Seeing Double

Don't let him fool you: He likes her.

For the last three years, the dog man has lived like a king. He has gone on countless walks, spent hours playing ball in the fence that we installed for no one but him, removed the stuffing from about a hundred toys, taken daily naps and been swimming in every body of water he's ever seen. Could his life be any better? Well, the husband thought so. The husband was convinced the dog man needed a playmate. I'll admit I wasn't sold on the idea. In fact, it took me months to even consider it, and then I gave the husband a list of criteria. No, I didn't need to see doppelgangers, but the new addition to our family had to look like the dog man, had to be a she and it just had to feel right. And we'd name her Scout or Stella. 

So last week when the husband called me into the office, I figured I'd walk in there, look at the online ad, ooh and aaah over the puppy and, like many times before, tell him, "That's not Chance's sister." But as I read the post, I knew our world was about to change. He'd found an 8-month-old chocolate Labrador that needed a home with a fence. The post said she was good with other dogs; her name was Stella. 

The husband and I both have a dog bed next to our side of the bed now, and we each have a dog to walk in the morning. Everyone seems to be adjusting well to Stella's move - some of us better than others. Chance took to her a lot better than we ever could have imagined, but he's still getting used to sharing his parents. So I thought I'd make him - and his little sister - a treat yesterday. 

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
From Dog Treat Kitchen.com
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups hot water

Get all of your ingredients out, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.


Put the peanut butter in another, smaller bowl. Heat the water, and add it to the peanut butter.

The peanut butter mixture may look a little gross, but that's fine; stir until smooth.


Add the wet and dry ingredients in the large bowl, adding more water if the dough doesn't come together nicely. (I added an extra 1/2 cup of water, and that ended up being too much. I then had to add another 1/4 cup of flour.)

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes.

Bake the dog cookies for 25-40 minutes, or until they reach a firmness preferred by you and your doggie. (I put the first batch in for 25 minutes and the husband thought the dogs would like them well enough. Cooking them the full 40 minutes resulted in a much firmer cookie, so it's up to you.) 


Cool on wire racks. (We got 42 cookies!)