Homemade Dog Treats (3 Ingredients!) -- Something for Beau, Who Has Earned Every One

January in the cabin. Wood stove going round the clock. Worked at the construction company in Lexington this week. The body holds. Most days.

Connie at the vet clinic, four shifts this week. Her back is tired. She does not say so. I see it. Mama is 85. She is the toughest person I have ever known. She still cooks every day in the company house in Evarts.

Pot roast Sunday. Chuck. Five hours low. The kitchen smelled like the cabin smelled when I was a boy.

Travis called Tuesday. The landscaping company is busy. He sounds tired in a good way. Amber called from Louisville. Hospital is busy. Floor nurse to charge nurse to nurse manager — she is the most successful Hensley alive.

Earl would have known what to say about that. Earl is not here. I said nothing. I went on.

Amber sent the kids' school photos this week. Nadia is taller every year. Marcus has Amber's serious face. Little Betty has Mama's eyes.

The creek was running clear Sunday afternoon. I watched a kingfisher work the riffle. Did not move for an hour. Some Sundays the watching is the worship.

Connie read aloud from a novel Tuesday evening while I worked on the bench. Some Appalachian writer she had picked up at the library in Whitesburg. The voice was the voice of where we live. We listened together.

I went up to Earl's grave at the Evarts cemetery Saturday. Brought a beer. Drank half. Poured the rest on the dirt. Some traditions are mine alone.

My back was tight after the wood-splitting Saturday. Took an Aleve. Slept eight hours. Got up.

I checked the truck oil Saturday. The mileage on this truck is criminal.

Drove the truck to the dump Saturday afternoon. Saw three deer crossing the road on the way back. The mountains have been giving back this year.

Connie cut my hair on the porch Tuesday afternoon. She has been cutting my hair for forty years. The barber in Pineville cannot do what Connie does, which is also love.

The neighbor up the road — Old Roy, eighty-seven, lives alone — had a small heart scare. We took him soup beans Tuesday. Cornbread too. He cried a little when he ate. We all cry over soup beans eventually.

Drove to Pineville for parts Wednesday. The hardware store man knew me. We talked about the weather and the price of feed. Forty minutes for a five-minute errand. That is rural Kentucky.

Travis sent a photo of Earl Thomas riding on the mower with him at a job site. The boy is wearing a Hensley Landscaping T-shirt that's too big. Three generations on a mower. I saved the photo.

The dog — old Beau, fifteen years old — slept by the wood stove all afternoon Tuesday. He used to be a hunting dog. Now he is a heating pad with opinions.

I sat on the porch with bourbon at sundown Friday. The fog rolled into the hollow the way it has every fog of every year. The porch was the porch. The bourbon was the bourbon.

Sunday service at Harlan First Baptist when we go. Pastor preached about Ruth and Boaz. The choir sang. Connie wore her gray dress.

I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night working on the recipe project. Mama's soup beans. I cannot get the words right yet.

I split a half-cord of wood Saturday. Slowly. The back does not let me work fast anymore. It got done. The wood was for the smokehouse.

Connie made jam Saturday afternoon. Wild blackberries from the patch up the hollow. Twelve jars. The pantry is filling for winter.

I wrote about Beau like he was a footnote, but he is not a footnote. Fifteen years is a long time for a dog to stay. He used to run the ridgeline before sunup and now he just leans against the wood stove and breathes slow, and there is nothing wrong with that—that is what a life looks like when it has been fully lived. Connie made jam on Saturday and I split the wood and somewhere in all of it I thought: I ought to make that dog something too. These three-ingredient treats are not fancy, but Beau is not a fancy dog. He is a good one.

Homemade Dog Treats (3 Ingredients!)

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: About 24 treats

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (plus more for dusting)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (no xylitol)
• 1/2 cup water (adjust as needed for dough consistency)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
2. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, eggs, and peanut butter. Add water a little at a time, stirring until a firm dough comes together. It should not be sticky—add a touch more flour if it is.
3. Roll and cut. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter or simply cut into squares with a knife. A bone shape is traditional, but Beau does not care about tradition.
4. Bake. Arrange the treats on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20–25 minutes, until the edges are firm and the bottoms are lightly golden. The treats will harden more as they cool.
5. Cool completely. Let the treats cool on a wire rack before giving them to your dog. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week, or freeze for up to three months.

Nutrition (per treat, approximate)

Calories: 75 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Carbs: 10g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 20mg