Animal Treat Cookbook: Biscuits Pour Animaux by Cassandra Bouclé

Genre: Pet Cookbook
Language: French
81 p.
Publisher: Alter Real Editions
Published: Feb. 2, 18
Source: From Publisher for review
Stores (French resources): Amazon Fr, Publisher Website

Des recettes 100% bio, faciles et économiques, pour chats, chiens et rongeurs. 

Vous trouverez dans cet ouvrage des recettes de biscuits faciles et rapides à faire. Le livre se veut pratique : à chaque page, sa recette, avec la liste des ingrédients et des conseils pratiques. Les recettes peuvent être modifiées selon les goûts de votre animal, ou selon de sa santé. S'il doit éviter les biscuits sucrés ou salés, vous pouvez changer les ingrédients. 

Ce livre de recettes est pensé pour les animaux, mais aussi pour leurs maîtres, qui doivent prendre plaisir à cuisiner, que ce soit pour leur chien, leur chat, leur lapin ou leurs autres rongeurs.

Bon appétit !

English Translation:
100% organic, easy and economical recipes for cats, dogs and rodents.

In this book you will find easy and quick cookie recipes. The book is practical: on each page, the recipe, the list of ingredients and practical advice. The recipes can be modified according to the tastes of your pet, or according to his health. If it should avoid sweet or savory cookies, you can change the ingredients.

This recipe book is designed for animals, but also for their masters, who enjoy cooking, whether for their dog, cat, rabbit or other rodents.

Enjoy your meal!

My thoughts:

I got a note from Melliane from Between Dreams and Reality Blog about a interesting treat cookbook. The only thing... it was in French. Since it was a cookbook I figured I could translate it well enough (with a bit of bad Google translate... LOL) to make some treats. It worked out well.

The book also consulted with a veterinarian to make sure the treats were nutritious and well suited for the various animals in the book. There is a section for dogs, cats, and rodents. It wouldn't be hard to convert some of these treats for horses if you know your horse. The recipes are simple, easy to follow and my dogs found delicious. My only problem was translating the recipe amounts since America usually uses cups instead of grams and ml. However, with a few grams to cups translations on the web according to product and I was able to get it done.

Dog treats and monster pup waiting for it to fall...

I did use gluten free all purpose flour for the treats but I'm not sure it is as necessary to do so elsewhere. I have talked to many people who have gluten problems in the US but not in Europe. So these treats became gluten free. I also substituted the rice milk for plain water since so little was used. The treats were made in ball form (as the meat scrap ones suggested) for ease in making it. These small substitutions worked!

The big pup letting me know the cat isn't getting this...

I made the Dumplings with Meat Scraps, Cheese Bites, and Biscuits with Apple. My dogs LOVED the meat scrap ones as well as the cheese bites. The split was with the apple ones. My pup loved them and my big boy was a bit lukewarm about it. He is a bit on the picky side (not too bad) and he still ate a few which is a big deal to me.

I also thought I'd make the Diced Tuna treats for cats and perhaps see if my neighbor would give some to her cat. It never made it over there. My dogs loved that one so much as well. There was nothing in it that a dog couldn't have in those treats so they gobbled those treats up. In fact, my malamute that I had would have LOVED them as those breed of dogs tend to love fish. In fact, I often treated her with fish. The tuna I used was the healthiest I could find and the fish could easily be substituted with salmon (which I may try later as I feel better about salmon).

To sum it all up, I really liked this cookbook. The recipes are easy enough to make and also make substitutions when needed. You could also use these recipes to make your own tailored to your pets tastes. I give this one 5 stars (and I'm very picky about what my animals eat). I think my pups also give it 4 paws (they don't have 5 paws.. obviously! LOL) which is their highest rating. For the US peeps, this one is well worth translating with a little help from the web. The book is also filled with very cute animal pics waiting for their treats.

🐾🐾

Bloggy Note:

Today is also Rare Disease Day. I had planned to do something better than a note today, but my plans have been laughed at a lot lately. So, please take the time and go HERE to the official website to learn why it is important to fund these diseases and disorders. One treatment or cure can lead to other more common diseases and disorders to be cured as well.

