Gourmet dog biscuits are a hot seller in specialty bakeries and on the Internet, but nothing beats the taste and goodness of dog cookies you can make at home.

Biscuits are easy to make; even kids can do it (younger ones with a little adult help). Biscuit making is a great community service project for groups such as Scouts or Girl Guides. Animal shelters welcome wholesome, homemade goodies and what a good opportunity to teach young people about responsible pet ownership!

These cookies make great gifts at holiday times or even hostess gifts for dog-owning families. Some of our daughters' teachers have dogs and love getting bags of these cookies. Following the recipe are suggestions for packaging the cookies and some silly rhymes to put with them when you give them as gifts for holidays year-round.

Enjoy, and fire up that oven!

DOG COOKIE RECIPE

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegatable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup rolled oats

2. In another bowl, combine flour and oats.

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Stir until mixture forms a stiff dough. (And it IS stiff.) Kids can mix this by hand -- nice and yucky!

4. Roll out or pat the dough between two waxed paper sheets to about 1/4 inch thickness. Do not make it any thinner. Take off the top sheet of waxed paper, and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.

5. Put the cut outs on a lightly greased metal baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. (**Note: the original recipe called for just 10 minutes but we found it takes at least a half hour for them to get crunchy but best to check at 10 minute intervals so they don't burn. The crunchier, the better for my guys.)

Keep the cookies in plastic tubs or in jars; there is no need to refrigerate them unless you've loaded them up with cheese in some sort of gourmet frenzy!

Holiday Gift Giving Suggestions from Cass
For Christmas: Use a Santa's Boot-shaped cookie cutter; package the biscuits in one of those inexpensive little Christmas-printed cellophane bags (commonly available in discount stores) and attach a boot-shaped card with the following saying

Dogs often hear, when innocently seeking a good chew,
"Don't chew my slippers! No! No! Pup! Come back! Now drop that shoe!!"
So here's a bag of Santa Boots for dogs who live with you
Now, finally! At Christmas time, some footwear they CAN chew!"

For New Year's Eve: Star-shaped cookies are nice packaged in shiny foil or even in a disposable plastic champagne saucer wrapped in clear plastic and tied with silver curling ribbon. (That's whatwe're doing, but ssshhhhh.... don't tell our doggy friends!) And the rhyme:

For Auld Lang Syne your loyal friends should celebrate with you,
And help you ring the New Year in and bid the Old "adieu."
They cannot share the bubbly, but here is something fine
For that best of party animals.... your own Y-2-Canine!

Valentine's Day: Who has more love for us than our dogs? Heart-shapes (of course) for the cookies! The rhyme:

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Cookie hearts tell your dog, "Friend, I love you!"
The chocolates from your heart-shaped box are so bad
For your dog -- give him cookies, and make his heart glad.

Easter: Bunnies and eggs of course! I prefer the bunny shaped cutters as egg-shaped cookies often turn out looking like oddly shaped frisbees. The rhyme:

Chocolate bunnies are so tempting, jelly beans just smell so good!
Why that Easter Basket overflows with dog-forbidden food.
Poor, poor doggies while they watch you eat long chocolate bunny ears,
You can share with them these cookies and there'll be no doggy tears.

Halloween: Bags of candy & spooky wee ones at the door -- not an easy time of year for our dogs. It's weird and wonderful for them, so reward them for their good behavior with cookies shaped like pumpkins or ghosts or bats -- there are lots of cute Halloween-themed cookie cutters. Add some grated carrot to the cookie mix for flecks of orange. It's easy to find little Halloween "goody" bags for packaging them. Every year I plan to make and give these out to trick-or-treaters who have dogs -- but every year I run out of time. Maybe you can try it and report back how it goes! The rhyme:

There's something coming up the path! It's wearing a white sheet,
Or it's masked, or wearing witch garb, and your dog's supposed to greet
These spooky beggars in their costumes, yet maintain his "savoir faire."
Thank him for his friendly outlook, let these cookies show you care."

You can come up with other ways and times to bake these treats and reward your dog with homemade goodies. Special occasions like:

I went outside and didn't pee on my belly!
I saw the cat box and didn't steal the Tootsie Rolls in it!
There was dirty underwear in your room and I didn't bring it out to show the guests!
Or, most important of all ....
I love you!

Cass Liberman© And the Liberman Cavaliers....
Chadwick Ailsa Craig, CGC, (5+ years old)
Lily "the Stinker," CGC, (almost 5, our Rescue girl)
and Kilbrook Dion "di Poochy," (8 months old and pure fun!)

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