Our featured smilers of the week. See more in our Smiling Dogs Gallery.

This week: Bodie, Buddy, Einstein, Mimi, and Sam.

Our featured smilers of the week. See more in our Smiling Dogs Gallery.

This week: Buddy, Coco, Mufasa, Karla, and Kaih.

Every dog deserves the occasional cookie, but some treats can trigger allergies or tummy trouble. Dog Cookies comes to the rescue with 30 easy-to-follow recipes for healthy, allergen-free treats—including vegetarian and gluten-free treats—so you can find the perfect cookie no matter your dog’s diet.

hubbleandhattie.com

For the gluten-free Amaranth Waffles recipe, see the Summer 2011 issue of The Bark.

Fish Feasts

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups wholegrain spelt flour
5/8 cup potato flour
100g (4oz) fish
1/4 cup broth or water
A pinch of dried parsley
1 free-range egg

Baking time: 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven
Temperature: Fan-assisted oven 160°C, conventional oven 180°C
Makes approximately 350g (12oz) of Fish Feasts

Preparation:

Any type of fish can be used for this recipe, so use whichever your dog likes best.

Caution: Ensure all of the bones are removed from the fish.

• Use a food processor or immersion blender to shred the fish into very small pieces. You can also use tinned tuna (preferably in brine rather than oil) for this recipe.
• Mix the pureed fish with the wholegrain spelt flour, potato flour, broth and parsley, and work into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave for 30 minutes.
• Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3mm (1/10in), and cut into small heart shapes, or any shape you like.
• Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper and place the hearts on the try. Use a fork to prick holes in them.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, then turn off the oven, open the door and leave the biscuits to cool for one hour.

Treat tip

Regardless of which fish you use, these biscuits should not be stored for too long. Salmon, for example is quite high in fat, so there is a risk it may go rancid. Store the biscuits in an airtight container, and do not keep them for any longer than two weeks.

Fennel cookies

Ingredients:
1 5/8 cups rice flour
3 cups rye flour
5/8 cup wholegrain spelt flakes
1 1/4 cups milk
2 free-range eggs
1-2 teaspoons of ground fennel seeds

Baking time: 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven
Temperature: Fan-assisted oven 160°C, conventional oven 180°C
Makes approximately 420g (15oz) Fennel Cookies

Preparation:

• Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or hand mixer with dough hooks and process into smooth dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave for 30 minutes.
• After rolling out to a thickness of approximately 3mm (1/2in), cut shapes out of the dough and prick with a fork.
• Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper, put the cookies on the tray and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes, then allow the cookies to harden for an hour in the oven with the door slightly ajar.

We had the chance to talk with Matthew Gilbert, TV critic for the Boston Globe and author of one of our 2014 “Best Reads” about his first book, Off the Leash: Year at the Dog Park and his conversion to being a dog lover. His is a rather unique perspective because not long ago he was definitely on the other end of dog-loving spectrum.

You seem to be in a rather unique position being rather new to the dog world, you can see both sides, can’t you? So from the “other” side, the non-dog-loving side of things, can you recall your reasons for not liking dogs, and are they any that perhaps make you cringe today when you remember those feelings?

The first thing I think of is the way my hand would buzz after I touched a dog, until I got to a sink to wash it. I did not like to have physical contact with dogs, or with anything they’d touched!

Good lord. Now, I pet my dog Toby 100 times a day, scratching under his chin and around his ears until he starts swooning with pleasure. I kiss his snout, I sniff and kiss his paws, I rub the boogers off his eyes in the morning. I love the tactile sense of him.

I think back on my distaste and cringe ten times over. I was missing one of the great joys of life…. Wow. I was living in a bubble, and I felt that dogs were just too spontaneous and reckless for me. I depended far too heavily on a sense of order and control, and dogs were the opposite of that.

Also, my mother was terrified of dogs, and that filtered down to me. She would not be able to relax if there was a dog in sight. Nowadays, when I see little kids at the park, I enjoy introducing them to Toby, trying to make them smile at the big lug of a goose who’ll sit and give me his paw for a treat. It’s very healing, unless the parent is too nervous.

What advice would you give to people who don’t much like dogs but perhaps, for the sake of the children or their spouse, might be considering getting one?

It took me years to fall in love with dogs. I fell in love with a dog person, and that was the start of the change. To use a popular term, I evolved… So I don’t think there’s a magical solution to the dislike of dogs.

My advice would be to open up your heart as much as possible, watch the pleasure the dog brings to the other members of the family, try to appreciate that. Don’t shut yourself out of the experience because you were pushed into it. Who knows, you may evolve, too, in a lovely way.

In your book you do a very good job about what that immersion was like, but tell us what your biggest surprises were about discovering that you are really a dog lover? Any surprises about being thrust into the middle of the dog park community? What did you think it would be, and what was it really like?

I continue to feel surprised by the change, some 10-12 years into it, and I have friends from the old days who still tease me about how I once did not like dogs. When I’m with dogs now, I feel happy in a way that’s hard to define, but that still feels new. It’s like the presence of dogs changes everything for the better, and I relearn that over and over again.

