Eating Pizza With Cool Dogs
Volume One - Della, Maple Latte, and Dakota
A few weeks back, I was joking with Heather Owen — the Executive Director and Co-Founder of One Tail at a Time — about eating pizza with Sugar Snap when it dawned on me that I should actually start bringing pizza to some other One Tail dogs. Heather was immediately down for it, and put me in touch with Stacy Sandow — One Tail’s Adoption Center Manager — so we could coordinate a time for me to come by. Now I just needed the perfect pizza, and I knew just the man to ask.
My friend Mike runs an Instagram account called @mrbpeppypies. Not only is he one of the best home pizza makers in Chicago, but he’s also an avid dog lover (the ‘Peppy’ is in tribute to his dog Pepper). This was Mike’s exact response:
And about five minutes later he sent me this article, which is an incredibly thorough guide from Giordano’s (of all places) on how to make dog-friendly pizza, and he got to work building his recipe.
So now I had my guy, he had our pizza, and all we had to do was go meet some dogs.
This was my first time at the One Tail adoption center and after seeing it in so many pictures and videos throughout the years, it felt a little surreal to be there, like walking onto the set of your favorite TV show.
Stacy let us in, went to grab the first dog we would meet, and Mike unveiled his pizzas:
In true Mike fashion, he went above and beyond, even cutting them into a few different shapes/styles (the one pictured above was his “deep dish” due to the fact the crust rim was a little thicker and taller than the rest).
Stacy came back out, and the first dog that we met that day was Della:
Della was a stray from Texas that One Tail brought to Chicago, and she’d been with them for 9 months when we met her. One Tail does a lot of incredible work in Texas, and they recently just announced the formation of a new branch there:
Mike was a little nervous about how Della would react, but she was all about the pizza:
We hung out with Della for 15 minutes, during which time she took down an entire pizza, crumbs and all (a dog truly after my own heart). And then just a few days after our visit, she had a pretty big weekend:
After almost 9 months in our care, Della found her home. This sweet, silly goofball came to us from SARA Sanctuary last summer and spent months in her loving foster home working on getting used to city living. She moved to our Adoption Center three weeks ago and showed us just how far she had come and how ready she was to get adopted. Her new dad came in to meet her and came back the next day to make it official. Happy trails Della!
Stacy credits Della’s foster for doing a lot of hard work and training with her to help get her ready for her new home (if you’re interested in fostering for One Tail, you can find out more info here).
Next up was Maple Latte:
I’m assuming she got her name in part because her energy level is roughly equivalent to drinking 20 lattes in 20 minutes. Maple Latte is a Chicago dog who came to One Tail through Chicago Animal Care and Control, she’s 4 years old, exuberant and joyful, LOVES every single person and dog she meets, and will absolutely lick your face off if given the chance.
Once the pizza came out, though, she was all business:
Maple Latte is being treated for a minor medical issue, so she’s not currently on One Tail’s website, but Stacy assured me she’ll be available soon. She would be perfect for anyone looking for an active dog to take on all kinds of adventures.
Last up was Dakota:
Dakota recently finished up her time with her foster, so the day we met her was her very first day in the adoption center, and we could tell she was still getting used to it all. It took her a minute to warm up to us, but then she was ready to eat:
And eat some more:
Here’s her bio from her One Tail page:
Dakota is the dream girl we all need in our lives! She is a gentle mama bear that loves to relax while getting snuggles from humans and yet has the fun energy to play around other dogs. She is very tolerant of other dogs when playing and all she wants to do throughout the day is play and then nap with her fellow furry friend. She is very well behaved and positively responds to commands when asked. Dakota is a trusting pup which makes daily activities such as feeding, walking, or crate time a breeze. It is so easy to fall in love with this sweet girl. She would make the perfect fit for any single person or family.
If you’d like to meet Dakota or find out more info about her, you can do that all on her adoption page right here.
Even though we were only there for an hour or so, I still don’t think I’ve fully come down from the time we got to spend with the dogs yet. The world feels like it’s getting aggressively meaner by the second these days, and sometimes you don’t even realize how much you need a reset. Huge THANK YOU to Heather Owen, Stacy Sandow, and of course Mike (the real MVP). Hopefully this becomes a regular thing!
Mike was also cool enough to fill me in on his recipe, just in case anyone out there wants to take a crack at making pizzas for their own dog.
The dough is a mixture of rice flour, eggs, and chicken broth. He par baked the crust for 15 minutes, then topped it with a sweet potato purée base, shredded carrots, ground chicken, and whole milk low fat mozzarella.
Damn this is adorable
PLEASE make this a regular thing! I’m SO here for it!!