Okay, so maybe you’re like me…not exactly Betty Crocker.  Too risky to subject your spouse or friends to your cooking?  Afraid of being shunned or ridculed?  Here’s a suggestiong…focus your culinary exploits on your canine friends.  I decided to bake meat cupcakes for Oscar…it sounded like a good idea - a fun treat in flavors that he’s crazy about (chicken and beef). 

After slaving away for a good part of the afternoon, I ended up with a big mess and two dozen mini meat flavored hockey pucks.  I was pretty disappointed with the results of my experiment, but decided to let Oscar taste test anyway.  Lo and behold…he loved the mini meat pucks!!  He chomped the first one down and looked at me with adoring eyes…success!!

So, I’ll stick to ordering take-out for the two-legged members of the family, but I’m happy to know that I can satisfy my homemaker urges by cooking for O-Dog!  For tips on baking for your pooch, check out this article.  There are also lots of dog recipe books and free dog recipies on the web.  Feel free to experiment or dogify your favorite people recipes.  Just make sure to avoid ingredients that are dangerous for dogs.  Check out our post from February 18 for a refresher about foods that are poisonous to your dog. 

Here’s a picture of the special banana-carob birthday cake that I made for Oscar’s 1st birthday and a video of him eating it!!

Elected officials in Massachusetts have recently filed legislation to ban pet rental businesses in the state.  Check out this post by our Boston site for more details.  Flexpetz (the same company causing all the commotion in Mass) already has a NY location.  They operate out of the Wet Nose Doggy Gym at 34 East 13th St.

I don’t think anyone can argue the benefits for the people…the joys of pet ownership, but only when it’s convenient, but is it fair to the dogs?  According to people who oppose pet rental, they believe that it detrimental and can potentially confusing and upsetting to the animal. 

But according to Flexpetz, all of their dogs have been rescued from animal shelters and their hope is that they will be adopted by someone who rents them and falls in love.  Furthermore, pet rental clients are thoroughly screened before they are allowed to become clients and they insist that the dogs are very happy and well cared for.

One of our readers in Boston pointed out that many people don’t how much responsibility is involved in owning a dog.  Many dogs end up in shelters each year because their owners realize too late that they aren’t prepared to take on the responsiblity  of pet ownership.  Could sad situations like this be avoided if people had the opportunity to test drive pet ownership?

What do you think?    Is this a good way to let people enjoy spending a little time with a dog if they are unable to keep one as a pet, or is it unfair for the dogs themselves?

I am so excited to hear that the ASPCA has started construction of the United States’ first Anti-Cruelty Institute in New York. It will open in 2010, and will include a forensic laboratory and veterinary hospital dedicated to animal victims of abuse and neglect.

Of course, this is good news for animal lovers everywhere, but I also learned that there’s another compelling reason to prosecute perpetrators of cruelty and abuse to animals.  According to this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, people who abuse animals are likely to move on to violent crimes towards people.    Examples include serial killers and sexual homicide offenders.

To learn what you can do to help prevent animal cruelty in NYC, check out the ASPCA’s Anti-Cruelty Resource Center and take the pledge to fight animal cruelty.

Join TIME’S UP for a dog-friendly bike ride starting in Union Square next Saturday, May 17th!

The Doggie Pedal Parade is a bike ride that highlights green transportation with animal companions and animal rescue and adoption.  The ride route features animal rescue shelters and animal friendly locations, as well as several East Village community gardens.

 Check out the TIME’S UP website for more details.

I think we would need more than a week to get Oscar bike-ready…I tried to put him in the special dog-friendly shopping cart basket in Bed, Bath and Beyond and he totally freaked and jumped out.  However, now that Oscar has mastered canoeing, maybe we should tackle biking next!

Do you think it’s strange that we’ve already had Oscar immortalized in art several times??  It does seem a little excessive, but every time I look one of our pieces of Oscar-art it makes me really happy…and isn’t that what’s art is supposed to do? 

I commissioned Josh’s step-sister (Kaetlyn Wilcox) to create this amazing personalized work for his birthday last year….

All of the dogs in the painting are friends of Oscar’s…I just emailed her some pictures of Oscar & his friends and asked her to do something with a Dog’s Playing Poker theme.  She did a truly amazing job and added many personal touches…the poker hand is the hand that won the World Series of Poker in the year that Josh was born, the painting on the wall (inside the painting) are molecule balls, etc.  We truly cherish this painting.

If you would love to have a one-of-a-kind piece of art featuring your dog, but can’t afford big bucks for an elaborate personalized painting, there are other more affordable options as well…

Josh found an artist (Amelia Make Art) who creates miniature replicas of your dog out of felt.  You can get your dog a “Mini-Me” for ~$145. 

Oscar always wants to play with his Mini-Me - he stands on his hind legs and paws at the air in L’il Oscar’s direction, even though I keep explaining to Oscar that it’s ART and not a toy.  Silly dog.

A local Brooklyn artist has offered to draw your dog for free, all you need to do is send a picture via snail mail.  The dog drawings posted on his/her Flickr site are pretty impressive.

Or you can take a picture that you love and frame it in an artistic way.  We framed this picture that our friend took in a document frame to give it a more polished look…

We’d love to hear about other dog art or artists…must go now…every time I try to start typing on my laptop Oscar sticks his head on top of the keys and nudges my hands…someone wants some attention!!  Blarg…jkjjkl;