Pug Love

I love pugs! They are such funny little clowns, I am near certain that at some point in my life I will be described as the crazy pug lady.

Until then I will have to content myself with pug related crafts and an annual hyperventilation fit at crufts.

so today I sketched some pugs

 

Doggie biscuits

I love baking, and I love dogs, so when I found a whole site of doggie bakes from Chihuahua breeder Blue Boy Chihuahuas I knew I was on to a winner. I always worry with shop bought dog food when I start reading the ingridents and don't know what half the things I'm giving to my dog are, and with increasing concern that cheaper pet food might actually be making our four legged friends ill, home preparing seems like a good idea.  I don't want to feed my dog anything that she wouldn't naturally eat or would be considered unfit for human consumption.

The only thing I would say is a lot of recipes called for garlic powder, which I would avoid like the plague as garlic (certainly in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels) can scour kidneys and cause a lot of upset. So personally I would leave garlic or onion out of any recipe for dogs.

But I found this recipe which I decided to give a go, having bought my bone shaped cookie cutter from Amazon and patiently waited for it to drop on my door mat all week I cracked on with the milk bone recipe

Milk bones  

        You will need 

• 3/4 cup hot water
• 5oz  margarine
• 4 oz powdered milk
• 1 pinch salt (Although this may be left out)
• 1 egg - beaten
• 15 oz whole wheat flour (plus extra for dusting)
  
  
  Method. 
• In large bowl pour hot water over the margarine. 
• Stir in powdered milk, salt, and egg. 
• Add flour, 2 oz at a time. 
• Knead for a few minutes to form stiff dough. 
• Pat or roll to 1/2 inch thickness. 
• Cut into bone shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.

Allow to cool before giving to your pooch. Store in an air tight container for up to a week. 


They will dry out in to lovely crunchy treats for your beloved hound. This recipe makes a lot of treats, about 40. Unless you have a whole pack of St Bernard's you will probably be pleased to hear the mixture freezes, so you if you pre-cut the shapes you can have tasty treats in less than an hour for your little fur baby.
I used granary flour mix in mine instead of whole wheat for added crunch, another nice variation would be to add a little cooked diced meat or low fat cheese to the mix. Of course then the treats would need to be kept refrigerated.     

This recipe is a lot nicer than other dog treat recipes I've seen. Many of which call for having to handle liver and other associated offal. This recipe made the kitchen smell of warm milk and fresh bread which was much more pleasing to the human inhabitants of the house.
In fact we even tried them in our tomato soup and quite enjoyed them.  Please do remember though that these are treats and should only be used to supplement a round and healthy diet for you and your dog.
  

 My little rascal Medi was more than happy to model a couple of these tasty morsels for this blog, and thinks I should do more doggie features in future! 

Knit for Battersea Dogs home.

Photo by Laura O'Farrell/Battersea Dogs home

Its going to become evident that there are a few things I hold dear in life. Baking and knitting are loves of mine, but really and truly my heart is owned by a dog. I am a fool for them, I'm the person who will stop traffic and risk a bite to save a stray, as I type I've let my own dog curl into my lap in such a way that i can only type a single letter at a time with one hand, but do I care?  

So I came across this story in the Guardian I just knew it was going on this blog straight away and straight to the top of my project list.

Battersea dogs home  is in central London  and cares for literally thousands of unwanted and unloved dogs every single year.
They have just launched a campaign for us knitters of the British Isles to knit blankets for these poor dogs and show them the love all dogs deserve. Many of the dogs do very poorly in kennels and become stressed or require extra T.L.C after vet care, these dogs are often found fosters homes and this is where our blankets come in.  The idea is that these blankets become little comforters for lost, homeless pooches to take with them to foster homes and then when they do find their forever home they take them with them as a little token of stability and normality to help settle in.

The pattern is by the simply brilliant Lauren O'Farrell of Whodunnknit and is avalible for a free download.

The pattern is quite simple, and involves plain and paw print design knitted squares joined together (I'm sure if your not ready for paw prints a plain blanket will not be turned down) Its also not a terribly expensive knit requiring around 125g of acrylic DK wool.   The pattern is available at the above links but I'm going to pop it here too.

