Dylan has separation anxiety. One theory is to give a dog a treat that keeps them occupied while we are gone. Some people give their dogs a Kong that are stuffed with treats that are hard for their dog to remove; others give their dogs puzzle boxes that require a series of moves/taps to extract treats. Most of the toys are made out of synthetic materials and it just seemed wrong to me to have Dylan chew on synthetic toys.  I gave him a raw cow bone, which he loved. Every day when I returned I would put it in the refrigerator so it did not rot too fast. What I noticed was that he just couldn’t get all the marrow out and would start to chip the bone apart, so that seemed like a bad idea too. Mike made some wonderful Vietnamese Beef Pho soup one day and used a fresh meat bone for the broth. When he was done using the bone for the soup, we gave it to Dylan and he loved it. I also noticed it was a lot more solid than the raw bone and did not splinter. So I decided to stuff it with treats, you can call it a “natural version of the Kong.”

I started with stuffing milk bones into the cow bone but they just slid out. What I needed to do was to find a treat that could plug the bone on either side, creating a challenge for Dylan, occupying him while we are gone. I tried a bunch of treats from the store but nothing really worked well, or the ones with natural ingredients were just too expensive.

Therefore, I decided to make my own.

I searched the internet and books in the library for examples that I experimented with. I finally adapted a recipe by Anne Jonna from book her “The Healthy Dog Cookbook”.  It contains all the elements of a great recipe – easy, limited effort, natural ingredients, yummy.  I am able to shape the treat into balls so I can create the perfect plug for the cow bone Dylan loves them.  Even Mathew and his friend enjoyed them, hence I needed to put them away and explain that they were for Dylan. Unfortunately, the whole exercise has been futile. The goal was to occupy Dylan while we were away, thus reducing his anxiety.  Although he loves the bone filled with treats, sadly, he does not eat the bone while we are away; he waits until we get back and then eats it. When I let him out of his crate, he simply runs out with the bone in his mouth, pees and then goes back into the crate to work on his bone. Cesar Millan, where are you when we need you?

Peanut Butter Ball Treat

Mash up 1 banana

½ cup water

3 heaping tbsp. peanut butter

1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour

Mix ingredients, wet hands and roll into balls.

Bake 350° for 20-25 minutes

Makes about 24

Store in jar, keeps for about a week, but they disappears faster, especially when boys find them.