I'm sorry that the link I provided doesn't take credit cards - I suggest Googling for the item and finding another vendor that does if you don't have a Paypal account. May I offer another perspective on the Lyme Disease crisis? I know that many people really feel that a diagnosis of Lyme is a devastating, life-altering, health issue. I don't know them so I can't dispute their beliefs or health status, but I can state that I have had Lyme and been treated for it (twice) with a course of oral doxycycline, both times successfully and I do not have any long-term issues. My poor DH had neurological Lyme (positive spinal tap and Bell's palsy) and he was also successfully treated without long-term consequences, though in his case it required a PIC line and 30 days of very expensive IV antibiotics. In my rural, farming neighborhood, nearly everybody has had Lyme, at least once. We live in the upper Hudson Valley in a Lyme "hotspot". I find feeding ticks on me at least dozen or more times each year, despite fairly rigorous anti-tick behavioral precautions. (I use no sprays or insecticides on either myself or clothing.) I do keep doxy on hand to take prophylactically (single 200 mg dose) if I find a tick I don't know, for certain, has only been on me for a few hours. (That strategy has always worked well until the advent of Anaplasmosis which can be transmitted much earlier on. It is unknown how much time is needed for Anaplasmosis, unlike Lyme which needs a bite of 18-24 hours duration. In the case of the bite where I got Anaplasmosis, the tick could only have been on me less than 6 hours, and probably only biting me a good deal fewer hours.) If you live in a tick area you might consider discussing post-bite prevention antibiotics with your MD. (And as a side note unlike some drugs which can lose potency over time, doxy both loses potency and becomes toxic. So, please, don't use old doxycycline, ever.) Since I expect to encounter ticks, daily, I only rarely discover a tick that could possibly have been on me more than a few hours. (Example 21 bites last year, but only a single instance when I didn't know for sure that there was no way it could have been on more than 6 hours. And even though I took the preventive doxy for it, it was not a matter of having missed one after being out, just a failure to do a tick check prior to going out for the day.) Which brings me to my most important strategy suggestion: If you live in a tick area, or plan to go to one: do a thorough tick check BEFORE (or daily in the am in my case where I live in tick-hell) you go out. This gives you a tick-free starting point to age any subsequent bite. I also change out of my outdoor clothes after being in the woods or gardening as soon as I come inside. I never sit on the couch, or a bed, or on a rug in tick-exposed clothes - in fact I won't even sit down, except in the bathroom, in tick-exposed clothes. I wear tall boots (Wellies) for much of the year. I have separate outdoor coats for going out into tick areas and going to the grocery store. I routinely tuck all my layers in carefully: undervest into panties, turtleneck (with cuffs!) into pants, shirt into trousers, etc. I find only very thick socks will stop tiny nymph ticks, so I don't bother much tucking pant legs into socks. Working in my woodlot, I wear Carhardt bib overalls with slightly over-long legs that slop over my shoes. I never, ever, wear shorts, or sandals, or a skirt in a tick area unless I am prepared to be there for only a few minutes and then go in and strip down for a full tick check. My late Mother who was an ornithologist (wildlife biologist who specializes in birds), made for herself one-piece, zip-front overalls because she worked in very tick-infested areas of the world (with a whole different set of virulent tick-borne diseases.) I've been thinking of digging out her patterns and seeing if I can make myself some lightweight ones for summer this year as I anticipate being even more exposed than usual. I had to give up one of my most-cherished daily activities: walking out in the early morning with my cup of OJ to see what had come up overnight in my garden because I usually did this in my long nightgown. Ticks just adore hopping on to flannel and then hiding in the seams only to come crawling out the next night in my bed! Notwithstanding my fairly elaborate anti-tick strategies, I want to point out that a tick bite, even a diagnosis of Lyme disease, is not necessarily an enormous health crisis. True, some people seem to find themselves engaged in protracted issues, but most people do not. There is a substantial, and thriving, cottage industry promoting long-term Lyme disease problems. Ordinary, straight forward, evidence-based, medical care in most cases is more than sufficient. Don't assume that just because you've heard of Lyme horror stories that long-term problems will inevitably happen to you. And in the case of Anaplasmosis, what I am recovering from just now, there is NO known case of long-term, or chronic, infections. In researching it after I got out of the hospital, I found many of the so-called "Lyme-Aware" websites lumping all tick-borne diseases into the chronic-crisis viewpoint. But deep research into the medical literature at a medical library refutes this. One person who I encountered recently in my effort to get the word out about the presence of Anaplasmosis (someone really promoting the whole chronic-Lyme thing) told me that my high post-disease Anaplasmosis antibody level was "proof" of the disease remained lurking, insufficiently treated, in my body. Um, no, the antibodies show my own system's response to the infection and its state of being able, now, to better defend against it in the future. This is how vaccines work! I suggest