A Girl in love with Puppies!

Our friend Amy has been talking to our kids about getting a dog for years!  I remember her telling Lucy that she was going to get a dog sometime and Lucy took that as, "Amy's getting us a dog".  How do you break the news to a 3 year old that that dog will be Amy's dog not her dog?  That was a couple of years ago.  There has been countless online searching for dogs, video watching of dogs (on Amy's iphone), dreaming about "the day", thinking about breeds and sizes and colors and names.  Ironically, since the beginning of this Amy-dog pursuit, we got our first family dog, Scout, and have entered the world of dog-love.  So, the time finally came for Amy and her sister, Ashley, to get that long-sought after puppy.

They found the breeder and decided on the dog, and then we all waited for this puppy to enter the neighborhood.  Amy decided on the name Patsy Cline for her girl Golden Doodle puppy. It really is the perfect name.  Amy, lover of country music, farm girl at heart, clever in all she does, named her puppy Patsy Cline.  Well, Lucy had to have a quick education about this name sake.  So one Sunday afternoon, we had a Patsy Cline YouTube overview and spent some time seeing, hearing, and singing some Patsy.  Lucy studied her outfit and tried to replicate it.  She began to dream about the day she and Patsy would meet.




Come to find out, this puppy has a sister too.  Amy's neighbor decided he wanted to buy the sister and then the sisters could stick together.  The plan was in place until the week the puppies were to arrive. A new wrinkle was added.  A couple of days before they came, he opted out.  So, Amy and Ashley opted in!  Now... 2 dogs were coming to their house! Double excitement!!

Lucy accompanied Amy to PetSmart a couple of days before they arrived to get the necessary dog stuff - 2 of everything! As they made the list of all they needed to purchase, Lucy added a "big crate" to the list. She said, "we have to get a big crate for them to climb on." We were confused and asked why they would climb on it?  She answered, "Well, her name is Patsy Climb".

Love it.

Then process of naming Patsy Cline's sister ensued.  After many options considered ("Rosie" being Lucy's vote),  they landed on June Carter.  Perfectly apropos.

When the day came for the puppies to be picked up, Lucy woke up, came downstairs and declared, "This is my luckiest day ever!".  The challenge was that we had to wait until late afternoon to meet "the girls".  We decided to make some homemade dog treats for them – something fun and productive to do to pass the time (the waiting time).

puppies, love and country music were the shapes we chose

Homemade Dog Treats borrowed from A Cozy Kitchen

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy natural)

1/4 cup honey

1 Tbsp. coconut oil (or olive oil)

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup wheat wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350˚. Whisk together peanut butter, honey, oil and chicken broth.  

In a separate bowl, combine flours and oatmeal.  Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. 

Place dough on flour dusted surface.  Roll or press dough out to about 1/4" thick.

Use a small cookie cutter to cut our cookies. Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.  

Bake for 14-16 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

Place in tightly sealed container.  

[Use within a week, as they will become moldy.  If you have more than you can use, freeze some in a ziplock bag, or share them with a dog friend]

Then we received the text message that we could come over.  The girl was GIDDY! We rushed over to Amy's house and met the adorable puppies!

loving June Carter

hugging Patsy Cline

fast friends

Love at first sight!

P.S. I must admit, being new to dog life, that I never had considered baking for dogs before this year.  However, when we adopted Scout, I felt so compelled to bake for him, that I immediately started searching on Pinterest for homemade dog treat recipes.  It was the most natural instinct for me to want to bake for him as a way to express my love and welcome to him.  I guess it's my default love language - I love to take cookies to welcome new neighbors, and muffins to appreciate teachers, and cakes to celebrate birthdays, and meals to honor friends.  So, I guess peanut butter dog treats for puppies just feels right to me!