Happy 12th birthday to Dalmatian DIY’s blog dog, Humphrey! As some of you already know from our social media updates, we’ve had a difficult time over the past weeks with Humphrey’s health and are extra grateful to be celebrating together. And look at that happy face on the birthday boy! Smiles for miles! Paw you way into our recap of his 12th birthday celebrations to read more about Humphrey, his birthday (and reasons to smile), and drool over photos of this year’s dog birthday cake.
So Many Reasons to Celebrate...
The big 1-2 is cause for celebration under any circumstances, especially with a larger dog. Humphrey is a senior spotty these days, getting a little slower and whitening on some of his spots, but had been otherwise happy, healthy, and enjoying life as the centre of our furfamily and the neighbourhood social animal, regularly hosting furfriends for visits and playdates. But in early June, he suffered a sudden loss of mobility and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. At the onset, he had no ability to move from the midsection back (hind legs, paws, tail) and couldn’t pee (motor neuron bladder). Fortunately, the spinal injury was such that he has been able to slowly regain function and mobility with rest and rehab (currently ongoing).
We’re so proud of our brave little lad for powering his way through all of the very difficult weeks since his injury, and continuing to press onwards with a smile. A constant reminder that every day we’re given is a good day, some are just better than others. And, of course, we did our best to make his birthday an extra special and extra great day for Humphrey,
Humphrey's 12th Birthday
Unlike our usual days of walkies and fun, Humphrey’s birthday started off with a hydrotherapy rehab appointment. He isn’t a water-loving pup by nature, but has taken well to his water treadmill sessions. I suspect being told he is a very good boy and getting special treats has helped greatly there, haha, but so does feeling more powerful, confident, and capable.
Because he’s always very tired afterwards, we pre-baked his cakes the day before so he could rest without tasty distractions. Then, after a morning nap, we got into our usual fun of decorating his cakes and birthday posing. He had a special bed in the kitchen to comfortably supervise, and we did his annual party portrait on his memory foam rehab floor mat. He was still very very excited, but also safe. The same applies to the (many many many) non-slip runner mats you might see here in some photos as well as in our other social media and stories. The whole house has been temporarily adjusted for his safety.
Because his activities are still limited, we didn’t have any friends with us for his birthday. Humphrey might say that’s a plus since he didn’t have to share any of his birthday cake this year, haha, check out those eyes on the prize below! But still, share we did indeed, just through a special delivery of pupcakes instead of celebratory slices. Read on for all the details.
Humphrey's Dog-Friendly Birthday Cake
Well, dog-friendly is always a bit of an understatement around here… Humphrey’s cake is dog-specific rather than just dog-friendly for sharing, although that didn’t stop some of his furfriends’ humans from wondering whether they should sample the pupcakes during delivery. You could try a nibble, but you’d probably find these beef meatloaf cakes a bit bland by human standards since they’re made without added salt, fats, savoury seasonings, etc.
Special Request for Birthday Beef Cake
I had some doggone wild ideas in mind for Humphrey’s cake, but Dog Dad specifically requested a beef meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting. So my grand plans went on hold… for now. I’m thinking about making a cake each month, like the 12 Cakes of Humphmas, just because, why not? Ping me on our social media if you have suggestions or requests!
Our beef meatloaf mini cake is a simple beef, egg, and oatmeal mixture. Unlike many of our cakes, I gave the wholegrain oats a coarse whiz in our mini food processor (affiliate link) before mixing. This makes a dense batter that cuts somewhat cleaner and holds firmer in the smaller pupcakes for delivery and also cutting into smaller servings for enjoyment and safety. Other than using minced beef and adapting for volume with the cake and pupcakes, it’s very similar to our layered lamb dog-meatloaf cake recipe. See our collection of dog birthday cakes for other recipes and ideas, or check out our pet-chef post for a guide to homemade special occasion cakes for dogs. We baked our cakes the day before, then chilled until decorating.
