• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

SM? Huh!

Kate H

Well-known member
I'd made an extra batch of dog rusks and put them in a box with a good lid up high enough (so I thought) to be out of reach of the dogs. Went out to a meeting and came back to find box upside down on the floor, lid off, and Oliver and Aled just about to declare war over a rusk they both wanted! It's Oliver who must have stretched up, hit the box with his paw and got it onto the floor. As Annie used to say about her Ella (more or less - can't remember the exact words), SM doesn't keep Oliver down. Sometimes, though, I almost wish it would!

Kate, Oliver (who will have a reduced supper tonight to compensate for several missing rusks!) and Aled (who looked really reproachful when I confiscated a rusk he'd taken to his bed)
 
I'm sure they enjoyed their little naughtiness. Smart boys! Thank you for remembering what I would try to say about Ella. Means a lot to me.

I love how aled has taken to his room because he knows he was bad!
 
When I was a kid we had a lab who actually got into our Halloween candy from the top of the fridge. As a child I was pissed, dumb dog actually he was quite smart. After that we created him when we weren't home. I remember the vet gave my parents something to make the dog throw up that was FUN. My sister and I were glad it made him sick :mad: haha

Melissa
 
Oh how funny!! It's moments like this that you treasure :)

They are incredible when food is involved aren't they? Rupert broke my pedal bin by repeatedly jumping on the pedal so that he could shove his head inside to raid any goodies!!


When the adrenaline is raised they seem to be capable of anything - Teddy, who was really quite badly affected with SM, used to go over just about anything if he wanted to get to me - including a 4ft fence and a babygate EEK
 
They think they are so sneaky! Sounds like Oliver was the champion rusk-eater :D My cav discovered how to chew a little hole in the bottom of the kibble bag and steal extra helpings during the day. Now the kibble bag is in what my husband and I call the "plastic safe"... a very tough chew-proof container. For those cavaliers with bottomless appetites, it is so entertaining to watch their food-finding antics!
 
Okay, so first, what is a rusk?

They can be quite inventive! My Claire has recently taken to jumping like she's on a pogo stick, to try to reach our door handles which are levers. She has figured out if they are pushed down, we go out. But she hasn't figured out how to push down and pull the door toward her to leave the room.

I once had a cat who would push stuff off my kitchen counter for the dog, who was small. I could never leave any type of food, even baggd, on the counters.
 
My mother's husky will stand up, lick whatever she's eyeing on the counter, and then sit patiently. She knows we don't want it once it's been licked, so then you may as well just give the food to the dogs.

It drives me nuts that my mother just leaves stuff on the counter when she knows the dog will do this.
 
Clever doggies! A rusk is like a hard dried biscuit - different to a US biscuit - more like a dried cookie I think.
 
My rusks are made with wholemeal flour, bran, oats, margarine, milk, eggs and flavoured with garlic or cheese. You make them like a cake, cooked in the oven, then when cool cut them into small squares and dry them in the oven. They come out dry but not too hard - nice and easily crunchy for small dogs. In the UK rusks are regarded as baby food; in South Africa they are a popular snack, dunked in coffee, which is where I got to like them and then adapted for dogs. Those rusks are usually made out of slices of bread dried in the oven and are crisper than my dog version. My version is a bit of a fiddle to make - not least having the oven occupied for several hours while they dry on a very low heat, but with my new fan oven I can do them overnight with the timer set.

I started making them for my boys and now supply a great number of dogs in Coventry, plus my monthly training class! I always pop a few bags onto my mustard stall when I go to a market or craft fair and have quite a lot of regular customers. Oliver adores them, hence his nefarious activities!

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
If you can find a shop or market stall that sells Southern African food (SA/Zimbabwe), they will almost certainly sell Ouma rusks. The human variety have raisins or spices in them - I do make them sometimes, but also sneak the dogs' cheese ones, which contain a lot of mature cheddar and are nice! Perhaps I should make a batch for the auction, as they are light to post and last for ages! When I finally surface from my present deluge of work (I'm a freelance book editor), I'm going to put some of my mustards into the auction, so could do dog and human rusks as well.

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Back
Top