Homemade Biscuits for Puppy's First Christmas

This past month we welcomed a new addition to our tiny family of four. We call our four-legged "newbie" Jo-Jo and by now you have probably guessed that Jo-Jo is no lady. In fact, she is part collie, part labrador. Given to our son for his eighth birthday, Jo-Jo certainly has found her way into each of our hearts.

Like most proud puppy owners, we have been slowly but surely getting to know the newest member of our family. For instance, we have found that when she is afraid she tends to put her tail between her legs as she backs away. She's not particularly fond of loud or sudden noises and will quickly retreat to her dog crate for safety.

Another part of getting acquainted with her canine needs has been learning how to care for her. Besides trips to the vet and the presently despised baths, we also have to provide Jo-Jo with a balanced diet. Giving her any old thing to eat just won't do. Some foods can actually be harmful to dogs. Chocolate, for instance, is toxic to both dogs and cats. Milk, offered as a treat from time to time, is okay but if given too often it can cause diarrhea. As with the human body, moderation should be observed at mealtimes. Overindulgence is a definite NO if you want to avoid problems later. Avoid them sad puppy eyes and whimpering pleas as much as possible.

Before bringing her home, we inquired about her diet and nutrition needs. Puppy's younger than six months, like Jo-Jo, need more protein and fat than older dogs to meet their growth development needs appropriately. We've opted for a three small meals a day feeding schedule for Jo-Jo, which seems to be keeping her tummy content. All the nutrients she needs are readily available in her kibble, giving us peace of mind and her a good start to a long and healthy life as part of our family.

Unfortunately, we're quickly learning how much puppies love to chew in the face of a few minor mishaps. To satisfy our newly acquired destroyer's appetite we visited our local pet store once more to purchase some chew toys and dog biscuits. While there I came across the Chef Fido Dog Biscuit Cutter and Recipe Kit. It comes with recipes and 2 biscuit cutters shaped like a bone!

We hadn't thought about making our own dog biscuits but the darn bone-shaped biscuit cutter was awfully hard to resist. When we got home we found the recipes were actually very simple and the ingredients were already available in our kitchen. So we baked up a batch and the next day decided to see if our little girl thought us good bakers. Apparently she did. She nibbled and nibbled and tossed her little homemade biscuit in the air more times than we could count. It seems as though Jo-Jo loves her homemade biscuits as much as we love homemade cookies.

For this reason, we've planned a special Christmas gift for her first Christmas. Using some of our older, unused Christmas cookie cutouts, we're going to bake some Christmas biscuits for her stocking.