Today's featured cookbook isn't one that you would want to cook out of for yourself. However, I know that there are many of you out there who are interested in making sure that your pets have healthy meals and so I thought it might be fun to turn our attention to a book that can help you out with that goal. If you've been thinking about changing up the foods that you feed your pets, but are uncertain where to start, The Ultimate Pet Food Guideby Liz Palinka will be incredibly helpful in giving you a hand in determining how to best nourish your furry family members.
The book is filled with helpful information about what is good and bad to feed your pets, ways to supplement their diets so they get all the nutrition they need and more than 50 recipes for easy home-cooked food that your pets will love (I realize that cooking for dogs and cats isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure that there are some of you out there who share at least parts of your dinner with your pets many nights). The other useful thing in this book is that it will give you an insight into how food effects your pet's behavior. There is the possibility that if you have a misbehaving animal, their diet might have something to do with it.
For the folks at The Honest Kitchen, quality control means tasting your own product - even though it's marketed for the four-legged crowd.
The company's employees attend weekly meetings - often with their dogs poised by their sides - where both humans and animals carefully taste both individual dehydrated bits of the organic dog and cat food mixture, as well as the final product, to make sure the pets are getting nothing but the best.
The company got the OK from the FDA to use the term "Human grade pet food" on all of its labels. According to a rep from the company, the food is "probably a little bland by most human standards," but compared to what they imagine ordinary pet food to taste like, "really quite delicious!" (That answers the next obvious question: do the testers taste their competitors' food, too?)
Even the packaging is appealing and atypical for animal food - multicolored boxes with enticing names like "verve," "force," and "embark" that aren't a far reach from the packaged granola available for humans. They also make treats and supplements.
I'll admit, it sounds a bit odd at first, but after the recent horrific incidents of dogs becoming ill from tainted dog food, it's nice that a company takes this much care in producing a quality, safe product for their best buds.
With a face like that, could you really deprive your baby of the refreshment that comes from frozen yogurt?
Of course not.
Yoghund is a line of organic frozen yogurt for dogs, with no additives, chemicals, or fillers. I wasn't even aware that yogurt was good for dogs, but i suppose if people can benefit from live cultures, dog can too. The yogurts are made with organic bananas, organic peanuts, and pure spring water. It is not clear whether there are different "flavors," though it seems that it's only one. Whether you can share in this treat with your dog is up to you (I can't imagine that it would be bad for people to eat Yoghund.)
A pack of four cups is $5.99, available from the website.
I'm not quite sure what to make of Alice Wang's set of two wine glasses. In the box, they look a little strange because one of them looks like it was taken out of the fire a little too soon. It's tilted! But it's tilted for a reason - so Fido can sip his wine, too.
Granted, I am not sure it's actually safe for a dog to drink wine, but the idea of the Pet Plus Wine Glasses is cute for a pet-parent and his or her pup to share in a drink together, lounging out on the veranda. Just pour yourself the Pinot, and fill his glass with water.
Kool Dog Kafe, which specializes in gourmet dog treats, has an incredible selection of canine-friendly cookies to get your pet for the holidays. And if you're an animal lover, you know that you like to give your favorite pet a little something special when everyone else in the family is getting their own gifts. From Hanukkah puppies (wearing little blue yarmulkes) and blue and white dreidels, to personalized red, green and white Christmas stockings, there are a lot of options to choose from. There is a complete holiday dinner, which includes 2 drumsticks, 1 baked potato, 2 crescent rolls, 2 doggie bones, 1 veggie leaf, and 3 cranberry churro bite cookies, if you want something more substantial, and even a set of snowflakes, for nondenominational dogs. The healthy cookies taste as good as they look and have a shelf life of 6-8 weeks. Dogs probably don't get the concept of these gift giving holidays, but they're going to be grateful to receive these cookies all the same.
I'm sure you've heard that chocolate is bad for dogs, but did you know that macadamia nuts are poisonous to dogs? Now that the holidays are starting we tend to have more nuts around to nibble on. If you have dogs in your house you may want to make sure that they don't help themselves to your prized macadamias. When dogs eat them they can get a toxic reaction called macadamia nut toxicosis. Within twelve hours of eating the nuts they start to develop symptoms such as an inability to stand, ataxia (walking wobbly), depression, vomiting, muscle tremors, hyperthermia (elevated body temperature), weakness, and an elevated heart rate.
