Hello all. I have a bit of a strange dilemma. My 2.5 year old black lab mutt, Ellie Mae, was diagnosed with Masticatory Muscle Myositis this week. It's a pretty rare condition causing autoimmune destruction of the muscles used for chewing. Hers has rapidly progressed to the point of fibrosis, and she can no longer open her mouth. We're treating it, and there's a possibility that it will improve, but that is unlikely. She is able to eat wet food, and drink water, so that's not the concern.

The thing is, while her muscles are wasting away, which breaks my heart, she is very much her old self. She is still goofy and happy and energetic. She still wants to play all the time, and go for long walks every day. Here's the problem: she has never had any interest in toys that didn't involve food. She loves Kongs, etc. She'll occasionally chew on a rope, but that's about it. She never had any interest in other toys. Well... now she can't play with a Kong. She can work treats out of the many interactive toys I have around the house, but she can't eat them, so they've lost their interest.

I don't know what we're going to do long term, particularly if it gets worse, but for the moment, we're treating and watching. But I want her to be happy and fulfilled, ya know? And while I can still wrestle with her and take her for walks, I can't entertain her every minute of the day. So, I'm looking for suggestions to entertain a dog that has no interest in toys.

Thanks in advance. It's been a rough week around here, so the more help we can get, the better!!

Edit: I'm really looking for something other than food-related toys. it literally takes her 2-3 hours a day just to eat her food, and I have to think that opening her mouth against that much scar tissue is uncomfortable. and I will happily give her all the time and interaction I can, and we're good there, but I can't play with her 24 hours a day. I need things that she can play by herself. we have increased our training time, our walks, our cuddle time, but I do still have to leave the house during the day.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions so far!!

Please let me know if this isn't the right comm for this, I wasn't sure where else to ask.

My 8 year old German Shepherd-- see icon-- came downstairs a few minutes ago with what looks like a large portion of skin missing from the top of his nose and muzzle. It's reddish-pinkish-brown and I assume he did it when nobody was watching/everyone was asleep, he must have hit his face on something and cut it. I'm not sure how since the edges on one side are sharp angular zig-zag type cuts, but they're irregular, so it's strange.

The question is this-- is there anything I can do to help it heal faster? It looks really gross and I can't imagine it's painless at all. I cleaned it as best I could with him flailing around (he doesn't like having his face touched) and sprayed it with the pain relief/antibacterial stuff we used when he had hot spots from allergies, which is all I can do, right? Thanks in advance, guys!

You know it's the holiday season when every other post here has something to do with Turkey Day or Christmas. Haha. Anyway, I'm hosting my first Christmas this year, and I'm really excited about it. My mother in law is so...well, she seems to think that if she eats anyone else's cooking but hers, she's going to spontaneously combust or something. I don't kno what her issue is, but I digress. I've got a tentative menu worked out in my head, and I'd like y'all's input.

( Mmm, Christmas dinner, anyone? )</lj-cut

It's my friend's birthday party tomorrow (21st) and I said I'd make a cake. It's also bill paying time so I can't fork out the money to buy everything from scratch. Plus I bought him 2 liters of rum.
So, members of cooking, I need the best from the box recipes you have. Something that nobody will ever think I threw together tomorrow morning.

Thank you!

My goofy girl, Isabel, has recently become completely fixated with the fence in our back yard. As soon as I let her and Ollie out, she'll race around the yard once, then come to a screeching halt in front of a particular section of fence. Sometimes she'll just stare from very close, and other times she'll try chew on the wooden baseboard. There doesn't seem to be anything in front of the fence that she might want, and she pays no attention to anyone who walks past or us when we try to distract her. She will not willingly move away from the fence - I have to grab her collar and wave a ball in front of her face to get her to chase it, after which she'll usually pee and poo, but soon she'll be back to staring at the fence again.

What can I do to break this fixation? I've tried pulling her away and throwing a ball every time she gets close to it, which works briefly, but doesn't seem to be a real fix. I'm not really sure what else to try, short of doing walks only for a couple of days and seeing if she doesn't just forget about it (although I may be underestimating her memory).

I'm not too sure if this is allowed and so ( behind a cut it goes )


Mods, if you don't want this here then I'll remove it.

And, on a slightly related note, are we having a training challenge this month? Or have I just missed the post?

