The Things We Do For Love...of Dogs

There are very few odors in this world that give me an instant gag reflex. I think I've found a new one. Let me begin at the beginning.

Several weeks ago, a friend was kindly picking up some dog food for me at the local pet supply place. We buy the same brand of food that can be purchased at two locations in our town, so when one of us goes, we try to make sure the other is taken care of. Anyway, this particular day, she was there at the same time as the dog food distributor. He had some samples of a new treat that will be hitting shelves soon, and he gave her some for our dogs. He warned her not to get too crazy with them or else the dog would constantly beg for them. So she brought them home and shared them with us - and the dog food guy was right. Our dogs absolutely loved those treats. My two were begging for them before I'd even opened the package, since I guess they could smell right through it.

So we used them to bait Criket into her crate each day as we left for work. Me leaving the house is the one thing she hates more than or at least as much as the hair dryer. And those treats worked like magic. But alas, they did not last forever. And since they haven't yet hit the pet stores, I would have to find something just as yummy and inticing. So, I made my way to the pet store.

At the pet store, one can find a myriad of doggie treats. The problem is that the "people food" equivalent of the majority of them would be found in the cookie/junk food aisle of the grocery store. Having experienced life with these dogs for quite some time, I know that it is not a good idea to feed them "junk food." So, I wanted something that would've come from the "health food" aisle. And that's very difficult to find. But I found something I thought would be satisfactory and made my way home.

Freeze-dried Beef Liver. Sounds appealing, doesn't it? Later that evening, I wanted to provide the dogs with some entertainment, so I thought I'd make a paste out of the newly-acquired snacks and jam it down into a bone for them to chew. Good idea, right? Wrong. Just because something is freeze-dried, does not mean that it will absorb liquid of any kind. It just sort of acts like styrofoam in water. Needless to say, my blender with stryofoam-like freeze-dried beef liver and chicken broth wasn't a welcome sight or smell in my house. I finally did manage a paste out of it, and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed it. However, by the time I got through cleaning up that nasty, disgusting mess, it was all I could do not to hurl.

So now, each day when we leave and give the dogs their treats, I get a whiff of those freeze-dried beef liver snacks and I nearly gag. But they love them, and we don't have to chase Criket to get her to go in her crate. It's worth it. Maybe.