taking a good deal of the chronic Lyme online information with a healthy dose of skepticism. Your own primary care doc can take care of you quite well in the case of Lyme. You don't necessarily need to be treated by a so-called Lyme-Literate physician. Do daily tick checks (at least 2X day); decide on some family strategies for minimizing the risk of bringing ticks in on clothing to drop off in the house; consider getting a script for prophylactic doxycycline for tick bites of unknown length; put Frontline on your pets if they go out; get any tick off completely and promptly and without squashing it while doing so; clean the bite with hydrogen peroxide or Betadine; lay in a supply of Benadryl topical cream if you, like me, get very itchy on the third day after a bite; take the 14 or more likely, 30-day, course of treatment if you develop any a tick-borne illness and don't make yourself too crazy over the highly-promoted, but remote, potential of long-term illness. It's not inevitable, nor even, likely. Please note: I am not saying that some people don't develop long-term illness from tick-bites, just pointing out that there is considerable hype, and a lot of misinformation, out there related to Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses. I urge you to keep in mind that most people do not have any serious problems. And I really don't want to dispute Alisande, someone who I respect a great deal. But I don't agree that the treatment protocols are confused. In the case of Lyme and Anaplasmosis, (the only two I have personal experience with)they are pretty straight forward. When my husband was diagnosed with neurological Lyme (a stage worse than "simple" Lyme), I checked out various so-called Lyme-Literate medical practices. Some were so obviously doing "wallet-biopsies" on prospective patients that my alarm bells went off. As Alisande says most won't take conventional insurance or Medicare, require significant up-front cash payments and there's substantial uncertainty whether their treatments are any more effective than standard care. We opted for standard care and even at that advanced stage, it was a complete cure for him. What is very effective against the risk of of all tick-borne diseases is: personal vigilance (daily, careful tick checks); prophylaxis of some bites; and recognition and prompt treatment of any illness. In the case of three of the four possible tick-borne diseases in the NE (Lyme, Anaplasmosis, Erlichiosis and Babeseosis) doxycyline treatments of varying lengths are the cure for the early-stage disease. Only Babesiosis requires different antibiotic regimen. HTH, L.

cjhwillis, First off, I would like to point out that while a Doberman or a Rottie may not be a "Bully Dog" most people certainly consider them one. I work with a local Bully Breed rescue and trust me, any large mean looking dog is considered a Bully Breed by the general public. Point made since you are the first one to dispute this classification! :-) Also, when I was naming all the large breeds you mentioned I was doing so because the OP had stated that all dogs large enough to kill should be eradicated!!!!!! In addition, the Doberman also comes from Great Dane descent. There are also many, many dogs that have these different descents. I don't agree that because a breed has a bully breed in its descent that makes it a bully breed. Which brings me to my next point, (since we are getting down to specifics) you are misinformed on what technically is a Bully Breed. Mastiffs are one of the oldest breeds of dog dating back to Aristotle, Philip the Second, Alexander the Great, etc. / 400 - 300 B.C. Too many breeds to list have Mastiff in their ancestry. The only Mastiff that is considered a Bully Breed is the Bull Mastiff coming from a Mastiff and Bulldog descent. A bully breed has all to do with being of Bulldog descent, not Mastiff. Bulldogs were originally bred to fight Bulls in the Arena (hence their name) and was developed in the 13th century. Yes, they are of Asiatic Mastiff descent yet, as I mentioned, Mastiffs are one of the oldest breeds and there are too many dogs to list that are of their descent. Also, in your list of bully breeds you seemed partial to large breeds. You forgot to list the Boston Terrier which was originally called the Boston Bull and is from English White Terrier & English Bulldog descent. Avg. size 15 - 20 lbs. Also, the French Bulldog whose descent is from the Chincha Bulldog. Avg size is 22-28 pounds. Breeds that are classified as Bulldog Breeds (Bully Breeds) are as follows: Boxer, English Bulldog, Old Englishe Bulldogge, Amercian Bulldog, French Bulldog, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog, Valley Bulldog, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, Boston Terrier, Bull Mastiff, and Banter Bulldogge. You had listed the Cane Corso Itailiano as a Bully Breed, this breed is of direct descent of the Canis Pugnax (Roman Mollosian), no Bulldog in this breed. A great website for researching breeds is linked below. I recommend it to anyone looking to obtain a new pet dog, the information is invaluable. Cheers Sarah

