Bender does tricks for treats

When we give Bender a treat, we have the same routine. Sit, Down, Over. Sometimes he gets too excited and spins instead.

Hide n Go Seek

The husfriend and I recently picked up a box of Kirkland brand bones from Costco (made in the USA!). The dogs love them. We used to buy them for Bender and he would hide them all over the house.

He seems to remember his old ways and has taken to hiding them in couch cushions, under pillows on the bed, in the wires under hisfriend's computer desk and last night in my pile of clothes waiting to be washed.

I was getting ready for bed and couldn't figure out why Bender was so reluctant to join me on the bed. He's usually the first one in bed ready to claim his spot. I shrugged it off and went to bed without him.

"I'm not doing nothin." *innocent face*

"See Ma, I'm just seepin!"

Today I stayed home with a stomach bug, but figured I'd better not waste the day, so I decided to start some laundry. Bender became very protective of my clothes when I went to wash them. I figured there was a treat hidden somewhere in them, and sure enough I found a bone. After I found it he had to sulk and eat it.

"You don't see nothin Ma!"

*sulk*"But I hides it soo good."

He's still not happy that I destroyed his hiding place.

What about your dogs? Bones isn't one to hide a treat. If he sees it, it's nom time. Bender hides treats half the time and eats them right away the other half (probably so Bones won't get them.) What about your dog? Are there any other treat hiders out there in blog land? Where is your dog's favorite treat hiding place?

Treats!

I'm sill working on Peabody Snarflenubbins and Co. I swear! I really am! If you don't understand what that sentence means (for my newer readers) look here for background info and here for links to reviews from my wonderful taste testers!

I'm hoping by next week to really have the shop up and running. I'm even going to give my readers a discount for being so patient. Summer just went by so quickly and schools already been in for a month! I'm trying to get into the swing of writing lesson plans and grading papers, and working two jobs, and having a home life. I'm hoping by next week I can have a schedule worked out with Wednesday being my designated baking night.

ANYWAY! I made some Barkin' Banana Biscotti yesterday so I could finally send them to my paws it forward people. (These were a Gibson Favorite! If you haven't seen the video, you should watch it!) I am SO sorry that it's taken so long!

I modified the recipe and included peanut butter and instead of long rods I made them into big bones.

I made all three sizes, and the little ones I turned into peanut butter sandwiches!

I decided to make them a little differently because I picked up this three pack of dog bone cookie cutters from PetSmart. They were $7.99 - a little more than I'd like to have spent, but I suppose the Martha Stewart brand is pricey, and I'm a sucker for Martha! The web page even offers some recipes! I think I'll have to try those out as well!

They got the Bender and Bones seal of approval so I hope Dexter and Bronwyn, Dylan, and Rhiannon enjoy them!

Lazer beam boys want noms!

Bones wasting no time. Gone in 3 bites!

Bender pushing me away. "No photos ma! I'm busy with the noms!"

Paws it Forward

Bender and I received a great package from Kelly and Gibson over at Corgi Butts for Paws it Forward.

We got the box last Tuesday but it was the first day of school and I've been too busy to post until now!

"Is that for ME!? I LOVE presents!"

Bender was jazzed up as soon as he saw the box. I let him help unpack his presents. He went straight for the tissue paper and took off into the living room with it.

"Ohmigosh! PAPER! How did they know!? I love to shred paper! This is the best present EVAR!"

I had to corner him, take it away and explain that the tissue wasn't part of his present. I don't think he cared, he just wanted the paper.

"Grrr. Bark. Grrr. (tearing noises) This is AWESOME!"

We got the box unpacked and got to see all his great presents!

Bender's Loot

Bender got a Kong Wubba, a bully stick, a sausage stick, some amazing smelling pumpkin treats, and some fruitables. And I got a Corgi Butts "I Kiss My Corgi on the Lips" magnet! I LOVE it!

"The Kong is mine. Corgi's don't share!"

Bender isn't too excited about the fact that I'm making him share the treats with Bones. He's been guarding the Kong with his life as well.

