It's in the bag! Show offers from Crufts

One of the great things about Crufts is the 'show offer.'  Many brands and stands offer visitors 'exclusive' Crufts deals to entice them to try products they may never have tried before, or to stock up on old favourites.  But what's actually in those bags that you see being carried around the show?

Well, with the final day of Crufts approaching (tomorrow's Hound & Terrier day plus Best in Show), meaning only one more shopping day left, I decided to take advantage of some of this year's offers.  I've a mix of freebie and paid for bags, and here are their contents....

'In the pink' - the Crufts' Show Guide

The bright, you can't miss it, pink bags are what contains this year's Show Guide. 

They're available to buy in the atrium and at stands throughout the halls.  If you want to know what's happening when, the show guide is a 'must'.  

It will set you back £8 but, hey, you get your first bag to put some of your first purchases in!

Doggy & Kitty bags from Lily's Kitchen

I'm a huge fan of Lily's Kitchen food and treats, for both my hounds and cat.  They produce an organic and 'natural' range of wet and dried dog and cat food, with a number of tempting recipes such as Hungry Hunter's Hot Pot (cat), Chicken Dinner (cat), Chicken supper (dog), Fishy Fish Pie with peas (dog) and Wild Campfire Stew (dog), to name just a small selection of them.

£5 bags:

These paper bags are packed full with goodies and great value for money.  My Doggy Bag contained:

• A 200g can of Beef, Potato & Vegetable Dinner
• A 150g Natural Range Herby Chicken tray
• A 60g sample of Lovely Lamb with peas & parsley dry food 
• An Eat Your Greens snack bar
• A 50g sample of Calming biscuits
• 25 compostable poop sacks
• Note pad

The Kitty Bag didn't disappoint, either, and contained:

• 6 x 100g trays of the Natural Range cat dinners
• A 40g sample of the Delicious Chicken Crunch Nibbles (dry cat food)
• Cute cat toy/ball
• Note pad

£10 bag:

If you've slightly more 'cash to splash' the £10 bag proves to be fantastic value.  Everything comes in a lovely linen bag, which contains:

• Your choice of 1Kg dried dog food (I chose the puppy food for Sherlock's sensitive tum)
• 2 x 400g cans of dog food (I chose Venison & Wild Boar Terrine and Recovery Recipe)
• Sample of Delicious Baked Biscuits (I chose the Calming biscuits)

£10 bag

 



You can find Lily's Kitchen stand in Hall 1 - stand 116

Companion Dog World magazine

Companion Dog World is the sister magazine to the weekly Dog World newspaper.  I have to admit that I'm a tad biased (as I am their resident 'Ask the Expert' for behaviour and training and questions) but it's a great magazine that is available both in print and online.

The Companion Dog World goody bag is a free bag and my bag contained:

• Latest copy of Companion Dog World
• A 150g tray of Butcher's Choice Simply Gentle food
• A sample of Eden Holistic Pet Foods, Country Cuisine - dry food
• A trial size sample of Fish 4 Dogs, Sea Jerky Tiddlers

All in all, not a bad 'haul!' A great read (I'm on pages 40-41, in case you're interested) and the dried food and sea jerky can be used as training treats.  You'll find Companion Dog World in Hall 4 - stand 78

Companion Dog World

Your Dog magazine

I subscribe to the monthly Your Dog magazine and as I remembered to bring along my 'voucher' (which was included with the latest issue), I received a free goody bag, which contained:

• A packet of Adventuros Nuggets in Boar flavour
• 7 x Simply Dental, Joint Care sticks
• 100g sample of Vitalin Adult, Chicken & Potato dry food
• 50 g sample of Platinum Adult, Iberico & Greens, dry food
• 1 mini Webbox Dream Bone
• 180g packet of Hi Life Treat Me! training treats

If you don't subscribe, never fear, you can subscribe for 4 magazines (I think) for £10 + get a goody bag.  You'll find Your Dog in Hall 4 - stand 34

What's in your bag?

We'd love to know what's in your bag. So if you make it to Crufts for the final day, do let us know!

Doggy Pay Scales

The use of food in dog training

I was chopping up food for my Puppy School and Happy Hounds training classes and the types of food I was preparing got me thinking (and playing about with the halftone photo app)...

Personally, I don't like using the word 'treat' in dog training.  In my opinion we're not 'treating' our dogs; we're paying them for a job and different jobs require different pay scales.

These thoughts resulted in the following photo and a post on my Happy Hounds Facebook page.  The post has proven to be so popular (and as Facebook doesn't share information with Google) I thought I'd share it via my blog!

