This book is full of information on nutrition for your canine companion; contains more than 50 delicious recipes for stews, casseroles, snacks, treats, holiday and party food, and ethnic specialties; and provides information on feeding dogs with special health consideration. This sensible, wholesome approach to home cooking for dogs is a welcome companion for dog lovers who want to introduce healthful and enjoyable foods into their dog's diet.
This is a great book! If you like cooking (and eating) you will love this. Everything is easy to prepare. The recipes are wonderful and your home will have that delicious aroma. Although the book is for dogs (no spices or onions or garlic or salt, pepper and other ingredients), the food is really good and you will feel tempted to eat (you just add the spices for yourself). Every stew we made was amazing. We have a spoiled Boston Terrier named Bugsy Malone. He loves this book! The recipes makes large portions. We divide it by using small freezer bags and and then, when is time to serve, we defrost it in in the microwave. It’s a lot healthier. I do recommend.
I grabbed this book at a library book sale hoping for some fun things to incorporate into my dogs' diet. I was extremely disappointed by the recipes included. First of all, the author has zero nutrition experience and only had a vet's input on "certain sections" of the book - never mind that vets typically don't get much nutrition instruction in vet school, unless they are specialists in nutrition. So that was my first red flag. The second came as I quickly perused the recipes. I noted that there is very little guidance on things like purchasing low sodium ingredients or what leanness of ground beef should be used. Therefore, these recipes could easily result in high sodium or high fat foods which could be incredibly problematic for certain dogs. The third red flag quickly followed as I noted certain very questionable ingredients, such as chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, or "Westie White Sauce" which solely consists of butter, flour, and milk. (???)
I am not by any means a dog nutritionist; however, I have self educated on this topic for years. In my opinion, the best recipes for dogs are going to be appropriately balanced blends of protein/fat/carbohydrates and simple in ingredients. With the possible exception of some of the cookie recipes, I would not feed my pets any of these recipes. Although Roberts does include a caveat that this food should be added to dry dog food, I don't understand the point of why someone would go to the effort and expense of purchasing and preparing these ingredients and then continue to feed kibble. I think someone could do some selective research online, using qualified references, and probably come up with easier and better recipes than any in this book. I definitely do not recommend.
The book isnt bad, just very outdated. There are foods in here that you should not feed your pet which is different than it had been when this book was published. There are also foods used that dogs can be highly allergic to. As long as you do your research and know what foods are safe for dogs, then this book is a good way to start home cooking for dogs
Very unhealthy recipes. Too much starch, sugar plus adding unhealthy sauces, like ketchup and other oils. She uses honey for baking which creates toxins. Recipes with Italian sausages…what on earth!
This book is pretty ridiculous. I don't know many humans who eat this well. There may be some modifiable simple recipes in here, but these "dog food" recipes look straight out of Ina Garten's kitchen. Absurd.
Some really really great recipes for stews that can be combined with dry food, and frozen for future use. I use this book CONSTANTLY to make some great meals for my dog.