Thank you so much Kelly and Gibson! We love our presents!

Now for my readers! (The few of you that haven't participated yet :) ) Do you want in on the fun? Do you want to receive a package of your own for your dog and then 'Paws it Forward' to someone else?? Be one of the first 2 commenters and leave me your email address/blog to contact you and you're in!! :)

Happy Adoption Day Bender!

In our house we don't celebrate dog birthdays. Not that I wouldn't love to, it's just that we don't know when either of the dogs were born.

Instead we celebrate Happy "We decided to dog-sit you and you never left" Day for Bender, and for Bones we celebrate Happy "I found you sitting in the street and you jumped into my car" Day.

We're all for non-traditional holidays here.

2 years ago on August 14 we brought Bender home so we could dog-sit him. The owner didn't want him back and I was already in love with him. So it came to be that I found the Corgi love of my life.

To celebrate I made him the doggie cake that Bri made Sammy over at The Adventures of Sammy. She was right, Carob powder was pretty hard to find. I had to go to 4 different stores and I finally found it in the all-natural bulk section at Fred Meyer.

Getting fancy with the frosting.

I thought the slices looked a little big, so they got to share one slice.

The cake was a huge hit. Both dogs sat with me in the kitchen while I cooked. When I began frosting the cake they began drooling. When they actually got to eat it - it didn't last more than 20 seconds. I'm not sure they really even tasted it.

Nom nom nom! I love my Happy "Bender's Day" Cake!

MMM Frosting!

Bones gets some noms too!

Peabody Snarflenubbins & Co.

This is a post for my taste testers, Gibson, Butterball, Koda, and Stanley. Your treats were shipped today! Expect them within 2-3 days (I'd say Tuesday due to the holiday weekend.)

They should stay fresh, you'll have to let me know. (It's all new to me!)

The treats you'll receive are in the only packaging I could find in my small town. Yup, dollar store brown paper bags. I'm looking into ordering tin tie bags with windows so you can see the treats and they'll stay nice and fresh.

Also, you have the quickest label C could whip up for me. The final label will look like this:

I'm shopping the labels around to printers to find out how much it will cost to print them up. I'm also having C make ingredient labels. (If you want to know what went into your treats, shoot me an email!)

The finished product after 2 days of baking.

Bender, my taste tester. "But I wants 'em ALL ma!"

You should be receiving a mix of Oatmeal Crunchies, Peanut Butter Bones, Beef 'n Barley Bones, Bark'n Banana Biscotti, Snickerpoodles, Apple Snackums, and Apple and Sweet Potato Snackums. (I sent enough so that if you like them you can share with your friends, although I know how difficult that can be fore little corgis!)

Also, unfortunately one of you won't get the Apple and Sweet Potato Snackums. I made the boxes up in our local Target parking lot while sitting in my front seat, and after I sealed all the boxes I discovered the lone bag of treats. I didn't want to rip open all the boxes, I'm sorry!

If you get the treats and decide you like them and you wish to donate $ to help start the ETSY shop (printing labels, buying bags, buying groceries to make treats, etc...) you can send $ via paypal! rachel.trembley@gmail.com - any donation is appreciated.

Also, if you like them - spread the word! The more people that know the better!

Call for Taste Testers!

About a month ago I mentioned that I had wanted to start a homemade dog treat shop on Etsy. Well I've finally (and very slowly) started getting to work on Peabody Snarflenubbins & Co. (name still a work in progress. )

Today I started making treats, I'll finish up tomorrow after I've gone grocery shopping. What I need are four legged friends to taste test!

The treats available for testing will be some mixture of peanut butter bones, oatmeal crunchies, banana biscotti, beef barley bones, snickerpoodles, and apple/sweet potato biscuits.

If you think your four legged friends would find any of those yummy shoot me an email at rachel.trembley@gmail.com. Please include your name (and dog's name!) and your address. (Also include if your dog has food allergies that way I can avoid sending anything that would upset their tummies!) I'm hoping to ship them out by Friday afternoon.

All I ask in return is that you send feedback either as a blog post or a comment on what your four legged friends (and you) thought. I'd appreciate honesty!

