So because I’ve been taking more photos recently since joining Instagram @mywhiskeygirl, I’ve also been paying out much more treats for beautiful Whiskey poses. Whiskey (and most dogs) don’t work for free! My cat Moo, also gets treats daily for using the human toilet, and just being cute 🙂 There are cheaper treats out there (using flour or chicken meal) but of course, my pets prefer the more expensive ones which tend to be the one-ingredient dehydrated meat! It also makes me feel better knowing I don’t have to count how many I give her calorie-wise although I am much poorer for it.
local beef liver from our raw food provider
Eventually, I started thinking to make my own treats by purchasing a dehydrator off Amazon and asking my regular dog-meat provider for extra beef liver to make treats. I got a larger tray dehydrator because it seemed quieter and had a fan so you didn’t need to constantly rotate the trays for even drying. However, I would have liked a timer on the dehydrator so I could have it run overnight without waking up to turn it off.
chop up liver into smaller slices
Lay out liver on trays
Dehydration turned out super simple, especially if your meat provider has already sliced up the meat ahead of time. Just make sure the meat is fully dried and keep them in the fridge or freezer if you are not using them immediately. I also chop them into smaller pieces to make handouts easier. Of course, you can also hydrate human food too (we’ve done beef jerky but I’ve yet to get the recipe perfect).
Dehydrate at highest temperature until fully dry at thickest parts
My partner and I both work full time jobs. Our work is by contract, so sometimes we get a month or two off, and sometimes when there is a deadline we work alot of overtime. Lately we’ve been both working overtime which means 50-70 hours and 6 days a week, and we all live in an apartment so how does this work? I assure you Whiskey is a very happy dog that gets out more than any of us. Besides, every hour of overtime means time off with mom and dad at a later date and extra monies for treats.
We have a lovely walker that takes her to the forest for a hike everyday with 5 other dogs and she still gets her 2 walks on top of this. We stagger our overtime hours so there is someone home with Whiskey just like in a normal non-overtime work week. On the one day we have off, we go hiking rain or shine. Of course this means we don’t have much of a social life outside of dog friends and hiking buddies, but who needs that?
This involves some creative scheduling especially when we also like to socialize, take classes, and do normal errands etc.
Here’s a normal 40 hour workday
7:20 – alarm rings, crate is opened for morning cuddle time
7:50-8:40 -walk to the park mostly off leash
park play
8:45 Breakfast!!
9:00-12:30 Crate rest time (I am suspicious Moo takes this time to walk around and on top of Whiskey’s crate to tease her)
12:30-3:30 Dog walker comes and takes her for 3 hours, 1.5-2 hours off leash hiking in the forest with 5 other dogs, the rest 1-1.5 hours is transit time.
getting ready to be released into the forest
out for her daily hike while I work
3:30-6:30 Free roam of entire apartment (she usually sleeps)
This. While I work!
6:30-7:30 Evening walk in a park, off leash
7:30 Dinner!!!!
7:30-8:30 bother mom and dad for attention, food, and playing
8:30-11 nap
11pm- last pee outside
11:30-12am evening cuddle time, then Whiskey usually crates herself
12am-7:20am crate for the night
Crate- Whiskey has never been destructive (in a year she’s only shredded my sheepskin slippers) and she doesn’t “need” a crate, nor does she like hers much. She never goes into her crate unless it’s a scheduled “crate time”, otherwise she is on her pita bed or our bed. I believe the crate is a good habit to keep up though, and it’s also nice to have a peaceful sleep.
On the weekends we will do longer walks, usually in a forest or mountain, sometimes on-leash in the city with some off leash sections. About once a month we will do a larger adventure if we aren’t working too much.
