Customer Reviews

Throw Me a Bone: 50 Healthy, Canine Taste-Tested Recipes for Snacks, Meals, and Treats

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though I throughly enjoyed the photographs in the book and the writing style, and highly advise people to take control of their canine's (and feline's, for that matter) diet, I wasn't particularly enthused by the recipes in this book.
Often excessively high in fat, and regardless of the nutritionist involved in the recipes, these foods will improve your dogs mood, but not his overall health. The best diet for a dog is obtained through a balanced diet of phosphorus to calcium (protein to bone) comparable to what dogs would have eaten in the wild. Although certainly heads and tails above kibble (as is almost anything), I felt that this book didn't give enough information or research into the nutrition requirements of dogs.

To get the best information, and certianly if you're going to go to the trouble of preparing foods for your dog, then I suggest any of a plethora of books on the subject. "Give your dog a Bone" by Ian Billinghurst, or any of Billinghurst's books, Natural Nutrition for Cats and Dogs by Kymythy R. Schultze, or Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health by Tom Lonsdale. Any of these books will help you plan an effective road to health for your dog without catering to the coffeetable book set. (Although I still LOVED the pictures in this book)

Cooper Gillespie, an adorable Springer Spaniel, is quite the food connoisseur. With a help from his owner, Sally Sampson, he's put together 50 recipes for dogs, his favorite dog related quotes, and photographs. The book was beautiful and well written, but its recipes are high in fat and are not nutritious to a dog. For a treat served scarcely, these recipes are divine to a dog's taste buds.

Between the recipes, photography, quotes and writing, this book is a perfect gift for anyone interested in dogs. I have tried a few recipes, mostly notably Goldies cupcakes and the tuna training treats, both of which my dog LOVED. Even if i never cook anything else (although i will), i love just looking at this book. It makes me laugh.

Of all the home made treats I have cooked up so far, the recipies from this book actually get my little doggy to do commands before being asked in the hopes of getting a tasty morsel. I packed a kong full of little bits and pieces from a couple different recipies and for the first time my little doggy made 'yummy' noises while he worked to get out the treasures. My doggy is very finicky, and has given two paws up for each batch made- I HIGHLY reccommend these recipies!!!

A funny, charming and delicious book. Nothing rrruffff about it. Gillespie and Sampson have completely won me over with their narrative and recipes.

This book is a great addition to my dog food cookbooks. It is simple and includes little info boxes that contain nutritional excerpts. I have other books that go into more detail, but sometimes I just want a quick simple recipe with quick simple nutritional notes. Thanks

I picked up this book because I prefer to make homemade meals for my dog and also appreciated Sally Samson's work on The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizzas, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts with Todd English. When I picked up this book I was not disapointed. It is full of diverse recipes and beautiful pictures of various breeds of dogs. Making it even more endearing is the fact that the preface to each recipe is written from the dog, Cooper's, point of view. It also has very cute lists of dog related bookes and movies at the end. Because of this I think it would be a perfect gift for another who is a hardcore dog lover and has a tendency to pamper their pooch.

That said, the one major flaw in this book is that it is lacking in nutritional information and guidance on how to create a solid diet for your dog. In fairness to the author, the title doesn't necessarily imply this. However, when 'healthy' is part of the title I expect to know what makes each recipe balanced or healthy. Again in fairness to the author she does have a dog trainer and nutrition consultant weigh in on the recipes, but we don't get much detail about what she finds good about the recipes.

Because of this I will be using the cookbook's recipes more as between meal treats or occasional special meals for a special occasion or birthday. If you are looking to the book for this purpose you will be more than satisfied as the book contains everything from Bow-Wow Birthday cake to Pawcakes to Cinnamon Bites. For everyday meals though I am continuing to search for a solid book that gives me more guidance on how I should be balancing my dog's diet to ensure good health.

I'm giving this dog cookbook the full 5 stars, even though I'm getting rather sick of books "written" by people's pets. The photographs are worth the price alone, but the recipes are fabulous and healthful. There's also a Table of Equivalents included in the back. There are also marvelous quotations sprinkled throughout of famous people's feelings about dogs.

I'm giving this book as a gift, too.

The photographs of the dogs are wonderful. Cooper Gillespie is the adorable spaniel not the photographer. Cami Johnson is the talented photographer who has captured her subjects' inner selves. What a charming book!

I borrowed this from the library before I bought. Turns out it was a good idea. I only found 3 recipes I would actually make for our dog. too bad... the pictures are super cute.