✋

Pets as Presents

I know at this time of year many people caution about getting pets as presents. I agree. A pet is a responsibility and should be considered carefully before getting one no matter what time of the year. Unfortunately, people see animals as commodities and treat them as toys or decorations. Recently, Terra from Terra on the Bookshelf ran a beautifully thought out post on this subject. The addy to that wonderful post is here.

I would also like to add that if you do decide that your family can be expanded by another addition, did the homework to find out what would fit into your family, I still ask that you do not get a pet as a present. The house is usually at it most chaotic, often people travel that day, plus there are too many things that can present a danger to pets at this time (tinsel, packaging, wrapping, tree ornaments, chocolate, and so on). What would be better is to perhaps get the things that you need for the animal coming. We did that for my dad. We got him a crate, bowls, leashes, and as many necessities that we thought he would need before the little guy came to him. It was perfect. A promise of a new buddy but without the stressed out pup. If you need to get started in this area, then click the dobie on the left to enter the dog giveaway. ;)

I would also like to add if you are getting a dog at any time, don't forget the training. I am so big on training. Not just potty training, but training to get him to be a good citizen. I believe that if more people trained their dogs, it would have prevented many going to shelters. So, I will also add to the list of things to get a new dog is training. If you are looking for a general training book, I do suggest one like "It's Me or the Dog" (I put a copy of the book in my suggested widget on the left). She trains in the way I often advise. She also has a tv show so you can see her techniques up close.

The first video below gives a top 10 checklist before you adopt a pet by Victoria Stillwell.

Tricking Out the Dog

As some of you might have noticed I added "101 Dog Tricks" by Kyra Sundance to my currently reading list. I've been wanting to do more training and really have no inclination to enter a obedience trial. Now, don't get me wrong, I love to watch obedience trials, however, doing obedience in military precision is not my cup of tea (or bowl of dog biscuits?). Anyway, I do eventually plan on doing dog agility and have enjoyed that in the past, but any dog agility enthusiast knows that a well behaved dog is a good agility dog. So, what to do? Ah trick training! Of course there are other more beneficial ways to get a dog prepared for agility, but trick training encourages the relationship with your dog. It also teaches your dog to listen to your commands and watch you for proper signals. Things also useful in agility training.

One reason I picked this book is the way it trains. It uses positive reinforcement. Basically in dog training there seems to be 2 main schools of thought. One is positive reinforcement/ training and the other is dominance training. The two schools of thought are exactly friendly with each other and each believes that they have the absolute answer to all problems in dogdom. One very specific and valuable evaluation tactic I have used to look at each school of thought is not just how obedient the dog appears, but how interested and engaged the dog happens to be while performing for the trainer and how it is during "down time".

Let me more specifically explain what I mean. Recently at a public event a group that trains in a dominate fashion (including using shock collars as was advertised on this group's web site). Looking at their dogs I did not see bright happy interested dogs. Their eyes seemed dull and their body language did not look like they were having any fun at all. This was not during an exercise, but during "down time". I went up to them to ask about their tunnel (used in agility training) and to see what kind of philosophy they ascribed. They were themselves were very short with me as they surveyed my dog, who was brightly inquiring their setup (but not misbehaving), my treat bag, and my clicker (used in positive dog training). I was able to ascertain exactly which method they employ by how they acted to me as well as how their dogs dully acted toward them. It was confirmed once I went onto their web site. Now, perhaps you can ascertain exactly why I tend to gravitate toward positive reinforcement rather than dominance training. I do not wish to break a dog's spirit to gain "control" over my dog. I'd rather have a bond with my dog and enjoy him with all his spirit in tact.

Now, back to the book. I haven't decided exactly what I will train but it has reminded me of some basic things I need to work on a bit better. Within a day my dog has already held his stay better. Perhaps I'll work on fetch next. He's not the best at fetch. He just doesn't understand that bringing it back to chase it again is fun. He'd rather stand and squeak what ever I've thrown out to him. I may try to blog our progress in future posts. Wish us luck.