Feef's Faves - Bacon Biscotti Recipe

Finicky Feef is what Mom calls me. Her search to find palatable Fifi treats is endless. For Christmas, my groomer, Kelly, was so sweet and made little tins of cookies and biscotti's for her vict...er... clients, myself included. Wow! I liked them! Mom was so impressed she decided to try her hand at baking for me. Her first attempt was barely edible, I was a skeptic at first, but honestly, they weren't too bad. I thought she was nuts when I saw her cutting up that pumpkin and whizzing it in the food processor, but now it makes sense! Those cookies are TASTY! My favorite so far is the Bacon Biscotti. Give it a try - experiment with other ingredients and see how YOUR finicky Fido likes them!

Feef's Bacon & Peanut Butter Biscotti
2 1/2 cups flour (your choice) Mom uses whole wheat since none of us have allergies.
1/4 cup flax
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon ginger
blend all dry ingredients then add:
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
3/4 cup water (or broth)
mix it all up til it's a huge sticky ball and line a pizza pan with parchment or oiled foil. Spread your giant gooball around - it should be about an inch thick. Bake at 325 for 1 hr. Cut into 1" squares and bake on low until your biscotti is nice and dry. Cool, and store in a parchment lined tin.
We would never let this stuff sit around long enough to go bad (Duke and Turbo are such PIGS) but use common sense - if you're not going to use it up in a timely manner consider freezing some for later.

He's So Excited!

Feef Speaks: I'm just a little dog! When I take mom to work, we see a lot of other dogs. Most of them try to maul me. Not in a mean way, they're just just way too excited. They need to get out more. As they stand, I wish they'd STAY home. I try to show them the right way to greet a princess like myself, but most of them are jumping, barking, and lunging, and by no means are they heeding their people! Luckily, my mom spends a LOT of time talking to their people, and shows them the right way to meet me. They usually apologize for their dog's beastly behaviour, and tell mom "He's just so excited to come here". Well la-de-da! I get pretty excited when mom gets ready to go and grabs my fifi-cave but I don't go around mauling everyone! Mom taught me that when I see another dog she wants me to sit first, I think because it helps that other dog be a little less excited. I, of course, could really care less if I get to sniff noses with most of the ruff-raff she exposes me to but it pleases her, and helps her train those other dogs. Nice stuff that I get tossed under the bus so other dogs can learn! Plus, when I do act nice she gives me a yummy little piece of goodness to nosh on! I guess that makes it worth it although there's occasionally a whirling dervish dog that I simply don't want to have anything to do with. Mostly mom will understand if I really don't want to meet them.

I try and be nice but sometimes these other dogs can be just downright irritating. Mom says "Feef, say hello" so I very nicely walk over and sniff their stupid nose, and they get just a bit too sniffy. I let them know with a snark that being too friendly just is NOT on my itinerary! They back up fast! Usually it's the puppies that are the worst. The little bohemians NEED snarked! I don't go overboard, just a quick "yarrrgh" usually puts them in their place and gives me room to breathe.

I think more dogs need to learn to say hello. I'm happiest with the dogs who will also sit when they see me, and who approach slowly and respectfully. All it takes is some practice! So people, if you're reading this, don't let your big oaf of a dog come running up to other dogs without asking if it's ok. Teach your dog to sit and wait to be invited over. Leash manners are a must! They always tell mom "Oh he gets so excited here. He doesn't act like this at home." I want to cough up my kibble when I hear this. I'm thinking to myself "Well if you'd bring him out in public more often than vaccination day and teach him how to act, meybe he'd be a bit more mannerly!"

So, my mission as a training demo dog is to bring manners to the dog world, one snark at a time. To learn the finer art of teaching your dog to say hello, sign up for a class with my mom. She's awesome at teaching people how to have a more polite dog! After all, she's done wonders with Turbo. He actually listens when she tells him to leave me be and if you knew Turbo, you'd know that is impressive!

Be A No-Brainer Trainer

Feef Speaks: When I found my mom, I was so scared! She was very patient with me even when I peed in her lap. But she's a smart mom, and she used really positive methods to help me understand her. It worked so well for me, she wrote it down so all you guys can have your moms and dads do the same. I highly recommend listening to her. She's a smart mom, and so now I'm a smart Feef. I call my mom the No-Brainer Trainer because she really worked hard to make it easy for me to learn!



Tori Talks: So often when we try to train our dogs we just try to bring too much to the table. Remember the old rule of KISS - Keep It Simple Sweetie. Stick with the basics. This Far Side cartoon by David Larson says it all:

Cue - Mark - Reward - Release

• CUE the dog with hand signal and voice. "Spot, WATCH ME". Use food as a lure if you need to. Hold a treat by your eye. Eventually, pointing the index finger at the eye will be the hand cue.


• When Spot's gaze scans across your eye for a nanosecond, MARK* the action quickly with a crisp "Yes!". Note: "Good Dog" is NOT a marker. It is a reward phrase to use AFTER the marker word. We commonly confuse these things, thereby confusing the dog, thereby making training more confusing for everyone. Lets not do that. Use "eh-eh" as a marker if he gets it wrong.


• REWARD - At first, reward immediately after marking the action. Say "Yes!" then add a praise phrase such as "Good dog!", and offer the treat. As your dog starts to understand that cue = action = reward, you want to require longer DURATION of the action before offering the reward.


• RELEASE the dog from the action. Do NOT reward if he jumps the gun. Use your eh-eh, and have him repeat the action. If Spot is jumping at the treat, RELEASE him before rewarding him.
  
  Dogs repeat behavior they are rewarded for! Dogs live in the NOW. Be sure when you reward the dog it is not jumping up on you, snapping at the treat, or engaged in other unwanted actions.
  * MARKERS can be either positive (YES!!) or negative (NO!!). Most of us have overused "NO", and it can cause your pup to "shut down" and be unreceptive to learning. This is why I like to use a more benign "EH" for training. Save "NO" for when the pup is doing some heinous act such as piddling on grannies antique quilt.
  FEEDBACK: Consider this - if your boss never said you were doing good or bad and then just went off on you and fired you, you would think it was pretty unjust that he didn’t give you a chance to do it right by telling you that what you were doing was wrong. SO... please give your dog feedback in the form of "yes" and "eh-eh". You have about 3 seconds leeway after an action to provide this feedback or it has no meaning to your dog.
  BE PATIENT: When you get frustrated, Spot will too. Just like you crunched gears the first week you drove a stickshift, or hit the wrong letters in typing 101, your dog will have to think about what you are asking. If you’re both getting frustrated, try something Spot already knows, reward, and take a break from training to play a while.
  BE CONSISTENT: Use the same word for a cue. Use the same word for a marker. Use the same word for release. These consistencies will help your dog "get it".
  DOGS DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. When training, do NOT use more words than your cues, markers, release and reward phrases. Why? All the other words we throw in are just junk words at this point, and confuse the dog.
  Keep it short & sweet. Have fun. Be patient. Be consistent.Work on training for about 15 minutes tops, then play some.

Turbo adds his 2 biscuits worth: I'm pretty busy, and sometimes it's hard to listen. Mom makes it easy for me using only the words that have meaning for me when she's training me. When she's not training me, all kinds of stuff I don't get comes out of her mouth. I try keep up by just watching her face and listening for words I know for cue's to what she's blathering on about. During training sessions, she keeps it fun, uses only training words, and that keeps me interested. I've seen some other dogs people getting mad and those dogs just hate it when their mom and dad do that. So ask yourself this when you start up your next training session with your pup: Would you rather have Hitler or Jay Leno teaching you to sit?