You will need -

• Yarn: A total of 125g of colourful acrylic DK in as many colours as you like (each square uses about 5g of yarn)
• 4mm knitting needles
• One tapestry needle to sew squares together
• One lonely dog to give blanket to (Battersea will provide these for you. They have plenty)
• Comforting canine thoughts to think while you knit (very important)

Abbreviations: K = knit. P = purl.

Finished size: approx 50cm x 50cm (20" square) Just add more squares for a larger blanket.

Photo by Laura O'Farrell/Battersea Dogs home

Skills you will need: Knitting. Purling. Very basic sewing up for joining squares. 

The Purly Paw Print Patchwork Blanket is made up of 25 squares, knit in simple knit and purl. Ten plain squares, five tiny paw print squares, five medium paw print squares, and five HUGE paw print squares. Sew them all together et voila! A comfort blanket for a homeless hound who is feeling ruff...

Plain squares

Cast on 23 sts
Row 1. K across
Row 2. K across
Row 3. K across
Row 4. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 5 and all odd numbered rows. K across
Row 6 and all even numbered rows to row 38. Repeat row 4
Row 35 to 37. K across

Bind off. Make ten of these squares.

Small paw squares

Cast on 22 sts
Row 1. K across
Row 2. K across
Row 3. K across
Row 4. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 5 and all odd numbered rows. K across
Row 6 and all even numbered rows to row 10. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Rows 12 and 14. K2, p6, k2, p2, k2, p6, k2
Row 16. K2, p3, k2, p8, k2, p3, k2
Row 18. K2, p3, k2, p2, k4, p2, k2, p3, k2
Row 20. K2, p6, k6, p6, k2
Row 22. K2, p5, k8, p5, k2
Row 24. K2, p6, k6, p6, k2
Row 26 and all even rows to row 34. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Rows 35 to 37. K across

Bind off. Make five of these squares.

Medium paw squares

Cast on 22 sts
Row 1. K across
Row 2. K across
Row 3. K across
Row 4. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 5 and all odd numbered rows. K across
Row 6 and all even numbered rows to row 8. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 10. K2, p6, k2, p2, k2, p6, k2 
Rows 12. K2, p5, k3, p2, k3, p5, k2
Rows 14. (K2, p2) across
Row 16. K2, p2, k3, p8, k3, p2, k2
Row 18. K2, p3, k2, p2, k4, p2, k2, p3, k2
Row 20. K2, p3, k, p2, k6, p2, k, p3, k2
Row 22. K2, p5, k8, p5, k2
Row 24. K2, p4, k10, p4, k2
Row 26. K2, p3, k12, p3, k2
Row 28, k2, p5, k8, p5, k2
Row 30. K2, p7, k4, p7, k2
Row 32 and all even rows to row 34. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Rows 35 to 37. K across

Bind off. Make five of these squares.

Large paw squares

Cast on 22 sts
Row 1. K across
Row 2. P across
Row 3. K across
Row 4. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 5 and all odd numbered rows. K across
Row 6. K2, p5, k2, p4, k2, p5, k2
Rows 8 and 10. K2, p4, k4, p2, k4, p4, k2
Row 12. K2, p2, k, p2, k2, p4, k2, p2, k, p2, k2
Row 14. K2, p, k3, p10, k3, p, k2
Row 16. K2, p, k3, p2, k6, p2, k3, p, k2
Row 18. K2, p2, k2, p, k8, p, k2, p2, k2
Row 20. K2, p5, k8, p5, k2
Row 22. K2, p4, k10, p4, k2
Row 24. K2, p3, k12, p3, k2
Row 26 and 30. K2, p2, k14, p2, k2
Row 28. K2, p3, k12, p3, k2
Row 30. K2, p4, k10, p4, k2
Row 32. K2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Rows 34 to 37. K across

Bind off. Make five of these squares.

Finishing

1. Darn in all the ends. Sigh. 
2. Spend ages arranging the blanket squares in any order you like. Oooo pretty! 
3. Make yourself a cup of tea and put a good film on. You're going to be sewing squares together for a while. 
4. Sew squares together. 
5. Keep sewing. 
6. You're done. Woo hoo!

Once you are done you can either take it over to Battersea yourself, they are open to the public everyday or alliteratively pop it in the post to the following address.

Dog Blanket Appeal
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home 
4 Battersea Park Road 
London
SW8 4AA

Finally do follow Battersea Dog and Cat home and Laura O'Farrell on Twitter