Happy Valentine’s Day! The Honest Kitchen, a California-based company specializing in all-natural dog foods, recently sent out this infographic explaining Why Dogs Are Better Than Boyfriends. We thought it was too good not to share, on today of all days. Some of the lads may protest, but it’s pretty hard to argue with such observations as “they’ll cuddle with you for hours and won’t say a word about your current aesthetic state or number of Kleenexes on the bed,” or “they won’t ask you to explain why you love sappy chick flicks or vampire dramas.”

Whether you’re spending it with your best boy, girl or canine compatriot, we hope this Valentine’s is a happy one for you. Much love to all The Pet Network’s friends out there!

Phew! Hot enough for ya? Summer has arrived in full force — and if you think you’re sweltering, just imagine how it must feel to be sporting a fur coat. Fortunately, our Fido & Wine producer extraordinaire Jen Mitchell has come up with a cool ‘n’ creamy treat that will help your pooch to chill out a bit on the stickiest of summer’s afternoons. Jen’s “Berry Good Pupsicles” are made with plain yogurt, which is good for dogs in small doses, and can help you introduce some fruit into Fido’s diet.

Don’t forget to bookmark Jen’s blog, My Dog’s Breakfast. She posts a ton of great recipes and ideas for folks who want to prepare healthy and delicious meals for their canine companions.

Here’s her “Pupsicle” recipe:

INGREDIENTS (Makes three to four pupsicles)

- 1 cup of plain yogurt

- 2 TBS peanut butter (preferably natural)

- 1/4 cup blueberries

- 1/4 cup diced strawberries

In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and the yogurt. A spatula works well for this. Then, add in almost all of the blueberries and diced strawberries. Save a bit of each.

Take three plastic or styro cups and place the reserved berries at the bottom of each cup. Then, add the yogurt mixture on top, distributing evenly between the cups. The pupsicles in my picture appear larger than they actually are, by the way. I only filled small plastic cups about 2/3 of the way. This is a good size for a large dog. If you have a medium-sized dog, you might distribute between 4 cups. If you have a smaller dog, use ice cube trays.

Freeze the pupsicles. When you remove from freezer to serve, let them thaw enough upside down to “drop” them out of the cups — or, if you lack patience like me, run them under a bit of hot water to set them free.

If you’re really nice, like my friend Laura, you can make these in popsicle trays and hold them for your dog as he/she licks it like an ice cream cone …

Enjoy — and have yourself a cold treat too!

Remember to catch Fido & Wine every Tuesday and Saturday on The Pet Network at 8 pm ET/PT.

Jen Mitchell, the producer of our series Fido & Wine, has a new blog devoted to her current passion: home cooking for dogs. We’ll be reposting recipes and insights from My Dog’s Breakfast whenever we can. Here’s her recipe for a hearty treat called Pumpkin Rye Crunchers, made with Ryvita crispbreads:

-6 Ryvita crispbreads, crumbled 

-1 cup pure pumpkin puree

-2 cups rye flour or whole wheat if you don’t have it

-1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds

-1/3 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add the two cups of flour to your mixing bowl. Then add the pumpkin puree, seeds and peanut butter. Mix together. Crumble in two of the Ryvita crisps and the pumpkin seeds. Mix again. On top of the rough dough ball you’ve formed, sprinkle remainder of crumbled Ryvitas on top, let them fall off the sides to bottom of bowl. Lift the ball and and gently place the bottom on top of these fallen Ryvita crumbles.

Form cookies of any size you like from the dough ball, by gently making cookie balls. Place them on parchment lined baking tray and press down to make into a cookie shape. Don’t manhandle these ones too much,you want the crispy crumbles to stay somewhat on top of the dough so that they are still crisp after baking.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Follow Jen’s blog HERE.