Dogs « Homesteading the Seam

annie4 I have more time than I do money. And I like to spend that time at home and with my dogs. In today’s economy, it isn’t that easy for people to follow the practice of tithing, contributing ten percent of one’s income or personal wealth to the community, a religious organization, or a charitable organization. I sure can’t—but I can give ten percent of my time by fostering a dog that needs a temporary home.

Annie, my first foster dog, is a sweet rough-coat collie. She has trusting brown eyes, a bit of pink on her nose, and nicely tipped ears. She has a few years on her and likes to sleep most of the day, but when it’s time to go out to the barn to feed the goats and chickens, she is the first dog out the door.

I fell in love with the collie breed after Bob and I adopted our first collie in 2007. Trace is around seven or eight years old. No one knows his history. He is loyal, gentle, and smart. He is also a high-maintenance dog due to his abundant coat, which needs almost daily attention, especially because we live in the Central Valley. He will bark at anything that moves, even the glint of a car traveling a half-mile away. He is sensitive. I could swear that if someone inadvertently hurts his feelings, he’ll go off and mope on his dog bed for an hour or two. It took him almost a year of living with us before he let loose his goofy side. Now he loves to try to sit in everyone’s lap.

I love dogs and could easily foster any breed, size, or age of dog. I decided to volunteer to be a collie foster home, to put my efforts toward a specific and attainable goal–with the work of many–helping an organization that’s mission is to make sure not one collie is left in an animal shelter or euthanized because it does not have a home.

To learn more about dog rescue organizations, check out these sites:

NorCal Collie Rescue

Collie Club of America

American Kennel Club Breed Rescue

ASPCA

Best Friends Animal Society

There are many, many more organizations devoted to the wellbeing of dogs and animals.

Trace I found a great recipe on the Coconut & Lime blog site by Rachel Rappaport for Homemade Dog Biscuits, which I try to make once a month to feed my three hounds. They love them. REALLY love them. They’re wholesome. And it costs a fraction of the cost of buying dog treats at the supermarket.

The ingredients are:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup rolled old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 eggs PLUS 1 egg, beaten

Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients except for the beaten egg. The dough should easily form a ball and be rather firm. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Re-roll scraps (just once, any more and the biscuits will be tough) and cut out the remaining biscuits. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the beaten egg. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in airtight container. Yields about 3 dozen.

I simplify the process of cutting the cookies by forgoing the cute shapes (as you can see by my photo below), and instead use a pizza wheel to slice the dough into rectangles (or whatever shape they come out–I’m working on my pizza-wheel skills). This also minimizes stiff dough. The results makes the perfect size treats to be snapped in to three different sizes for my small, medium, and large dogs. I also wind up with more like 6 dozen treat.

Dog Treats I overcook them by just a tad and allow a really long drying time so they stay extra crisp in the container.

An added frugal bonus is that I use eggs from our backyard hens, and since I weekly cook a whole chicken, and then simmer the chicken carcass and other bits and pieces into a tasty broth that I use to mix in with dog meal instead of canned food, I always have a murky chicken broth handy.

Happy Anniversary Coconut & Lime! A fantastic blog for original recipes with a let’s-just-try-it attitude. Check it out. My latest fav is adding strawberries from my garden every time I cook with asparagus, which was inspired by Coconut & Lime’s Strawberry-Asparagus salad.

Homesteading the Seam

Dogs

Fostering Dogs

Feeding the Hounds

Pages

Follow “Homesteading the Seam”