Paying our dogs a decent wage:

At my training classes and consultations, I sometimes come across people who are reluctant to use food when training their dogs; they feel that their dogs 'should just do what they are asked' or that they are 'spoiling' their dog by giving them food treats. I don't like to think of the food as a 'treat' - to me, the word 'treat' is synonymous with being spoiled or indulgent (thanks, mainly, to chocolate and luxury goods adverts) - whereas, in reality, food is a dog's pay for doing a job we ask them to do.

I always try to avoid using the word 'treat' in my Happy Hounds Dog Training classes and explain how the food we use in training should be thought of as the dog's pay and I use the concept of 'doggy pay scales' to explain it.

Basic Salary:

Routine jobs may only merit a basic salary - represented by kibble in the photo. A routine 'job' can be a behaviour the dog knows well, or is still learning, but knows well in a certain context - such as practising loose lead walking in your garden, where there are minimum distractions; or waiting politely for you to put the food bowl down before eating.

Enhanced Salary:

When we start increasing the difficulty of the 'job in hand', we need to start paying an 'enhanced salary' (represented by meat and cheese in the photo) - especially if we want to guarantee that our dog learns how to do the job well.

Once you start adding in distractions, distance or duration to a 'job' - you need to increase your dog's salary. Just as different jobs in the human world require different salaries and attract different candidates, the same is true for our canine companions. You need to find the right salary level that works for your dog - to help them succeed. (For some dogs, a tennis ball, or special toy/game may trump cheese/meat - you need to find the right salary for your dog!)

Bonus Pay:

Once your dog knows their 'job' and can reliably perform it on a regular basis, you can then switch to 'bonus pay' (represented by liver cake in the photo). The idea of the bonus pay is that it keeps your dog motivated and ready to perform their 'job' - they may not know when the bonus is coming but it certainly gives a reason to continue doing a job.  (I've a great recipe for liver cake on the blog - here)

Bribes versus Pay:

As for food being a bribe... well, it 'could' be viewed as a bribe when used in luring behaviours  where the food is used as an inducement (the lure) for the dog to perform the cued/desired behaviour.  However, in most cases, the food is delivered after a behaviour/job is completed successfully.  For this, the delivery of the food is contingent on the dog performing the cued/desired behaviour and, to me, this is the equivalent of pay - pure & simple.

I don't think many humans would view their daily/weekly/monthly pay packet as a bribe - do you?!?

Playing Mind Games - Dog Activity Toys

Whilst it's relatively easy for us humans to give our brains a workout - a cross word puzzle, learning a new skill or reading a book  - how easy is it for us to give our dogs' brains something to work on?

Nowadays there's a whole host of interactive toys, which are great for providing our dogs with mental stimulation. Although some of the more popular brands can prove to be quite expensive it needn't cost the earth to provide our dogs with games that get them to use their grey matter.

It's quite easy to make homemade interactive games - all you need is imagination and a few props.  One of my favourites is the tennis ball teaser...which involves a muffin tin, tennis balls and treats.  It's really simple to create as the video shows.




Some of my, and the hounds, favourite homemade toys and games include:

• Tuggies - you can make your own tuggies my plaiting together strips of fleece, for a fraction of the cost of a shop bought toy
• Stuffed socks - if you've got a toy killer/stuffing shredder and squeaker seeker extraordinaire like Mina, an easy - and cheap - way to fulfil the shredding tendencies is by filling an old clean sock with stuffing (and a squeaker, if you're feeling extravagant) and knotting it.
• Find the treat or scatter feeding - hide treats around the house (under cushions, and send your dog on a 'find the treat' mission or scatter some of your dog's daily kibble ration in somewhere like the garden
• Destruction boxes - I could hire out Stevie as a secure shredding service.  He loves shredding magazines, post and newspapers; when given the chance.  A destruction box provides him with a great outlet for this. Just fill an old cardboard box with layers of newspaper, magazines, old toilet roll/kitchen roll cardboard tubes and add a few treats.

With any game or training activity, it's important to set our dogs up for success. In the video you'll see that the first thing I do, is give Mina the chance to eat the treats straight out of the muffin tin. This helps to build Mina's confidence and to get her used to looking for treats in the muffin tin.  Then I can add the tennis balls and, if need be, help Mina understand that she needs to dislodge them to get to the treats.

It's also important to supervise your dog with interactive games to make sure they don't get frustrated and to ensure they remain safe.

I'll definitely be on the look out for some new game ideas at Crufts and would love to know what your favourite games are to play with your dogs...so please don't be shy and do leave a comment on the blog.

