On Memorial Day, several years ago, I sent some friends out to the local convenience store to get some ice. Minutes later they returned with a small, dirt covered little dog. It was hungry, thirsty and scared. When they opened their car doors at the "711," he jumped in. These friends, Andrew and Priscilla, just happened to be kind souls who were always rescuing dogs. They came home immediately without any ice, but with this tiny little guy who needed some help.

I was not looking for a dog at the time. I had never had one. The next day, as I picked him up and as his eyes met mine, it was like I fell in love with this tiny creature. We have been best friends ever since. Ricky (the one on the left) is a Bishon Poodle mix. The vet said to get him a friend, as this breed can  be destructive if left alone. 

A few months later in February, a campus security guard found a wet, mangy, little dog, all skin and bones, wandering around a school campus. Kids were throwing rocks at her. Brenda scooped her up, wrapped her in a towel and was shopping her around in tears, because she could not take her. She and her husband already had several big dogs. I looked at the little face under the towel, and said, "I'll take her!" She cleaned up into the sweetest, most beautiful apricot colored Maltese Poodle. She is the one in the middle. The dog to the right is also a rescue Terrier mix, named Peggy. She belongs to my friend Rose. 

Suddenly, I had two canine friends. But what to feed them? With a background in Chemistry and Engineering, I always look at ingredient lists on everything. It turns out, the things they put in dog food are pretty sketchy. One sees this immediately on the labels of dog food packages. Usually, first, maybe second, third and even fourth on the list are some kinds of grain meal: soy, corn, wheat. Then, something called, "meat meal," comes after the grains. Further invesitgation showed that ground up feathers, sawdust, already decomposing meats and meat by-products, rancid oils and other things unfit for human consumption go into this ingredient category. Add on that, dyes to give a brown, meat-like color, preservatives, and other ingredients to help the mixtures pass through the processing machinery, all are on the list of most commercially produced dog chows, even supposedly "healthy" ones. These ingredients are ground up, formed into pellets and then baked at super high temperatures. Think about it, an unrefrigerated piece of meat on your kitchen counter would begin to decompose and smell after only a few hours. But this pet food can be open for months at room temperature, with humdity, environmental molds and fungi in the air, and they never rot. Ever. Can such lifeless food  be healthy for dogs? I mean, modern dog food might be convenient, but if it makes your pup unhealthy and miserable, can it really be good? Think about this: the number one cancer that dogs get is stomach cancer. Many dogs end up arthritic, with painful joints and other health problems. Is this related to their food? If you ate nothing but pancakes everyday for a month, would you be healthy? Probably not. Commercial dogfood is heavily processed, and effectively dead food, in spite of the beautiful picture on the outside of the bag.

Knowing this, I endeavored to do differently for my little friends. I began to cook food for them. I made a lot of mistakes at first. But little by little, I began to find a way to make really healthy meals, which were also fairly convenient, too. People at dog parks would marvel at how shiny their coats were, and how active and playful they were, especially as they got older. I would tell them about how to cook for their own pets. I would share recipes. People kept saying I should write them into a cook book. Finally, I put them all in one place, and and called it, "The Canine Culinary Dog Food Cookbook - For Maximizing Your Best Friend's Health, Happiness and Longevity." It has over forty recipes, based mostly on organ meats. I chose to use those because according to my research, those are healthiest for them. Animals in the wild will preferentially eat organs first, because they are the most nutrient dense parts of their prey. Think beef, pork and chicken hearts, livers, kidneys, and  gizzards.  Add vegetables, maybe some quinoa or rice or a few other ingredients for fiber content, and, Voilá, as they say in France, there you have it. 

As I worked on the book, friends and family members allowed me to photograph their dogs, or shared photos of their canine friends. Then friends of friends, perfect strangers did likewise. The dog photography came in from all over. The list of dog photographers and photo contributors can be found at the end of the book. 

In the beginning of the book, there is information about the rationale for cooking your own pet food. And, ways to make it convenient are also provided. The QR code to the left will take you to Amazon.com where it is available in ebook, hard and soft cover. 

One other sidebar issue: economics. A bag of "high quality" kibble can be as much as $40 (usd). This might last for a couple of  weeks, depending on the size of your dog. But a pound and a half or beef heart is often less than $4. Let's face it, organ meats are not popular cuts in the USA. Indeed, often you have to go to ethnic markets to even find them. Add in some veggies and a bit of quinoa and you will have approximately enough to feed your dog for a whole week for maybe $5 and change. So clearly, if one is at all concerned about the cost of feeding your pup, homemade is a substantially less expensive. We have not even mentioned saving money on vet bills because your dog stays healthier.

Lastly - 10% of the proceeds from this book goes to support no-kill shelters and other animal rescue related organizations. If you know of a worthy one, please email the name and information about it to : info@thecanineculinarydogfood.com.