Usually the symptoms go away within 48 hours but the weakness, vomiting, and fear can lead to dangerous, and sometimes deadly, shock. These symptoms can be even worse if your dog also eats some chocolate with the nuts. Then the effect of both combined is much worse and kidney failure can set in. So enjoy your nuts, but make sure that Lady and the Tramp get their doggy treats instead. Or a nice big bowl of spaghetti to share.
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor.
Unless you have a big dog with quick reflexes, it's more likely that your pup or your cat will snag a bite or two of food than a whole meal. And just about everyone who has owned an animal has caught them red-pawed at one time or another. Now, that's not my kitten in the picture and I probably would have shooed him away before thinking to snap a photo, but that is an extremely cute shot that brings up the question of what "people foods" do your pets tend to go for when they have the chance?
Personally, I've had a cat that would go for macaroni and cheese if I wasn't looking and neighbor whose dog would watch for unguarded egg dishes (making brunch a tricky meal to enjoy).
I'll be keeping a closer eye out the next time I make waffles, just in case.
It's common knowledge that dogs will, er, dog just about anything. I've never had a dog and I am by no means a "dog person," but I hear that they're known to feast indiscriminately upon table scraps.
In my limited exposure to dogs, I've known canines with particular affections for people food. I once lived with a woman whose boxer had such an appetite for bread from Italian restaurants that we would always save her a doggie bag from the bread basket. I liked to refer to her as "pure-bread."
And I've had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Steingarten's golden retriever, Sky King, who is reported to have a discriminating palate when it comes to all things barbecue.
But I've never even conceived of canines craving vegetables until a friend sent me this snap of a dog chowing down on cukes at his master's farm in Japan. In case you're wondering, it's not a case of the dog chasing after green bones, he really does enjoy cucumbers. Does anyone else know of dogs that dig farm-fresh produce?
I know this isn't a landscaping blog, but chocolate is chocolate, and according to the ASPCA, mulch made from cocoa bean shells is both tempting and dangerous for dogs. Like chocolate, hulls used for the mulch contain theobromine which has all sorts of nasty effects-vomiting, elevated heart rate and death-on dogs. What's more, the stuff apparently smells good, which is why landscapers, gardeners and some dogs like it. Cocoa mulch, which sounds more apt for the breakfast table, is actually one most concentrated forms of theobromine available to consumers, according to recent Kansas City Star article. I'm not sure how this news will be taken by gardeners looking to keep their neighbors' dogs out of their rose gardens.
Perhaps with an eye towards ballpark munchies and the upcoming grilling season, someone asked Yahoo! how hot dogs got their name. They directed the questioner over to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council which has come up with a (semi) definitive answer, since no one really seems to know the exact origin. One thing is clear: it's an American name, even if the sausages themselves were German.
Apparently, the name originated in the 1800s, when a large number of German immigrants began to move to the US. With them, they brought lots of sausages, but they also brought long, thin, dachshund dogs. The similarity in shape between the two is what probably prompted someone to dub the sausages "hot dogs" and the name stuck. No one person can be attributed to this, but the name was so popular that for many years, when someone said they wanted a "dog," they were inevitably referring to the frankfurter and not to a puppy.
Esquire's Chuck Klosterman has gone to a lot of bars, and he lays down the rules on the five things that every bar should make sure they don't have.
Natural light
Patrons who are reading
Loud music
Dogs
22 year-old female bartenders who "just wanna party"
I'm completely with him when it comes to the loud music. I don't go to a bar to listen to music, I go to a bar to drink and have conversations (side note: and could some bars realize that not all of us want to watch sports on TV? You have 15 televisions, could you turn one or two of them to the news or something?). But I think it's OK for bars to be well-lit, and any 22 year-old females I meet that want to "party," well, I'm open to that.
