the meaning of food, not for the dog, but for the owner. For the owner, food is the currency by
which the dog expresses his love. That’s why not-eating, as discussed above, sends so many troubling messages. When the dog
doesn’t eat, the owner takes it to mean: You don’t love me.
Therefore we advise owners raising Jewish dogs to keep on hand, at all times, every possible kind of dog food, except for
poison ones that contain wheat gluten from China. Be sure to stock “wet” (i.e., canned), dry, cheap, pricey, chicken, beef,
lamb, fish, and every other flavor on the market. The idea is to provide the dog with every possible opportunity to eat. If
(or, rather, when) the dog turns up his nose at one, try another, or three others.
DOG FOOD: HOMEMADE
A different strategy for feeding has been gaining popularity in recent years: preparing homemade dog food in one’s own kitchen.
We find this very exciting and encourage all owners at least to consider it, for these reasons:
The dog will eat better.
Most people are capable of preparing food, in their own kitchens, that is more delicious and nutritious than commercial dog
food.
You will look virtuous.
When you make the dog’s food yourself, you display to the dog, to yourself, and, most important, to the world, just how fully
and selflessly you love the dog. How will the world know about this? It will be up to you to tell it. We have discovered that
people who prepare their own dog food have little, if any, difficulty working that fact into any conversation with friends,
relatives, neighbors, retail clerks, colleagues, complete strangers, and so forth.
You improve your ability to “train” the dog.
By preparing the dog’s food yourself, you raise the stakes of the dog’s not-eating. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble. You’ve
made something superior in every way—and probably far superior to the foods the dog’s so-called friends are eating and which
the dog thinks are so special when he happens to eat over at one of their houses.
Thus, when the dog doesn’t eat the food that you yourself have prepared, he is easily guilted and made to feel that the significance
and meaning of food, appetite, health, emotion, love, loyalty, obligation, and gratitude are all completely mixed up and inextricably
combined. This is the perfect state in which he can be taught all the other lessons involved in being raised Jewish.
Of course, making his food yourself means accepting the responsibility, if the dog doesn’t eat what you’ve prepared, to find
out why. Is it the peas he doesn’t like, or the carrots? Is it the parsley he finds objectionable, or the leeks? Is it the
white mushrooms that put him off, or the portobellos? You’ll have to employ a certain amount of scientific rigor and experiment
by serving the same dish prepared seven or eight ways, each with a different ingredient removed, to find out what he doesn’t
like. Be prepared to discover, when you finally do figure it out, that he’s changed his mind and that you have to start all
over again.
We know that most owners are busy people and that preparing dog food is not exactly near the top of their list of things to
do. Still, we urge you to think about it. The Internet is full of recipes you can try when cooking for your dog. We also invite
you to look for our book of dog food recipes—all tasty, easy to prepare, and with a Jewish flair—when it comes out next year,
entitled
Try It, You’ll Lick It.
TABLE SCRAPS
The question of whether to feed the dog table scraps is a perennial source of controversy in the dog world.
Some say table scraps should be absolutely verboten, that human food spoils the dog’s appetite for dog food and introduces
sugar, fat, and other unhealthful ingredients into the animal’s diet. Add to this the well-known dangers of chocolate and,
some believe, tomatoes, and the perils of sharp bones that can splinter.
Others believe that table
which the dog expresses his love. That’s why not-eating, as discussed above, sends so many troubling messages. When the dog
doesn’t eat, the owner takes it to mean: You don’t love me.
Therefore we advise owners raising Jewish dogs to keep on hand, at all times, every possible kind of dog food, except for
poison ones that contain wheat gluten from China. Be sure to stock “wet” (i.e., canned), dry, cheap, pricey, chicken, beef,
lamb, fish, and every other flavor on the market. The idea is to provide the dog with every possible opportunity to eat. If
(or, rather, when) the dog turns up his nose at one, try another, or three others.
DOG FOOD: HOMEMADE
A different strategy for feeding has been gaining popularity in recent years: preparing homemade dog food in one’s own kitchen.
We find this very exciting and encourage all owners at least to consider it, for these reasons:
The dog will eat better.
Most people are capable of preparing food, in their own kitchens, that is more delicious and nutritious than commercial dog
food.
You will look virtuous.
When you make the dog’s food yourself, you display to the dog, to yourself, and, most important, to the world, just how fully
and selflessly you love the dog. How will the world know about this? It will be up to you to tell it. We have discovered that
people who prepare their own dog food have little, if any, difficulty working that fact into any conversation with friends,
relatives, neighbors, retail clerks, colleagues, complete strangers, and so forth.
You improve your ability to “train” the dog.
By preparing the dog’s food yourself, you raise the stakes of the dog’s not-eating. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble. You’ve
made something superior in every way—and probably far superior to the foods the dog’s so-called friends are eating and which
the dog thinks are so special when he happens to eat over at one of their houses.
Thus, when the dog doesn’t eat the food that you yourself have prepared, he is easily guilted and made to feel that the significance
and meaning of food, appetite, health, emotion, love, loyalty, obligation, and gratitude are all completely mixed up and inextricably
combined. This is the perfect state in which he can be taught all the other lessons involved in being raised Jewish.
Of course, making his food yourself means accepting the responsibility, if the dog doesn’t eat what you’ve prepared, to find
out why. Is it the peas he doesn’t like, or the carrots? Is it the parsley he finds objectionable, or the leeks? Is it the
white mushrooms that put him off, or the portobellos? You’ll have to employ a certain amount of scientific rigor and experiment
by serving the same dish prepared seven or eight ways, each with a different ingredient removed, to find out what he doesn’t
like. Be prepared to discover, when you finally do figure it out, that he’s changed his mind and that you have to start all
over again.
We know that most owners are busy people and that preparing dog food is not exactly near the top of their list of things to
do. Still, we urge you to think about it. The Internet is full of recipes you can try when cooking for your dog. We also invite
you to look for our book of dog food recipes—all tasty, easy to prepare, and with a Jewish flair—when it comes out next year,
entitled
Try It, You’ll Lick It.
TABLE SCRAPS
The question of whether to feed the dog table scraps is a perennial source of controversy in the dog world.
Some say table scraps should be absolutely verboten, that human food spoils the dog’s appetite for dog food and introduces
sugar, fat, and other unhealthful ingredients into the animal’s diet. Add to this the well-known dangers of chocolate and,
some believe, tomatoes, and the perils of sharp bones that can splinter.
Others believe that table
Similar Books
