Mark Beckloff - Cooking the Three Dog Bakery Way

We'd like to nuzzle up to the following people for their help in pulling this project together:

Tanya McKinnon, our literary agent at Mary Evans, Inc., for her guidance, good energy, and wit. Jennifer Josephy, our wonderful, steely-eyed editor, who guided this book to its completion, correcting our grammar and spelling every inch of the way. Richard Simon, our hilarious, talented, and much-loved friend, who listens and inspires. And a big tail wag to the entire dog-loving staff at Three Dog Bakerybakers, packagers, administrative, management, and retail bakerieswho work so hard to make the brand shine.

Special pawshakes to Kathy Warren, VP merchandising; Bonnie Yarmo, our KC bakery manager; Patrick Ramsey, Executive Pastry Chef; Thomas Hudson, Director, Quality Control; Mark Muchmore, Personal Chef; and Dr. Mark Finke, for their help with the recipes in this book.

Tummy rubs to you all.

very long time ago (specifically, three epochs, two eons, and half an era, at around six-thirty in the morning), a long-tailed and bushy-coated animal called Cynodictis started his slo-o-o-ow evolution through a wolfish foreparent (Canis lupus pallipes, or wolf-dog with covered paws) into Canis familiarisbetter known as man's best friend. In the millennia since then, dogs have kept us warm at night, protected our homes, warded off untold dangers, and saved our livesand all without a thought in their furry heads about repayment for services rendered.

Don't you think they deserveat the very leasta tray of fresh-baked SnickerPoodles?

If you do, then welcome to Three Dog Bakerythe world's very first, bone-i-fide, four-paw bakery for dogs! Three Dog Bakery is a canine confectionery, a pooch patisserie, a mecca for muttswhere dogs go to see and be seen, sniff and be sniffed, nibble and be nibbled. Our unique bakeries are scattered across the world, and every one of them is full of fresh foods, de leashous treats, fun, fur, cold noses, and tail-wagging galore.

Let us tell you about what we do, just in case your dog has not been lucky enough to visit one of our bakeries (or to have you fetch something for him or her). Our bakeries give baked from scratch a whole new meaning. We are a chain of full-service, full-line, fully working bakeriesand it's all for dogs! Where else on earth can a pooch go for such paw-rennial favorites as PupCakes, Rollovers, Great Danish, Bark'n'Fetch Biscuits, or Jump'n'Sit Bits? Dogs consider us the Ben & Jerry's of their world, and with good reason.

The fact is, we've been fresh-baking the world's best foods and treats for dogs since 1989and our company's growth over the years is a howling successtestimony to the quality of the stuff we love to bake. We use only wholesome, healthy human-quality ingredients in all the tasty things we produce. We stay close to the earth in our ingredient selection to enable you, as a consumer, to know (and pronounce) what's in your dog's foods and treatsand to let you feel great about what you're serving. Plus, all-natural, high-quality ingredients will help your dog (who, after all, is the real consumer) live a happier and healthier life. It is a little-known fact that 99.9 percent of all dogs surveyed prefer whole grains, fruits, and vegetables to propylene glycol any day of the week. If dogs are ever made out of artificial material, maybe we'll feed them artificial food product. But until then, our motto is: All-natural foods for your all-natural dog!

There has always been a profound love between dogs and their faithful human companions. However, what was expressed quietly in years past has now come screaming out of the doghouse and into the open. We've seen an arfful lot of change in the wonderful world of dogs since those far-off days when folks went slack-jawed hearing that we had started a bakery for dogs. Today there are pet resorts, gyms, bed and breakfasts, and canine nail salons you might say that the world truly is going to the dogs.