Hot Dish with Sohla
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My Dog Vito’s Refined Dairy Palate

or how we get our shiba inu to eat his food and not murder us in our sleep

Sohla El-Waylly

19 Jan
14

Vito is a sweet boy. He may not like being around other dogs, and is pretty territorial when guests come over… but he means well. He’s just being protective! He is a really picky eater as well. We feed him Stella and Chewy’s Raw Patties and he likes those, but he needs a little extra seasoning to make his meals pop. Those come in the form of fermented dairy products. Vito absolutely loves all types of dairy, ever since he was a pup. He also demands a regular rotation of the fermented dairy garnishing his food. Too many days of yogurt and he turns his nose up in disgust, like Anton Ego in Ratatouille.

The following are the fermented dairy products we need to have in stock at all times to appease his refined palate, along with his personal rating of 1-5 Shibas (5 being his favorite).

Kefir

Kefir is a fermented, drinkable yogurt-like drink dating back centuries to shepherds in the Caucasus Mountains. It sits fairly high in the Vito dairy ranking. He likes how the thick kefir coats his food, and the bright acidic tang it brings. Kefir is produced by combining dairy with kefir grains, which contain active microorganisms of lactic acid bacteria and yeast. It is absolutely chock full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes. He can probably go a week straight without getting tired of it, which is pretty high praise from our high maintenance prince.

Vito’s Rating: 🐕🐕🐕🐕

Buttermilk

Traditionally, buttermilk is the liquid left behind from making butter. But since most modern butter is made with sweet cream, and not cultured cream, modern buttermilk is made with live cultures for its signature acidity. History and countless culinary uses aside, Vito is not impressed with buttermilk. It lacks kefir’s rich viscosity, so Vito will often give it a couple of licks but pout for a while before succumbing to hunger and eating the rest of his food.

Vito’s Rating: 🐕

Yogurt

While the exact origins of yogurt are unknown, it is believed to have been first made in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC. We all know what yogurt is. And Vito does too, not all types of yogurt are equal in his eyes. The thicker the yogurt, the more into it he is. Skyr ranks pretty high—he loves the Icelandic staple for its thicc consistency, slight sourness, and hint of sweetness. He prefers it to the more aggressive tang of Greek yogurt and dahi (Indian-style yogurt). His absolute favorite is the aggressively strained Middle Eastern yogurt “cheese”, labneh. When a little dollop of labneh adorns his dinner, the whole thing gets eaten in one fell swoop. No easy feat.

Vito’s Rating:

Labneh 🐕🐕🐕🐕

Dahi 🐕🐕

Skyr 🐕🐕🐕

Greek Yoghurt 🐕

Sour cream

When the right cultures are introduced to heavy cream, it becomes sour cream. Just the sight of his rich, luscious fermented dairy product is enough to have Vito licking his lips and zooming all over the living room. A little goes a long way, not just for topping my baked potato but prompting Vito inhale his bowl of food too. Due to its high fat content, it’s something we don’t give him too often, only when he is being extra extra handsome.

Vito’s Rating: 🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕

Cultured butter

When cultured cream is churned, it becomes cultured butter. This is my favorite butter to smear on bread, or melt on steamy potatoes. The cultured cream makes a butter that has a background tang that Vito absolutely loves. We need to sneak cultured butter into our fridge when he isn’t paying attention because if he catches wind that we aren’t sharing our cultured butter he will scratch the fridge door until he is appeased. It brings out the absolute worst in him.

Vito’s Rating: 🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕

Do any of you have picky pups, too? How do you deal with their demands?

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14 comments

  • Sara Thompson She-her Pronouns
    No dog here but our middle aged Maine Coon will fight you for dairy products. He loves cream cheese - sweeter the better but any really. He also loves yogurt. His favorite is maple yogurt which is also my favorite when I can find it (we eat Yoplait …
    See more
    2
    • 16 w
  • Laci Renae
    I have been doing this for my dachshund Chili for a few weeks now and thought I was crazy - so it’s nice to see you add a little dairy treat in there too!
    Chili has been enjoying a little dollop of light ricotta cheese mixed into his raw food or kibbl…
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    • 15 w
  • Michael Wolfe
    My doggy likes some rice mixed into her food. Doesn’t matter what kind… brown, white, basmati, jasmine, medium grain. Just a spoonful mixed in and she’ll eat it all. She’s not super picky. I think she just likes having a little human food added.
    • 16 w
  • Andrew Tolentino
    Our fellow Shiba Arwen is also a very picky eater. She’s a Black and Tan lady who uses her eyebrow markings to raise questions like, “what about last night, with the sticky rice and peas?” Sometimes she even manages to individually eat the bonus morsel…
    See more
    2
    • 16 w
  • Jennifer Patriquin
    My white boxer Lenny also loves a good dairy product- big cheese/yogurt fan. He loves a kong stuffed with peanut butter and yogurt! He will beg for a carrot or clementine and drool excessively however once said food item is in his possession he will c…
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    • 16 w
  • Rere Layton
    Wow I just start giving my dogs goat kefir like 3 weeks ago. Because of the past year I have been making my own milk kefir. But I stopped making it in and I song line that Amazon sold goalkeeper so I order it from them and they get it every other day. …
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    • 16 w
  • Arielle Erenrich
    My Canaan Dog, Apollo, loves frozen chunks of canned pumpkin!
    • 16 w
  • Leslie Iich
    My dog Clementine demands raw (crunchy) vegetables with each meal - carrot, bell pepper, frozen peas, zucchini, cauliflower all pass muster - and because if this I now have an encyclopedic knowledge of what dogs can and cannot eat; ex. Broccoli stalk i…
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    2
    • 16 w
    • Author
      Sohla El-Waylly
      I also have a bulldog named Clementine! She eats everything
      • 16 w
  • Julianna Karvelius
    My dog, Gershwin, has gone through the gambit of different food toppers because he is goes on food strikes. When he had a medical issue, I was just trying to get him to eat so I had to feed him cooked chicken and eggs. Now he's addicted and won't eat h…
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    2
    • 16 w
  • 岑盈麗
    I give my dog smallbatches in duck. He gets natto or yogurt as a small snack in the day sometimes. We also buy him chews like chicken feet and beef tendin from @wilderbites_ (IG)
    • 16 w
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