs are man’s best friends why wouldn’t I make a similar effort for Cisco (my Golden/Husky mix) and Buddha (my Chow).  Most dog owners, when asked, refer to their pets as beloved family members. “Would you feed your family a steady diet of packaged cereal?”

Whose idea was kibble anyway?  Kibble does not exist in nature.  The list of ingredients on a can of Alpo or a bag of Science Diet is a mile long and really scary.  I prefer to keep things simple. I’m certain there is not a dog lover to be found who wasn’t alarmed by the recent recall of at least sixty brands of pet food that contained a deadly plastic called melamine.  Just a few days ago public health officials in California recalled a type of Pedigree pet food because of possible salmonella contamination.  I was outraged and saddened by the loss of dogs and cats that consumed these processed foods, but I wasn’t worried about Cisco and Buddha.  I’ve always known exactly what they are being fed.

Beyond the safety factor, the benefits of cooking for your dogs are numerous.  My dogs have never had fleas since I add a little garlic powder to their meals.  They rarely require visits to the vet, since they have never been sick.  They are both considered seniors now (Cisco just turned 10 and Buddha is 9 ½) and they still look so good they stop traffic.  Lately I’ve even converted some of the same friends who have made fun of me in the past.  I’ll admit that cooking for your dogs requires more time than pouring out a portion of kibble or opening a can, but in the long run, you make up for it with healthier, happier dogs. 

HAPPY DOG MEAL

1 whole chicken, including giblets (preferably the same chicken you would buy for yourself, since you can use the chicken broth later for pilaf, risotto or soup)   
¼ tsp. garlic powder
a little sea salt
2 quarts water

Put chicken into a stockpot, pour in water, add garlic powder and salt and boil, covered, for 45 min. – 1 hour.

4 cups water
1 1/2 cups rice (Cisco is partial to jasmine rice.  I’ll admit I am too, so when there’s nothing else to eat at home, I can always eat the doggie’s rice)
½ cup millet
2 whole carrots, scrubbed and sliced
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen cut green beans
1 tbsp. butter

Place all ingredients into saucepan and bring water to a boil.  Lower the flame to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Toss when done and Bone Appetit.

Now how difficult is that? I check on specials in the papers and buy my chickens when they are on sale, storing the extras in the freezer until needed.

One whole chicken feeds Buddha and Cisco for about 4 days.  You can adjust the amount depending on the size of your dog.  The rice/millet mixture lasts about the same amount of time, thus I am only cooking every few days.  A word about millet.  Millet is an excellent, underused grain that contains no gluten, thus excellent for allergy-prone animals and people.

Cisco and Buddha’s chicken, rice and veggie dinner is supplemented with some natural dog biscuits and freeze-dried lamb lung (Baa Baa Q’s) recommended by our vet for their high-protein, low-fat content.  It sounds a bit disgusting, but the dogs love them and they contain only one ingredient.  They’re a bit like those rice cakes that used to be so popular, only brown and slightly smelly.

By now there are plenty of dog lovers who cook for their dogs and several cookbooks designed with those people in mind.  As I stated before, I prefer to keep things simple.  I won’t be putting out a doggie cookbook anytime soon.   

Author of the culinary memoir, Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey

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