Piping Pup-Friendly Mashed Potato Frosting
Since Dog Dad’s cake request put my creative cake experiments on hold, I decided to go a little bit over the top (literally) with the decoration. Instead of our usual simple mashed potato topping applied by hand, I dusted off my collection of piping tips (affiliate link) and adjusted the mashed potato using plain Greek yogurt to make a stable, smoother, creamier, frosting mixture with a consistency that could be piped into basic shapes, like a somewhat less cooperative version of buttercream.
The pupcakes each had a basic swirl of piped mashed potato frosting, topped with a small biscuit. Humphrey’s birthday cake had a base layer of plain mashed potato frosting applied to the top by hand and smoothed. Then I piped on some small rosettes of the adjusted yogurt mashed potato, and tucked in some of the same small biscuits as leaves.
Whatever your design preference, large tips will flow easier with tricky frosting mixtures like our mashed potato here. And while you can go as crazy as you’d like with decorating ideas (scoop off and try again if all else fails), simple designs will be the easiest to apply and will still look extra special. And the dogs really don’t care as long as it all tastes great!
Party Time!
It doesn’t matter that we were a party of one (plus humans) this year, we still had a doggone great time and did all of our usual crazy party table pics and posing. Just with extra care to make sure that Humphrey had safe places to be throughout. After some quick photos, on to the ritual candle and wishes, then snack time! What piece to serve the birthday boy? Of course one with a big creamy yogurt mashed potato rosette for an extra special celebratory snack.
Just a Slice is Nice
As always, treats, including cake, should be enjoyed in moderation. No one wants a sore belly on their birthday. I like to cut our cakes before serving and store extra slices for later (refrigerated short term, frozen longer term).
For easy use from frozen, cut our dog-friendly cakes into small serving-sized pieces, them place them on a lined plate or tray, and freeze firm before transferring to a container and back into the freezer for storage. That way, the pieces don’t stick together when frozen. Pawfect for easy single snack defrosting later!
Birthday Pupcakes for Furfriends
As noted above, Humphrey is still on restricted activities as part of his rehabilitation while he regains strength and stability for safety as well as to reduce the risk or reinjury at this stage. Unlike past birthdays, his 12th birthday celebration was to be a solo event for just Humphrey with his humans. But that didn’t feel right, especially with the outpouring of love and well-wishes he’s been getting from his neighbourhood furfriends and their families. So instead of making a layer cake for slicing and sharing, I made a single layer cake in our favourite mini springform pans (affiliate link) along with muffin-sized personal pupcakes for delivery to his close friends in the neighbourhood so they could slice up their own little celebratory snacks.
Toys and Other Birthday Fun
Eagle eyes might notice the absence of toys in these birthday photos, but never fear! Humphrey’s been enjoying lots of toys and fun, although not quite as much wild play these days. I haven’t been able to do any crafting or sewing during Humphrey’s recovery as he requires too much of my attention, but I bought a stash of new soft-style toys with squeakers, crinkles, etc. for Humphrey to try and help break up the boredom during his rest period and recovery. He received some of these new toys on the morning of his birthday, in the wee hours after his morning meds and breakfast, well before any photos were taken.
And although playdates are still off the agenda, his golden gal pal dropped by with her humans to wish Humphrey a happy birthday. They weren’t allowed to run and play together for safety, but dogs seem to have a special sense about these things and she was happy to just sit with him and share some gentle nibbling on his toys. Especially the new ones, of course! Haha!
Birthday Love and Wishes
As always, we thank every one of our readers for being part of Humphrey’s blog dog world, and for the love you’ve shared with us since we started Dalmatian DIY. Some of our readers have been with us since his very first barkday. The years go by far too fast, but we love and treasure every moment and memory. Woofs of gratitude for the birthday wishes on his Instagram and Facebook, and an extra special thank you for all the positive thoughts, kind comments, and messages that you’ve been sending Humphrey’s way since his injury. We are ever so grateful. Love and licks from our furfamily to yours!