This video cracked me up. I want this dog.



Sadly there was a number of ignorant comments posted in response to the video - if anyone wishes to provide some balance here's the direct link: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3d0_1257397541&p=1

Hello Dog_lovers!
My name is Suki and I've been lurking for a while but I thought it was about time to stop being rude and introduce myself. I live in Edinburgh with my SO and our new furbaby Loki, I say new we adopted him from a woman who rescued a beautiful Northern Inuit named Saskia who went onto season 3 days before her first dog Rio a border collie was nuertered...... A happy mistake bringing 10 gorgeous pups and bringing us Loki.

We decided to get Cole a new jacket for the upcoming cold weather. :-)

I had to leave my dogs in Georgia with my husband while I attend vet school in Kansas. Its been hard, but I Skype with them on a regular basis. Here is my sleepy boy from tonight:

To keep this post on-topic, here's a photo of my "lethal" cranberry sauce:



Recipe is quite simple: cranberries and cranberry-flavored Jell-O made with the traditional Jell-O shot method. I buy a fifth of vodka and then enough Jell-O mix and cranberries to make a couple batches. Sometimes I will add a little sugar. It makes holiday gatherings with the family much more tolerable!

Anyway, on to my real point of making a post tonight: has anyone successfully done a fried turducken??? I have googled it but I am sure some of us food pornstars have some great advice. I also welcome advice on preparing an oven-cooked turducken but I really want to try deep frying it. Thanks.

Growing up, chocolate pudding was a staple in my home and one of my favorite comfort foods. Making pudding from a box, stirring it slowly over the stove is one of my earliest memories of food.

Now a bit older and wiser, I know that the real thing is so much better! You can’t beat the smooth, velvety texture and rich creamy flavor. You’ll likely have many of these ingredients on hand. Why settle for preservatives when you can easily make the real thing? I like it served warm in a bowl with a nice dollop of freshly whipped cream on top. It’s a simple, year-round dessert.

Chocolate Pudding

Adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/3 cup high quality cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or half n half
• 4 large egg yolks
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons high quality vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature (cut into small pieces)

In a large stainless steel bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Then whisk in 1/2 cup of the milk until you have a thick paste. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking to blend into the cocoa paste mixture. Set aside while you heat the milk and cream. Have a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl ready near the stove as you will need to strain the pudding after it is cooked.

Pour in the remaining 2 cups of milk with the cream into a medium-sized heavy saucepan . Bring this mixture just to a boil and then remove from heat. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the pudding mixture to a clean large, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. Remove from heat and pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Add the finely chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and butter, stirring gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth. Pour into 6 to 8 bowls. Can serve warm or if chilling, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the warm puddings to prevent a skin from forming.

We had a friend visit us a couple of days ago, and had an impromptu chocolate tasting session - we bought a ridiculous amount of different flavoured chocolate in Germany a while ago, and it was a good time to share it.

Some flavours were good, some less so. But the one that truly stuck out was the Zaabar sage flavoured chocolate. Although it lacked a little something....and then we looked at the hard goat cheese on the table, and at each other, and at the chocolate....

The combination of dark chocolate, sage and goat's cheese is phenomenal. Aside from making a pretty unusual cheese course, I now want to combine these flavours in a dish, but I'm not sure the world is ready for it...and I'm not really sure what could be created! Any suggestions?

Mmmmkay, so, I've seen a few Thanksgiving posts in the last week or so, but I don't know that I've seen this particular question.

What is your BEST classic Thanksgiving recipe? You know the classics: stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. How do you prepare it?

In other words, share your ULTIMATE Thanksgiving menu, with recipes, please!

(Oh, and, you know, help a girl out here - I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever, and my family has never really had much of my cooking, other than a side dish here and there, so I'd really love to totally blow them away.)

Our family dog, Baby, has left us to go be with her sisters in heaven. I'm a little in shock right now. She hasn't been right since my dog Happy died in December (her buddy). But I guess we couldn't bring ourselves to realize that.
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Japanese Noodles with Butternut Squash, Chanterelle Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts in a Beef and Sriracha Broth

Sprouts is such a happy dog...



I love him so so so much.

I haven't taken him hiking in forever, perhaps we will go do our 5 mile hike tomorrow... I am so out of shape, It will be Spud's first 5 mile hike ever.