Mahna

Well first, Bogie turned 3 years old and I think he had a great birthday. His greyhound buddy (and owner, who used to watch Bogie all the time) came over for dinner and they both got some homemade peanut butter and carrot cupcakes with string bean candles, a few lasagna table scraps, and of course new toys. My mother went out and bought an expensive, very real looking squirrel squeak toy, and hid it in a bush to see if Bogie found it (and he did..). So here are a few pics from his birthday. Sorry about the quality, but I had just gotten a new cell phone that day, and was testing it out.


That is one of the cupcakes.

That is Bogie not sure of how to approach this thing that he has never seen before.

Once he decided the frosting tasted good, he picked it up, took it off the plate, and turned it over so he could make a mess.

After his delicious treat, Bogie went to lay on the other man in my life. I think he was rubbing it in that he is the one that got homemade cupcakes....

And onto the issue of "breedism..."

Over the past couple of years I've noticed that Bogie seems to hold a rather permanent grudge against a breed of dogs if one or two of the breed have angered him in some way. First, it was the husky. A group of friends stayed at my apartment and brought their husky with them. Supposedly, their husky was friendly, but the instant he walked into the apartment, he flipped out and went after Bogie. This, Bogie did not like, and it was a very hard weekend for everyone, mostly spent keeping the dogs in separate rooms. The husky got away a few times and went straight for Bogie. From then on, whenever we'd see a husky on a walk, i'd hear him make a low growl or the hair on his back would stand up. Next, it seemed to be the same flavor of dog. I think it was a Malamute or a Samoyed...very large and arctic looking. At a dog park, as soon as this dog saw Bogie, he went right for him, started on the humping. Bogie let him know he didn't like that, but the dog was huge and Bogie is not. The dog put his mouth around Bog's neck and held him down so he could continue his business. Bogie eventually got out of the grasp and we left. Another time, at the same dog park, there was a lady with two Boxers, and Bogie was happily smelling them both. When Bogie decided to play with the puppy boxer, the older one was not happy about that and went after Bogie. Now, whenever he sees a husky or any other arctic type dog, and boxers, he its extremely hard to control. When I see one coming on a walk, I usually sit him down off to the side on the grass and wait till the dog has passed, and this works fine on a walk. At a dog park it is a completely different story. The other day I took him to the dog park, and there were two boxers (different ones, same park). When Bogie was getting a drink of water, one came up and tried to shove his face in the bowl too, so Bogie snapped a bit. A few minutes later, the other one came over and sniffed Bogie, which he did not like. The boxer's owner made it sound like the Boxer initiated, but I didn't see that happen. Later on, the two boxers were playing, and Bogie kept trying to egg them on to come after him, I think. He just kept walking over to where they were in their own little world, and I had to keep him out of it. A little bit later, when a friend of mine showed up (who Bogie knows very well) came and was petting Bogie. A big arctic type dog came up and sort of nudged his head in the way so he could get pet, and Bogie snapped. I left the dog park after that one.

Anyway, long story short, I was wondering if anyone else has gone through anything like this and has any suggestions on what to do. I don't personally know anyone in my area with either Boxers or huskies, so I can't introduce him to these dogs in a controlled environment and let him see that they aren't all worth hating. I obviously don't want to stop taking him to the dog park, just because one of these dogs may be there when I show up. They really are the only dogs he has a short temper with.

There was another basset at the park, and his owner said her dog didn't like Boxers either.

Yogi's Mom

Happy Birthday Bogie! He is adorable!

murraysmom

I'll let others comment on your question, but I had to post to say those are the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen- I love the stringbean candles!

Rubydoo

Happy Birthday!

I love the string bean candles. Care to share the doggy cake recipe?

Janice and little Ruby

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Mahna

Well here is my best guess at the recipe. I sort of fancy myself a baker, so I just wing it pretty often.

I took the basic peanut butter carrot cake recipe for dogs I found a lot of, and cut out what I didn't like about it.

1 cup wheat graham flour (not ground as fine as regular wheat flour - fiber!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter (i'm pretty sure I used more than 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup unsweetened chunky applesauce (also think I used more than a quarter)
1 cup shredded carrots (i only had baby carrots around, and shredding those wasn't going so well, so I just chopped up a bunch of them)
1 tsp vanilla (I don't think this is necessary at all unless you want people to share the muffins with your dog.)
1/3 cup honey (I used slightly less - the dog wont care if the cake isn't sweet enough as long as it tastes like peanut butter)
1 egg (i used 2 egg whites)

So throw it all together and mix it very well. With peanut butter and honey, its hard to do by hand, so I recommend a mixer (either stand or hand). The batter tasted pretty good, just not super sweet. I put about 1/4 cup or so and made about 12 cupcakes. I didn't use liners - just sprayed the pan with some nonstick canola oil. And baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting, I used one part fat free vanilla yogurt and to two parts peanut butter, and mixed them with a hand mixer. Then I just added more peanut butter or yogurt until I got to a good frosting consistency. (It was actually extremely delicious if you like peanut butter, and I've used this to frost other things since, and no one knows it isnt made with loads of butter, cream, or cream cheese.) I put it in a ziploc bag and into the frig until the cupcakes were cool enough to frost. Then I cut off a corner of the baggie and tried to make pretty frosted cupcakes. I didn't eat one, but Bogie and Coda sure liked them. And I was told they weren't bad by a human friend, too. They are denser than people cupcakes.

Soundtrack

I had the same problem with Copper, she'd been attacked on more than one occasion by huskies and by shepherds (once at obedience class!). She had a general anxiety around larger dogs, and was specifically afraid of anything that looked like a shepherd or husky. If they came too close she would attack them.

Basically I closely monitored the environment when we were out in public. If a dog of the type she feared was present, I would keep her close and under control, but more importanlty I would not allow the other dogs to come near her. I have no qualms about "discouraging" other dogs from coming near, my dog has the right to go for a walk without being molested by other animals. If the other dog's owner doesn't like it, they can keep their dog under control.

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Charleen

Bogie is really cute. I love his coloring. Happy belated b'day.