Woof.

A handful of months ago, I had a bad case of baby fever. Gracie had been asking for "one wish, and one wish only," one that only Jeremy and I could grant:
She wanted a sibling. Badly.
 On and on she went, hammering it into our brains, making sure we knew what her little heart desired. Well, the nail missed my brain and landed straight on my heart. A baby? A baby....Maybe? Maybe...Hmmm..
Over the years pregnancy has not quite been on our radar, you see, pregnancy and I have a little history of not getting along. I would love to give Gracie her biggest wish and in a parallel universe where my body handles it perfectly, it would have happened already, and maybe another one too. But, back to the grim reality that for us, pregnancy would bring with it a cloud of uncertainty which has outweighed our desires to keep growing our family, putting us in a holding pattern until final decisions are made.
I've had many tears about this and lots of anger, but the tiger inside still struggles with the desire, and darn it, is that ticking clock ever loud. So I did what any irrational person would do, and got a puppy instead. : )

So first, now that I've had a baby and now have a puppy, they are defiantly not the same. Although I will say, a puppy is more similar to having a toddler with a nasty chewing habit running around your house without a diaper on.

Daisy is the first puppy I've ever had. She was a 5 pound wiggly bundle of urine soaked fur when we got her, having somewhat rescued her from a bad situation. The minute I saw her I knew she was to be part of our clan. Her body relaxed when I picked her up, and so did my shoulders. Jeremy's voice went into that whispery falsetto that I love so much when he see's something small and cute. Babytalk. Something I  missed hearing him do so dearly.
For awhile this quieted Gracie as she fell head over heels for this adorable creature that we have nicknamed "Daisy the Destroyer.". Wherever Grace is, that's where Daisy wants to be, although when it all comes down to it, she's imprinted onto me. I'm her person.

For Grace though, this doggie is something magical. A confidant of sorts, a partner in crime, her childhood BFF, and so far, she has lived up to the expectation:





Someone to pal around the yard with.



A buddy to run through the sprinkler with.

Someone to get sudsy with.

 Someone to keep you company while you have pneumonia.

Someone to follow you on a path you've just blazed.

Someone to cheer you on.




 She's chewed holes in the drywall, ruined our carpet with pet stains, left Gracie with a slew of one-handed Barbies and legless polly pockets, yet still all she has to do is give me that one little hound dog look with her ears tilted slightly back and I get all softie on her. Her miniature size helps with her spell on us too. A tiny furry wiener with stumpy legs and a curly furry metronome of a tail that wags non-stop. You can't help but smile.

Lately, she's become smarter, and naughty-er when it comes to coming when she's told. She can sense when I am going to leave, and does not want to come near me if she thinks it means I am going to put her in the car or in her crate. Going through the list of discipline options I thought I had an idea. A-HA! I will bake her something that will make her mouth salivate at the thought of, something she would equate with the call of "Come Here!" I will concoct the ultimate doggie biscuit to make that naughty girl listen.

She will want to do anything for it. It will be the end of calling her name to come inside when I have to be somewhere else in five minutes and seeing her run the other way and dive into the tall grass where she knows I cannot go.
So Gracie and I headed to the kitchen after searching the web for dog biscuit recipes and here is what we came up with.

 I wish I wrote down the site so I could give proper credit, but didn't, so I tweaked a few things. The dough was very easy to work with and the biscuits baked up nicely.

 We used small cookie cutters, but feel free to use larger ones for your bigger furry or not so furry friends. I have named these:

                  People Biscuits (I'll tell you why, later)


3-4 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
Reserved bacon grease
2 Cups whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup Flax seed
1/4 Cup wheat bran
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 Cup peanut butter
1 egg
3/4 Cup water

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cook bacon and reserve all the drippings. In a bowl combine flour, flax, bran, and baking powder. Crumble the bacon into the mixture. In the microwave, warm the peanut butter. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and pour it into the bowl with the flour mixture. Next, add to it the warmed peanut butter, bacon grease, and water. Mix well.
Put the dough between two pieces of parchment paper or waxed paper and roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick. That way, your rolling pin won't get all sticky. Pull off the top piece of paper and start cutting out shapes with your desired cookie cutter. We found dipping it in flour before each use helped.
Put the cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn off the oven, then leave them in for an additional two hours. We keep some in our fridge and froze the rest. They will keep in your freezer for about six months.

Well, I was fully intending on the dog dropping whatever she was doing and come running to these biscuits, but she didn't. Instead, they were more attractive to Gracie and Jeremy who shoved them in their mouths and gave me the thumbs up. Sure, Daisy likes them, but she also likes eating cat poop and used Kleenex, so that might not be saying much. My master plan did not work and I still see her hiney disappear into the thicket when she spies me reaching for my coat. Back to square one. Recently at a family bike riding trip, I brought some of these for the dog, only to have Gracie doing the begging to have one instead. I said, " Nope. But, here's an apple." And, so, they have been named people biscuits.
And as for the baby fever? Cured? Not a chance.
Woof.