Just about everyone has had an older relative who's had a "special" pet. Maybe it was an aged cat your great-grandmother had, or a poodle your old uncle kept for years.

In my case, it was my Great Aunt Fleta, who had a barrel-shaped dog named Dolly. Dolly the Dog had, or so it was rumored, a delicate constitution that wouldn't allow her to consume ordinary dog food. Fleta's vet gave her a recipe for a chicken, rice and vegetable casserole that formed the center of Dolly's diet. Of course, being an East Texas cook, Fleta had to tweak it just a bit, the result being something that tasted so good that her houseguests consumed it, thinking it was people food, on dozens of occasions when rooting through the fridge for late-night snacks.

This was some 25 years ago, long before the days of "boutique" pet hotels that employed chefs to prepare each animal's meals and kept dietitians on staff to help overweight, underweight or out-of-shape critters attain optimum health. These days, even people like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray have done shows and segments on cooking up dog treats for their furry companions. There are even a number of small- and medium-sized businesses catering to pet owners looking for gourmet goodies for their charges.

Heck, back in Fleta's day there weren't even any nifty dog parks to take your hound to, to let them socialize with other dogs and play to their heart's content. You had to take them for a walk!

With today's busy schedules and overloaded days, the idea of cooking for your dog might seem ludicrous, or the kind of thing aging aunts would be given to pursuing, but the trick here is to cook in bulk. By spending an hour or so on the weekend putting together your dog's meal for the week, you can save money and be in much better control over what goes into your dog's tummy. The memory of pets lost to melamine-contaminated pet food is still fresh in many peoples' minds, and if it's one of your concerns this is an ideal way to allay that fear.

By cooking your dog's meals, you control what goes into the pot, and you ensure that only the freshest and most additive-free ingredients are used. Using organic, cage-free and sustainably produced foodstuffs wherever possible will help make sure you don't give Fido a dose of something that his system won't appreciate.

Courtesy of Hearts United for Animals, a national no-kill shelter, welfare and sanctuary organization, here's a great recipe to get your dog's dining adventure off to a healthy start. You can learn more about HUA at www.hua.org, and even make donations. HUA is one of the Best in America as selected by the Independent Charities of America.

Turkey Casserole

2 lbs. ground turkey (organic is best)
1 package firm tofu
2 lbs. fresh or frozen peas and carrots
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
1 16-ounce can cooked sweet potatoes (or buy organic ones, cook and dice them yourself)
½ cup olive oil
2 1-pound packages egg noodles (whole wheat is best)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
OPTIONAL: 1 dozen brown cage-free organic eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and cubed

Brown turkey. Cut tofu into cubes and mix into cooking turkey so that the tofu takes on the flavor of the turkey. Boil water and add noodles. Cook until almost tender and add cut broccoli. Cook until noodles and broccoli are tender. When done, drain water and add olive oil liberally. Add all ingredients (including eggs, if using) into a large container. Mix until evenly distributed. Serve warm. You could sprinkle a little cheese on top before serving if you wanted to really spoil your dogs! Some of our dogs don't like the taste of garlic, so try it and see if your dogs do or not.

This recipe will feed two medium-sized dogs for a week, so adjust the ingredient amounts accordingly. If you've got a brace of mastiffs, you might want to invest in some chickens.

How About Some Treats?

For this section, I went to the experts, Chris Smith and Tiffany Martin of Organidog.

I'll let Chris take it from here:

A bit of advice I can give is the old radio mantra: K.I.S.S: keep it simple stupid!

We see a ton of "handmade" dog treats out there that are over the top and use a lot of ingredients that are not only bad for dogs, but downright dangerous.

We have seen treats that have chocolate, white chocolate, over-processed flour, grapes, raisins, tomatoes, onions and gobs of garlic. Every one of those, with the exception of garlic (in very small amounts), can hurt your dog, and cat.

We have also seen a lot of so-called organic treats that have a ton of salt and even some that use bottled BBQ sauce!

Even those that think they are keeping their treats safe by using carob and yogurt chips (which are okay for dogs) forget that they are loaded with sugar. Not only are people in this country getting fatter, but so are dogs.

If you buy organic, natural or handmade treats, always look for a guaranteed analysis and a full ingredient list. If they don't have these or have ingredients you have never heard of, just walk away. A lot of treats, and food, out there contain a lot of preservatives and artificial vitamin additives that are known to harm both dogs and cats.

I am proud to say that the treats that I make contain no such additives and have REAL natural ingredients (and local for that matter). Here's the ingredient list for our Peanut Butter Piggies and Nibblers:

Hand-ground peanut butter (I grind it myself)
Organic whole wheat flour (if I can find the grain, I'll mill it myself, which I do from time to time)
Fresh apple sauce
Local eggs (I use ripe bananas as a binder for our vegan customers)
Water
Local honey
Safflower oil (natural preservative and along with the peanut butter, it allows our treats to have a rather long shelf life naturally)

Even our chicken-, beef- and seafood-based treats are made with salt-free stock that I make myself. We also add brewers yeast to our treats, at the customers request, because it is a known, natural flea repellent.

A quick page through any online bookseller will reveal entire cookbooks devoted to pet cuisine, so get exploring. You take a lot of time and care in preparing your own food, give a little thought to your dog, too!