Remember, every comment left on my February 2012 posts gets entered into our Countdown to Crufts giveaway to win* a pair of Crufts tickets.

*Terms & Conditions:
Giveaway is open to UK residents only. Prize consists of one pair of tickets to Crufts for each of the two winners (tickets are valid for the day of the winner's choice).
The winner is responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the NEC.
Closing dates for entries is Tuesday 28 February 2012
Winners will be notified by email and/;or via my blog posts

Cooking for Canines - Lovely Liver Cake

Over the last few weeks there seems to have been a demand for my liver cake recipe; so much so, I thought it was time it had a page of it's own rather than being hidden away in a separate post!

It's really easy to make and if ask your butcher for liver off-cuts it can be quite an inexpensive way to make treats that have no hidden ingredients and are nutritious for your dog.

However, if you're a bit squeamish and liver isn't your thing, I've also got a 'greyt' recipe for sardine squares which are equally as easy to make and don't involve seeing chopped liver whizzing around your food processor!

So, here's the recipe in all it's glory.

Ingredients:
500g (1lb) liver
400-500g (1lb) organic porridge oats* (or 400g rice/potato flour - if making it with flour)
2 large free range eggs
2 cloves of garlic** (crushed)
3 tablespoons natural yogurt

Instructions:
1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C (Gas Mark 4)
2. Grease and line a 30cm square ( 12 inch square) baking tin (it's really important to line the tin - as I've found out to my cost!)
3. Whizz the liver in a food processor until smooth 
4. Add the crushed garlic, egg and oats and continue to whizz until well mixed together
5. When mixture is smooth stir in the natural yogurt until it's a thick cake-like consistency
6. Spoon into baking tin and bake in oven for around 30 – 40 minutes
7. When cooked the liver cake should be firm and light brown colour
8. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly before turning out of baking tin
9. Cut into small bite size pieces and keep in fridge for up to a week or up to 3 months if frozen.

'Maybe if I'm patient the liver cake
 will levitate in my direction'

I've also experimented and added in fresh chopped parsley along with grated cheese and every time the hounds have loved it. Cut into really small pieces it makes a fantastic training reward - especially when there are lots of distractions and you're calling your greyhound back to you across a large field!

Mina just loves the liver cake and remains in a fixed position in the kitchen when I'm baking it...

If you've got any other greyt home-baked training treats or tips do let us know by sharing them in the comments.
Thank you

Susan n hounds x

*The more oats you use, the crumblier the cake will be.  If you use flour, use less, or your cake will be too dry.
**Garlic is part of the Allium family, such as onions, which are toxic to dogs. Small quantities of garlic, such as in this recipe, should be fine.  If you are worried, omit the garlic and add in some grated, smelly cheese instead.

Cooking for Canines - Sardine Squares

I love baking - for humans or hounds - there's nothing quite like home baked treats.  The great thing about cooking for canines is that I know and can control exactly what goes into my home baked training treats.

Liver cake is always a favourite with Mina, Stevie & Jasper, but it's not for the squeamish and isn't suitable for use when training puppies ( need to be careful with the vitamin A content).  So, Ive had a go at fish alternative...Sardine Squares which you can make it in the microwave or oven.

For speed, I thought I'd try it in the microwave - experimenting with optimum cooking times.  The results were great and were definitely appreciated by the hounds.  I also tried it on the puppies in my Puppy School classes and it went down a treat!

If you'd like to have a go, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 x tins of sardines in oil (tins are around 85gm)
2 x eggs
300gm rice flour
2 cloves of crushed fresh garlic (optional)
60ml water
Teaspoon fresh chopped parsley

Instructions:
1.   Whizz sardines and garlic in food processor
2.   Add eggs, flour and whizz until mixture comes together
3.   Add water and chopped parsley
4.  Whizz in processor until mixture is a medium dropping consistency
5.  Transfer to greased and lined baking tin (if baking in traditional oven)
6.  Bake for around 20-25 minutes at 180C (Gas Mark 4) until firm.
7.  If baking in microwave, transfer to a greased (I used 3 plastic containers) container
8.  Microwave on full power for 4½ minutes (based on 1000 W oven)
9.  Allow to cool, turn out and cut into small squares
10.  Keep in airtight container in fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.


Mina seemed to love it too and did very well keeping her nose out of temptation's way... that's what I call Impulse Control!

"Aww, Mum please can I have a sardine square?"

If you try the recipe do let me know how you get on, or share your dog's favourite training treats and leave a comment.