These days, Preston puts on his best behavior when Mommy mentions “Bison Bites”.
When choosing Preston’s treats, Mommy likes them to be simple, natural, healthy and of course, yummy. Dr. Becker’s Bites® are Mommy’s exciting new finds!
These crunchy treats come in three flavors: Bison (made with bison liver & bison heart), Beef (beef liver) and Veggies (2/3 veggies & 1/3 bison liver). Preston has tried all three and love them all.

Don’t they look like tortilla chips? Preston will tell you they are BETTER than tortilla chips!

It has become one of Preston’s daily routines to have a treat dispensing toy like Kong® when Mommy and Daddy are having their dinner. Preston finishes his dinner first and then brings his Kong over to Mommy to be filled with “goodie of the day”. Mommy is always looking for new yummy (and sticky) Kong fillings. Here are a few of Preston’s favorites. What are yours? Please share!

Beef & Rice: Puree 2 parts of cooked beef + 1 part of rice, add water to achieve the desired consistency.

Banana & Peanut butter: Puree one banana and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (and some optional honey). Add a small piece of bread to make it stickier.

(a behind-the-scene capture during the photoshoot…)

Salmon & Cream cheese: Puree 1/2 cup of cooked salmon and 2 tablespoons of low/non-fat cream cheese (or cottage cheese).

More great fillings… Just cook and puree!

Valentine’s day is always a splurge day for Preston (Mommy and Daddy too). His treat this year is especially sweet.
Mike’s Pastry is Boston’s most famous pastry shop. This place is so well-known even Preston knows about it.
Apparently, Preston has had his eyes on the pastry box all night since the moment Mommy and Daddy came home with it. He does not need anyone to tell him what “Mike’s Pastry” is and where Mommy kept the pastries.

Past Valentine’s day splurges, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Mommy has gotten many questions about Preston’s food so she thought a post about his food would help answer many of those questions.
Preston used to eat home-cooked meals but when preparing his food got too time-consuming, Mommy found a great alternative - The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Dog food.

THK offers high quality dog food made with human-grade ingredients. It is easy to prepare but still gives Mommy the pleasure of making Preston’s meals.

Mommy adds cooked meats and pureed veggies to the hydrated THK (THK can be served as-is. Additional meats and veggies are optional).

Preston does not normally get raw meats except raw sardines every couple of weeks. He also gets fish oil supplements (1200mg) daily.

FYI: Good reads about dog food: The Best Food For Dogs and The Dog Food Project.

Moo tubes are by far the weirdest looking treats Mommy has gotten for Preston. These dried beef trachea are not as hard as rawhide so the risk of teeth cracking is lower but they are tough enough to give Preston plenty of chewing pleasure.
Mommy ALWAYS supervises Preston when giving him chew treats like moo tubes, bully sticks, rawhide or pig ears. Hope everyone does too. Mommy can’t stress enough how important this is!!

Mommy and Daddy just love to see how focus Preston is when working on his moo tube.




FYI: Mommy likes to order Preston’s moo tubes and bully sticks from thebestbullysticks.com. For some reason, the bully sticks from them are not as stinky as the ones from other places.

Preston’s thanksgiving dinner this year looks better than Mommy and Daddy’s.

Another thing making this thanksgiving super special is that the long-anticipated Animal Planet Dogs 101 Puggle episode finally aired this weekend. Preston got a lot of emails from friends who saw him on TV. It was a short appearance but long enough to make Mommy, Daddy and Preston very excited! If you missed the show, you can catch a short online version. All the puggles that made the show are so adorable. Preston attempts to stand out by barking and howling at the camera and it worked!
Preston is cheering for himself.

Dogs 101 filming: Puggle Meetup.

Mango lassi (Indian yogurt drink) is one of Mommy and Daddy’s favorite drinks for a hot summer day. Mommy made a doggie friendly version of mango lassi for Preston.

Mango Lassi (adapted from Allrecipes)
Ingredients:
1 large mango (peeled, seeded and diced)
1 cup of plain non-fat yogurt
2 tablespoon honey
1 cup ice cubes
1 cup water
Directions: In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately. (mommy freezed the left-over and made mango frostypaw!)
(Add sugar and replace water with milk to make a great human recipe)
Mango lassi is perfect for a day like this…

Preston turns THREE today!
His blog is updated to a more “grown-up looking” design.

Of course there is a birthday cake on his big day. This year, Mommy made him “Apple Crunch Pupcakes” with peanut butter frosting.


The pupcake is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.


Apple Crunch pupcake (Adapted from Kool Dog Cafe)
Ingredients: make 12-14 pupcakes
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
(mommy made this with a medium-sized apple)
1/2 teasp vanilla
4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teasp cinnamon
1 cup dried apple chips
(used a fresh apple, chopped to kibble size)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten slightly
4 tbsp honey
(mommy used 6 tbsp, it’s a bday treat!)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin with vegetable oil.
2. Mix all wet ingredients (water, applesauce, vanilla, egg and honey) thoroughly.
3. Combine dry ingredients (flour, apple, baking powder and cinnamon) in separate bowl. Add wet to dry slowly , scraping well to make sure no dry mixture is left.
4. Pour into muffin tins. (fill it up, the dough will not rise a lot). Bake for 80 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out dry.
Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
1 8-oz package low fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all the ingredients until smooth.
(add confectioners’ sugar and more peanut butter to make it a human recipe!)

What is Boston’s best ice cream? Preston’s vote goes to JP Licks!
Preston had their doggie ice cream, “Cow Paw”.