The surprises at the park were fantastic. I thought it would be a catty (!) environment with lots of breed snobbery and competition. I thought conversations would be painfully superficial. I thought watching dogs play would be boring. But within a few months, I understood that those fears were mostly unfounded, that the relationships we form daily at the dog park can be profound, that watching dogs play is one of the best pleasures in life, that we meet great people at the park we might never have met otherwise.

I’ve never been so happy to have been so wrong.

Are there things about the dog park community now that make you wonder if you are truly a part of it? I realize there are all sorts of factions within any societal group, but like the bulldog meet up group who “spoiled” it for others at that one park, what are you views of that? And what, if you were able to warn enthusiastic dog people about, what would that be?

Some days, I feel like an outsider. Either there’s no one to talk to, or there are people but they’re in what seem like closed groupings. But I’ve learned to let that go, and it has been a great shedding of baggage. No friends at the park today? Wait until tomorrow.

Dogs are my role models in many ways, not least of all because they are experts in resilience and letting go.

I’m not a fan of breed “meet-ups,” just because they can be exclusive. They also draw people from far away who may not much care about treating the park with respect. Still… who am I to judge any kind of celebratory gathering of dogs? Meet-ups are not for me, but any dog joy is good.

My biggest warning to a dog-park newcomer is: Don’t assume all owners are responsible. We want to think the best of anyone who loves dogs, but some owners have aggressive dogs and subject other dogs to that. It’s so awful. I recount an attack on Toby in my book, and I still shudder when I think of the sounds my little goose made while a whippet started snapping at him.

No one wants to be in the position of keeping a dog on leash at the park, but if your dog has been proven to have issues, you need to protect others. If you show that you want to be fair, that you are responsible, people will inevitably try to help you out. If you keep letting your dog go after other dogs, you will probably face a hard road with a lot of angry people moving away from you.

I do think that a lot of the “opposition” to dogs results from some of us being rather clueless when it concerns others and how they perceive us and our dogs. What do you think and do you want to give any examples?

Some dog lovers don’t understand just how terrified of dogs people can be. But, as someone who has been on the other side, I am fully aware of it. It’s not an act. A person who is afraid of dogs doesn’t understand anything about breed temperament or size; all they know is they are scared. So I think dog owners need to find some patience and respect for the fearful.

We kind of need to be ambassadors of the dog world when we are among those who don’t understand it. I’m not saying we don’t have rights; I’m just saying a little bit of sensitivity and friendliness goes a long way. Rather than put a non-dog person on the defensive, try to cultivate them.

One other thing: Dog owners need to pick up their dog’s poop, always. Poops on sidewalks and park grass are the dog-haters’ best ammunition against us. Plus, no one – not even dog owners – wants to step in it.

Are there any things about raising the pup Toby that you would do differently?

We’re lucky, because he’s turned out so happy and peaceful. I was very gung ho about training him early on, and in retrospect, as I detail in the book, I was being too controlling. So maybe I would be a little less aggressive about teaching him commands.

Although he still won’t “drop it,” dammit!

Everyone seems to love to talk about the “lessons” learned from their dogs, so tell us if there are any you would like to share with us?

That’s such a great question, and one I hope my book answers to some extent. The lessons include resilience, being in the moment, remembering to play, keeping joy in your daily life, not being afraid of the complications of socializing, becoming more trusting, and on and on…! I still learn new things from Toby and his friends every day.

You and your partner have a different style of dog-raising, has that resulted in any conflicts, how are they resolve? Has he ever taken to the dog park scene that you so successful have?

Tom is definitely not a dog park person. For a while, my friends at the park teased me about my phantom husband and whether I’d made him up.

He loves Toby in a more private way. He has a man-and-his-dog fantasy, and he lives it out by walking Toby around the city and on trails. Some couples come to the park together all the time, or alternate; not us.

There have been tense moments when I’ve had to remind him that Toby loves to be among dogs, and there have been moments when he has gotten tired of my dog park stories. But overall, we have adapted to our differing styles. We both love Toby so much; it always comes down to that.

Do you have a difficult time seeing Toby as a dog? Do you ever fear that you aren’t living up to his expectations?

Sometimes, yes. For one thing, I talk to him all the time, and I give him voice, too. I have conversations with him, while he sits looking at me with his big brown eyes like I’m such a strange creature. But ultimately, I love the fact that he is a dog, and not a human being. That’s one of the best things about dogs – that they aren’t human!

His expectations are steak every day, cookies in between, and a constant flow of the best, most squeakiest toys. So I know I’m not living up to his expectations! But seriously, I think he’s a happy dog, and I think he likes having some restrictions – say 10 cookies a day instead of 1000. I think he knows that we are madly in love with him, and that we would do anything for him. And I love that feeling. He trusts us, and that is everything.

Being a TV critic, what are the most memorable dog characters on TV now? If you were to write a TV show about your dog, what would that be?

It’s not for everyone, but I love “Wilfred” on FXX. We see the dog on the show as a man in a dog suit, which is kind of twisted but a lot of fun. The writers insert a lot of jokes that only dog owners will understand. I also enjoy Stella the French bulldog on “Modern Family,” mostly because of the love and humor she brings out in the humans.

My fantasy would be to see “Off the Leash” as “The Office” at the dog park, with a cast of lovable misfits and a mockumentary tone. I think that would be perfect.