Scrumptious Liver Cake- your dog will thank you!

Liver Cake is very cheap to make and more importantly very easy to prepare!

I took this recipe from 'Care 2 Pets' (you can find them on FB) and it only took minutes to prepare with the help of my best friend, the food processor.

I used Chicken Liver from Morrison's which cost me £1.09 for 400g. I topped the wholemeal flour with chickpea flour and a fresh egg from my lovely chickens. I poured the mixture into a baking tin, smoothing the top. The depth was just round an inch deep. I have tried this recipe with either foil or parchment paper lining the baking tin and the parchment paper trial was a massive success! The paper easily came off the cake, whereas the cake stuck to the foil.
It was then popped into the oven at 180'C for 15-20 minutes. Just test the centre with a knife and when it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Cool, divide into portions, and let the dogs savour them!

400g Liver (any type)

1 Egg

200g Wholemeal Flour

The Liver Cake can be frozen, although I think my dogs and gorgeous Khan, will devour it all within a few days!!

The Liver Cake is really good at teaching your dog, in my case, Cara to play 'Find It'. I can float a morsel of cake under her nose, tell her to 'Stay' and then hide it from her. The release command is 'Find It' and she can then consume the treat as the reward. I began this game with showing her where I was hiding the treat- under a rug- and then asked her to 'Find It'. She loved this game and picked the edge of the rug up with her teeth to retrieve the treat!!
Big Boy Khan hasn't mastered this skill yet! He stays perfectly and goes to find the treat on command and then looks at me as if to say "You're kidding! How can I get to the treat under that?!!"
We(Cara and I) are now working on finding the treat in a different room without her seeing where I have placed it. Once we have mastered this game and I am then going to teach her to identify different treats; so initially 'Liver Cake' will be named as 'Cake', tagged with the 'Find It' command and hopefully she will after a few sessions, look for the Cake only on that cue!!

Enjoy baking for your gorgeous Hound and I welcome any feedback. If you would like any tips about teaching the 'Find It' game, or any of the games I post, please ask, it will be a pleasure to share the joy.

Bye for now from some very happy Kingsdale Hounds!

Cara, the awesome Mimic!

Khan is a big boy and he has the voice to go with his appearance; deep resonating reverberating barks that you hear wherever you are in the house or garden!! He is awesome.
In addition to his strident barking, he has developed the ability to howl; he throws his head back and lets out a howl that a pack of wolves would be proud off, which then gently winds down to a whimper and finally silence. Mike, the dogs and I are in awe when he exercises his vocal chords and naturally Cara doesn't wish to be left out. So, Khan and Cara barking merrily together- Kingsdale harmonics in full flow.
Cara has never howled, not even given it an attempt until Khan arrived on the scene. It has taken her 5 weeks to finally come out of the closet and she chose last night to dramatically show off her singing talents.
A disturbance outside caused Khan to bolt into action; barking for a few minutes, followed by howling which prompted Cara to throw her head back and join in.
The Gray Wolves at Yellowstone National Park would have been proud of them both; Ok, I was proud of them both in between laughing and howling with them!!

I am wondering if she will retain this new singing ability or will she only howl with Khan?
You may be wondering what Benny Bear was doing throughout their performance? Did he have his paws over his ears or was he joining in? Neither, he was looking bemused and I could imagine him thinking" Kids, when will they grow up"?!!

Does your dog howl and if so when and at what? Does your dog like company and would he or she like to come and join Cara for a session!!  

Bye from the Kingsdale Howlers!

 

Hide and Seek the Kingsdale way!

Cara Doll is an expert at hide and seek when we are out on walks. Mike and I can hide wedged in between shrubs or crouched behind a tree and she will find us! She then does the Cara shuffle as her head goes one way and her bum goes the other and she darts off to celebrate winning the game!

