Dog Days of Summer Biscuits

Saturday, August 26, is International Dog Day. A whole day set aside to celebrate dogs that’s international! What a great way to bring the world together.

Shore towns are notoriously dog-friendly, especially Rehoboth. I see you, stores with water bowls outside your doors. You rock!

I’d be remiss on this auspicious occasion to not celebrate our best friend Atticus. Half Westie, half Scottie. All “terrior,” all hunter.

We adopted Atti at six months old and we just celebrated his third birthday. Bringing him into our home was a decision we didn’t take lightly. We were still hurting from the loss of our previous dog, Chester, a purebred Westie.

Frankly, we weren’t sure we could go through that painful loss ever again. Chester lived to be almost 18. We couldn’t remember a time without him and then suddenly he was gone.

Thankfully, we opened our hearts and it’s been shenanigans ever since. Atti’s loving, loyal, and so very fun. He loves other dogs, kids, adults, and anything that resembles food.

To put it plainly, Atti’s the manliest creature in our house. A happy day for him would include a romp in mud with the occasional snack of deer poop. Truly, he’d be fine in the chilly Scottish Highlands, filthy and grimy, with matted fur, jumping from cliff to cliff. And then a lie-down in front of a roaring fire.

Westies were bred to root out varmints. It is nothing for Atticus to while away an afternoon attempting to climb a tree to get to a squirrel. Lately, too, he has it in for eagles and falcons, running the yard in circles, jumping to reach them in the sky. And of course, barking the entire time.

With the run of nearly a half-acre, Atti has caught numerous little critters. Chester did the same but to a lesser degree. Afterwards, Chester would shake uncontrollably with what we assumed was an adrenalin rush. He’d forlornly look at us as if to say “I’m not sure what I just did nor why I did it.” Whereas Atti’s demeanor says, “Hold my beer, I’ve got work to do.”

Like Chester, Atticus watches TV, although much more intensely. He literally throws himself at the screen for a dog that you can’t even place. Oh, there it is, across the lake, behind that far-off house.

Having a TV-watching dog gets kind of old. Especially when they know jingles for pet commercials and charge the TV from anywhere in the house. And when that commercial is over, Atti runs behind the wall of the TV to see where the dog went. Not even kidding.

Lastly, Atticus has a stomach of steel. One time, we panickily called Poison Control after he’d gotten into some chocolates. Several doses of hydrogen peroxide later, he wouldn’t even throw up. Meanwhile, his caffeine high lasted 24 hours. Imagine everything I’ve described thus far—the hunting, the TV watching—times 10.

We were still finding tinfoil wrappers in his poop three days later. And we found more candies under bedroom pillows and buried in sofa cushions. To this day it makes me smile when I think of him running all over the house squirrelling away his treasure.

So, this month I’m highlighting my favorite recipe for dry dog biscuits. There’s something very pleasing about making your fur baby treats, especially with a limited number of ingredients that you control (and pronounce).

Let’s get started, shall we?

STEPS
1.  In a large bowl, combine the following::
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup canned pumpkin
• ¼ cup natural peanut butter (without xylitol!)
• pinch of salt
2. Knead the dough into a ball, then roll on a lightly floured surface to about ¼” to ½” thick.
3. Cut desired shapes, rerolling any scraps until you’ve used up all the dough.
4. Transfer the treats to a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake about 20 to 30 minutes in a 325° oven until golden brown. 
5.  Cool completely and store in an airtight container in your refrigerator.

TIPS

• Be very careful your peanut butter doesn’t have the sweetener ingredient xylitol. It truly is unsafe for our furry friends.
• The thickness at which you roll these treats combined with the length of time they spend in the oven will affect how hard they are. Atticus loves crunchy treats. If your dog doesn’t, you might want to pull these from the oven a little earlier. ▼

Ed and his husband Jerry split their time between homes near Harrisburg Pennsylvania and Bethany Beach. Ed builds websites to pay the bills but loves to cook, garden, hike, and dote on their dog Atticus. Recipe requests and feedback welcome: ed@seasalttable.com.