Peabody Snarflenubbins & Co.

I've begun to realize a few things the past couple of days.

As I reach the end of my first year of teaching, I've begun to realize how much I truly enjoy teaching. I know I've chosen the right career and I couldn't be happier. Also, I've begun to realize no matter how stressful my job can be, no matter how frustrated I am when I arrive home after a hard day, Bender is there to calm me.

So I've decided that in my time off this summer, aside from working on lesson plans and professional development, I'm going to start an ETSY shop for dog treats. I've already posted two recipes on here and I have a folder full of many others. I think that people might enjoy spoiling their furry friends with homemade treats. I know I do.

We've been kicking around names and trying to think of logos for our shop. C whipped up the logo for me yesterday using illustrator (pretty good for his first try!) Right now, this is what we have:

Bender's full name is "Duke" Bender Peabody Snarflenubbins. The Co. refers to Bones, the other loyal taste tester, as well as myself - the human making the food, but of course the Duke runs the show. I like the monocle.

Do you like the name? Do you have other suggestions? Possibly a subtitle? Other logo ideas? (Remember this is a work in progress!) We'll here's your chance to be heard!

Bender's Adventure Dog Blog Contest

Step 1. Submit Other names. We'd like it to involve Bender's name somehow. ("Duke" Bender Peabody Snarflenubbins).

Step 2. I'll post a poll of all the names. Vote on your favorite name!

Step 3. The winner will be posted on the blog and receive a free sample from Bender's ETSY treat shop as a thank you!

Get those creative juices flowing!

Easter: By Bender

My mommy hasn't had time to update lately.

Last Saturday was her 25th birthday, she spent it curled up on the couch with me and Bones. She said it was perfect. Daddy made her a cake that looks like the one Hagrid makes Harry in the first Harry Potter movie. She loved it, she even shared a little piece with me and Bones! She's a real nice mommy!

This week mom had something called "parent teacher conferences". I don't know what that means, maybe mom has to teach parents too? All I know is that she gets home really late and I don't like it.

Today is something called Easter. I don't know what that means but mom said that some big bunny came and brought me and Bones presents and treats. I don't know what a bunny is but I like him if he brings me stuff!

Check out my loot! Yes MY loot. It's all mine, Bones only gets some because mommy makes me share.

Nature's Recipe Teeth & Breath Lamb Meal & Rice Treats are nommy! They don't have any beef, corn or wheat. These ones are supposed to be good for my breath which mommy says I need.

Mom says the boomerang should be good in helping me learn how to fetch. I got to play with it today and I love it, but mom took it away and said it's an outside only toy.

I got a whole bunch of new Toyshoppe toys! See how excited I am? Mom likes them because it takes me forever to destroy them. I got a squeaky giraffe and hedgehog, and two different bones one of them you can put treats in!

I am not so excited in this photo because mom told me I had to share.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the big bunny brought you good stuff too!

Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups

Bender promised I would share another treat recipe. This is more time consuming than the last recipe I posted in my Sunday=Baking post, but the dogs seem to enjoy the finished product just as much. I got this recipe from Jen over at All-Natural-Dog-Treat. She made treats for her dog Baggins, who sadly passed about a month ago.

Recipe for Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups (modified from Jen's website)

*Note this recipe does take time to complete. You must have time to freeze finished dough!

For the Filling

1/2 c - Oatmeal, powdered (crush it up in the food processor)

2 tbsp - honey

1 tbsp - peanut butter (chunky or creamy is fine, just make sure it's organic!)

2 tbsp - Flax seeds, optional

1 egg white

For the Filling:
Use food processor to turn the oats into powder. Basically you’re making oat flour for the filling. Sift, then measure out ¼ c. of the most finely powdered oats.

Dump this back in the food processor and add peanut butter, honey and egg white. Blend until thoroughly mixed. Add flax seeds then pulse a couple of times to mix but keep mostly whole (mix by hand if you prefer, I'm just lazy).

