Party Time 

We had a birthday party for Blackie last weekend.  According to Laura's records and the family calendar (which was created by Laura), he turned ten on Wednesday, January 18.  Laura said if we could have a party for Frankie (see previous November blog) then we should have one for Blackie.  She also insisted on making dog treats for the party.

So on Friday I googled dog treat recipes.  Almost the first recipe I found was for healthy dog treats.  I called Laura at work.  She needed to bring brewer's yeast.  I could get the natural chunky peanut butter, low sodium chicken broth, wheat germ, and whole wheat flour but she would have to go to Whole Foods for this hard to find ingredient.

The recipe also called for a dog bone cookie cutter but I own a lot of cookie cutters so I thought surely she could improvise.  And she did.  For our party, the dogs could eat dachshund shaped treats, heart shaped treats or cat shaped treats.

Laura decorated our new kitchen table for the party and prepared pigs in a blanket for the human guests.  I added homemade skinny mozzarella sticks to the menu (the humans should have a healthy offering too) and then we called in the guest of honor.  He loved his cat treat.  He quit posing for his picture as soon as he smelled it.

When Blackie immediately rushed off to eat his treat in a quiet spot, we went ahead and offered some
of the dog treats to the other dogs.  They really liked them too.  In fact, the only dog that turned up her nose at the treats was Mabel.

I hope we do not continue this trend of having dog birthday parties.  With five dogs, that would nearly double the number of birthday parties I throw.  Plus the nearest Whole Foods Market is in St. Louis and I can not be driving 75 minutes one way for these exotic dog ingredients every time there is a party.  However, it seems to be an effective method for getting the girls to come visit.  Maybe I will reconsider.