The pumpkin is great. I'm not comfortable with the Crisco. This is a favorite dog-people treat I've baked for gifts: Peanut-Banana Biscotti -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 5 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup chopped peanuts -- (up to 1/2 cup) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 large egg -- lightly beaten 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups pureed bananas 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract water Preheat the oven to 325 and set a rack on the middle level. Have ready one or two ungreased nonstick baking sheets. (Or line regular baking sheets with parchment paper.) MIx the flour, peanuts and baking soda together in a large bowl. Gradually stir in the remaining ingredients, except the water, until lumpy but blended. Add enough water, a teaspoon at a time, to make a stiff dough. Knead by hand until thoroughly mixed. (Or blend everything in a food processor.) For very large biscotti, form the dough into 2 logs, each about 2 1/2 inches high, placing one on each baking sheet. Flatten each log so that it is 6 inches wide and 1 inch high. For medium-size biscotti, form 4 logs, 2 on each sheet, and flatten each into loaves that are 3 inches wide and 1 inch high. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove to wire racks and let rest for 10 minutes. (Leave the oven on.) Transfer the logs to a cutting board and slice into 1/2-3/4-inch pieces. (It's easiest to slice them on the diagonal, using a serrated bread knife.) Return the slices to the baking sheets and bake for about 20 minutes longer, turning once, until they are golden brown. Cool on racks. Store in a tightly closed tin at room temperature. Make 30 (large) or 60 (medium) dog (or people) biscuits. Description: "from The Best American Recipes 1999 by permission from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And here's another one from Rose Levy Beranbaum that's extra-healthy and makes a big batch. As long as they're not underbaked, they have excellent keeping qualities. Bone á Fidos Categories : Dog Treats Gift Giving Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast -- (1 envelope) 1/4 cup warm water pinch sugar 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour -- (dip and sweep method) 2 cups whole-wheat flour -- (dip and sweep method) 2 cups cracked wheat -- (dip and sweep method) OR 1 cup cornmeal -- (dip and sweep method) 1 cup rye flour -- (dip and sweep method) 1/2 cup dry milk -- (lightly spooned into cup) 4 teaspoons kelp powder 4 cups beef or chicken broth Glaze (optional) 1 large egg 2 tablespoons milk Ingredients by weight: 7 grams dry yeast -- (.25 oz.) 59 grams warm water -- (2 oz.) pinch sugar 500 grams all-purpose flour -- (1 lb. 1.5 oz.) 312 grams whole-wheat flour -- (11 oz.) 115 grams cracked wheat -- (4.5 oz.) OR 120 grams cornmeal -- (5 oz.) 145 grams rye flour -- (5.25 oz.) 50 grams nonfat dry milk -- (1.75 oz.) 4 teaspoons kelp powder 907 grams beef or chicken broth -- (2 lbs.) Glaze (optional) 50 grams egg (shelled weight) -- (1.75 oz.) 30 grams milk -- (1 oz.) Equipment: Cookie sheets lined with parchment or foil; rolling pin; 3- 3/12-inch bone cutter or 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Place oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat to 300°. Spinkle the yeast over the water (110°). Add a pinch of sugar and allow the yeast to sit in a draft-free spot for 10-20 minutes. The mixture should be full of bubbles. Stir well to dissolve the yeast. In a large bowl place all the dry ingredients and stir to blend. Add the yeast mixture and 3 cups of the broth. Using your hands, mix to form the dough, adding more broth if needed to make the dough smooth and supple. Half a batch at a time, knead the dough briefly on a lightly floured counter. (Keep the second batch of dough covered with a moist towel while shaping and cutting the first.) Roll out the dough into an 18-inch by 13-inch by 1/4-inch rectangle. Cut it into desired shapes, using either a bone cutter or round cookie cutter. Reroll the scraps. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough. For an attractive shine, lightly beat together the egg and milk. Brush the glaze on the cookies. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until brown and firm. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom three quarters of the way through the baking period. Use a small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Description: "For gift-giving I use this recipe from Rose Levy Berenbaum's "Christmas Cookies."" Yield: "110 3 1/2-inch bones" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A good quality (yes even grocery brand)dry kibble formulated for your dogs' age ,weight, size and activity level is the best thing you can do for your dog. In order to meet the nutritional requirements for a healthy dog you would have to buy bottles and bottles of vitamins, minerals and supplements to add to the home cooked food. It is true that there seem to be more animals developing tumors and other stuff that we didn't see so much of before. That could be because we are just "seeing" it more because more animals get vet care today instead of dying of unknown causes but research is leaning towards over-vaccinating our pets. Dogs should get all their puppy shots and also be fully vaccinated the first year after. Then you should talk to your vet on what vaccines are really necessary for your individual dog and on what schedule. My dogs are on the 3-4 year plan. The only vaccine they get exactly on schedule is for Rabies. We are fortunate that our county requires the rabies vaccine every three years. Little known dirty secret is that there is no one year vaccine or three year vaccine. The only time one year comes into play is for puppies who get it and then need another dose after the first year. Another culprit may be heart worm meds.If you live in an area where exposure is likely you MUST continue your heart worm meds but if the problem is seasonal or non-existent in your area you don't need it year round or at all unless you travel with your pet. People worry about the food but don't have a qualm about using weed killers and pesticides in the ares their dogs run around in. Your dog doesn't need to be dosed with heavy-duty flea killers on a monthly basis either unless environmental issues come into play. I'll get off my soapbox now.