Scrape out as much as possible into small bowl and set aside. Don't bother to clean out the food processor, you'll be using most of the same ingredients in the next step anyway.

Dough Ingredients:

1.5 c - whole wheat flour

1/2 c - all purpose flour

1/2 c - dry oatmeal

1/2 c - applesauce (puree a small apple as a substitute)

1/4 c - milk

1/4 c - peanut butter

2 tbsp - honey

1 egg + 1 yolk (XL)

For the Dough: Dump applesauce, milk, egg yolk, peanut butter, honey, and oats in food processor and pulse a few times.

Ingredients should be well combined, the oats looking about a quarter of their usual size. Scrape this out into the larger (1.5qt) bowl then add all purpose and whole wheat flour. Mix thoroughly to form a stiff dough. If dough is too dry to stick together, add 1tbsp of water at a time (do not exceed 4tbsp) until moist enough to stick. Knead for about 5 minutes then let dough rest for 10 minutes.

*Note:* Jen prefers to chop up a small apple rather than using applesauce. This leaving small chunks to give the dough more texture. I would have to agree with her.

To Make the Roll Ups:
Roll out dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper, 1/4" to 1/2" thick, forming a rectangular shape about 8" wide, length will vary depending on thickness. Slightly taper both long ends. Now, get out the filling and evenly coat the whole top of the dough, avoiding the flattened edges. (I added a little extra honey and peanut butter for good measure!)

CAREFULLY roll up the dough tightly enough to trap the filling inside (don't let it squeeze out the ends) starting from one flattened edge to the other. (If the end won't stay put, moisten the tapered edge a bit so it will stick.) Once rolled up, wrap the wax or parchment paper around the tube then put it in a plastic bag or wrap it with plastic wrap, and put it in the freezer until firm enough to cut easily (usually 2-3 hours).

Even It Out

If your roll is uneven, you can even it out after chilling by rolling it with your hands against a flat surface.

You can also reduce the thickness in the same way, though I'd do this after chilling one hour then return the roll to the freezer. Using a slight sawing motion, cut slices 1/4" to 1/2" thick.

Baking

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees (325 degrees if using dark cookie sheet), top rack for 30-45 minutes or until tops are slightly golden and bottoms are lightly browned. If you like, turn them for the last 10 minutes baking time so that the filling on the top browns and makes the swirl pattern more obvious. Let cool and then you can feed a healthy,delicious and PRETTY snack to your canine companion. Makes about 28 cookies, 2" wide, 1/2" thickness. (Rachel Note - again, with fresh treats I refrigerate them since they don't have preservatives.)

*Note:* But, they don't have to be roll-ups.

You could also roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness, cut into equal halves, coat the top of one half with the filling, top with second half of dough then cut into squares or strips. That would make more of a peanut butter dog treat sandwich.

Sunday = Baking

Usually on Sundays I find myself writing lesson plans, grading papers, catching up on homework for my class, etc., but on the rare occasion that I am caught up on my work, I like to bake on Sunday.

Today C reminded me that I had peeled some bananas and left them in the fridge. I decided to make chocolate chip banana bread for the humans. After I had finished this I still had a lot of leftover banana. I looked down at the Corgi sitting by my feet, staring at me, begging me to make him some nommy treats.

I dug out a recipe I had for peanut butter dog treats and modified it to include banana.

Lazer beam boys want treats!

Corgi Approved!

Bender's Peanut Butter Banana Treats

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/2 cup peanut butter (all-natural or organic)

1/2 cup mashed banana

1/2 - 3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine oil, peanut butter, banana and water. Mix flour together in a separate bowl, and add flour, one cup at a time, forming a dough. Knead dough into firm ball and roll to 1/4 inch thickness. (I've found you need to add a little extra water)

Use cookie cutter or cut into desired shapes. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes (longer if you desire crunchier treats). I recommend rotating the trays half way through. Makes 2+ dozen cookies. (Note: If you wish to leave the banana out and make plain peanut butter treats, increase water to 1 cup. You can also add a sprinkling of flax seeds. Finally, I refrigerate mine so they last longer.)