Wondering what became of the proposed bill that would
make it legal for people to bring their dogs to Florida restaurants? Well, on Monday the bill passed the Senate
Regulated Industries Committee, according to the Associated
Press. After that, it still has two more committees to pass before it hits the Senate floor for debate.
For those unfamiliar, the bill would give restaurants with outdoor seating the option to allow patrons to bring
their dogs. Currently, this is a health code violation in Florida. Participating restaurants would be required to have
$1 million of liability insurance to cover dog-related incidents like biting. Now, I'm a dog lover and I've always had
dogs as pets, but I just don't understand why people feel the need to bring their dogs out to meals with them.
As consumers become more discerning in their tastes, particularly with regard to food, they are just as likely
to get a craving for foie gras with dinner as they are to want spaghetti and meatballs. And people
are projecting their tastes onto their pets - because if they want the foie gras, why shouldn't their beloved
dog have some, too? People button some dogs into tiny clothes and carry them around as though they were children. The Wall Street Journal points out that the humanization of pets is what is driving the upswing
in the number of gourmet and premium pet foods that are hitting the market.
New lines of pet foods include gourmet, pre-prepared "stews" and pet condiments, like IAMS
Savory Sauce, which comes in flavors like Roasted Turkey and Pot Roast. These products are marketed as ways to spoil
your pet, though the companies are undoubtedly hoping that they will be used daily, or at all meal times. The people who
tested the food for the company reported that they were "like people food... It's what [they] would give their own
[families]." People don't like the idea of feeding seemingly unappetizing food to their pets, but love it when the
products sound like things they would want to eat. And, of course, the pets love it. Unfortunately, the trend is also
driving up the number of obese pets.
Pet food companies assure consumers that the new foods can be healthy, but vets say that not only are most house
pets not active enough to warrant extra calories, but that they have no significant nutritional benefit over ordinary
dog foods. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, obesity affects 25-45 percent of pets.
As appetizing as roadkill ordinarily is, I still don't think that I would eat it.
Ever. Surely the 5 second rule
will have long since ceased to apply to the "food" unless you were the one who hit it with your car, which is
not really the most humane way to procure food. There are some people who have a substantially different view, though,
and Arthur Boyt is one of them.
Mr. Boyt eats
roadkill. Frequently. In fact, the only time he doesn't eat roadkill is on the occasions when he dines out. He
started eating it 50 years ago, collecting it near his home in Cornwall, England, as a way to save money. Now 66
years old, he hopes to publish a roadkill cook book that contains all of his favorite recipes for meats such as badger,
hedgehog, rabbit and rat. He has eaten hunting dogs (lurchers), cats, squirrels, foxes, mice, deer and pigeons. A
Labrador he once found tasted "just like a nice piece of lamb," though he finds cats to be "a bit
bland." His favorite food is a badger sandwich made primarily with head meat.
Today's featured cookbook isn't one that you would want to cook out of for yourself. However, I know that there are many of you out there who are interested in making sure that your pets have healthy meals and so I thought it might be fun to turn our attention to a book that can help you out with that goal. If you've been thinking about changing up the foods that you feed your pets, but are uncertain where to start, The Ultimate Pet Food Guide by Liz Palinka will be incredibly helpful in giving you a hand in determining how to best nourish your furry family members. 
Summer is for grilling: 
I'm sure you've heard that 
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor. 
It's common knowledge that dogs will, er, dog just about anything. I've never had a dog and I am by no means a "dog person," but I hear that they're known to feast indiscriminately upon table scraps.
I know this isn't a landscaping blog, but chocolate is chocolate, and according to the 
Perhaps with an eye towards ballpark munchies and the upcoming grilling season, someone 
Wondering what became of the 
As consumers become more discerning in their tastes, particularly with regard to food, they are just as likely
to get a craving for foie gras with dinner as they are to want spaghetti and meatballs. And people
are projecting their tastes onto their pets - because if they want the foie gras, why shouldn't their beloved
dog have some, too? People button some dogs into tiny clothes and carry them around as though they were children. The 
As appetizing as roadkill ordinarily is, I still don't think that I would eat it.
Ever. Surely the 
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