Last night, I decided I would raise the bar on the Hide and Seek Game! So, I went into the bathroom, turned the light off and hid in the bathtub. I then whistled Cara and waited whilst trying to stifle my giggles.
Mayhem ensued as Cara, Khan and Benny Bear tried to locate me; I heard them storm into the bedroom, then the kitchen and finally the study. Silence descended and I imagined them scratching their heads in disbelief! Where is Mum?
So, I whistled again and they repeated the whole process of going from room to room but NEVER once came into the bathroom. Third time lucky, I thought, and whistled again(I'm getting hoarse and a tad cold!!) I heard Cara Doll come in and leave immediately and then Khan, the magnificent, came in and peered over the edge of the bathtub!! Seconds later, Cara came in and very slowly peered over the edge, rather as if she was expecting to see a ghost!!

Khan is the champion at Hide and Seek constantly beating Cara at finding me. I have to admit she doesn't look very happy at coming in a poor second.

I then tried hiding behind a door, thinking this game would be too easy. No way the dogs chorus! It took ages before, yes you guessed it, Khan looked around the door and found me.

Khan has handed down the gauntlet to Cara Doll and I'm not sure whether she is up to taking the challenge. Mayhem will ensue at Kingsdale tonight and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my lovely Cara Doll can do better than Khan!

If you have never tried this game, I would recommend it. Dogs love to play as I'm sure you do; this game will also get their brains into action and hopefully(thinking of Cara!) improve their memory!

Bye for now from Kingsdale Happy Hounds and a very smug Khan!

Scrummy Haggis Dog Biscuits

Easy to create Haggis Dog Biscuits!

Yes, it is true, baking dog biscuits has just got easier!

Lidl was selling Haggis at a really good price, so I decided I would create some biscuits for the Kingsdale Hounds and oh my this turned out to be a huge succss for the dogs and for me.

I used one Haggis, a drizzle of runny honey and a desertspoon of ground lindseed(flaxseed), popped it all in a food processor and whizzed it all around for a few minutes. It formed a ball easily and I turned it out onto a floured surface, split it into 3 portions and then rolled it with my hands as if I was making sausage rolls! It rolls easily and then I just divided it up into small portions. I also used my cooker cutters so I had an assortment of shapes and sizes for training purposes.

Oven temperature around 180' and baked for 20 minutes. I left them in the oven to cool and crisp.

They freeze really well and retain their shape.

Next time I will bake for a few minutes longer as I prefer crisper biscuits (well not me, the dogs!!!); have fun with the recipe and add spices or oatmeal and see what happens! Your dogs will let you know if you have a winner on your hands!

1 x Haggis

1 dessertspoon of Ground Linseed

Drizzle( approx 1 desertspoon) of runny honey

Mixed in a food processor

Bake in oven 180' for 20-25 mins

Happy Hounds is the result!!

Let me know how you get on with the recipe or if you add your dogs favourite ingredient into the mix.

Bye for now from the Happy Kingsdale Hounds

Cara's Party Tricks!

I am having fun teaching Cara some tricks to entertain her and me! She is an intelligent dog and learns new tricks really fast, unless I am having trouble teaching her, then chaos follows!
The adage that the dog is as good as the dog handler is very true; at least in my case!!

'TAKE IT' Game

To begin with, I held Cara's jaw in the palm of my hand and placed a treat on her nose. This was actually the hardest part of the whole learning process for Cara as she kept following my hand with the treat; I refused to allow her to have the treat and kept gently trying to place the treat on her nose. Eventually, she understood and allowed the treat to rest on her nose; I kept my hand under her jaw and with my other hand I held my finger up in front of her to indicate that she was to stay. Amazingly, it worked and I allowed her the treat. I then introduced the cue "Take it" which allowed her to knock the treat off her nose.

Cara learnt the basics of this trick within a few attempts and we have now have polished the trick, so that she can hold the pose for 30 seconds until I give the "Take it" command. As the picture indicates, she is very focused(on me and my finger); I give in after 30 seconds as she looks so cute and I can't refuse her!!

Do you have any dog tricks that you would like to share? Cara and I would love to hear from you.

Happy New Year from the Kingsdale Happy Hounds

Have a super licking woofing 2015!