How I Bake For A Living And Raise A Rescue Dog

I bake at 3:30am for work. It pays the bills and allows me to spoil my rescue dog, Asher. I also bake at home while trying not to trip over Asher. Here are a few notes from an early morning baker living in her first-time home with a clingy puppy despite graduating with an english literature degree.

1. Get a good sleep. Despite the early hours, I almost always get 7-8 hours of sleep. Figure out what time you need to be in bed so you can get your beauty sleep despite having a dog trying to play with you and lick your face. I'm still tired a lot, but I'm not moving around all zombie-like and making a million mistakes at the bakery opposed to not getting enough sleep, forgetting to add something like oil while mixing bread, and having to make it all over again. That slows down my team members and myself.

2. Make a routine and stick to it. Not any routine, but something that benefits you and your dog. I aim to walk him twice, after I get home from work and before bedtime. Once at the very least, which usually happens when it's raining cats and dogs outside. Basically when the weather is really horrible or I'm just too tired to move, I just walk him once for a minimum of 20 minutes. He's going to get that walk no matter how tired I am.

3. Keep your dog mentally stimulated. I use puzzles, frozen treats, etc. It keeps him busy, happy, works his brain and allows me to do what I need to do that I can't do with him, like shower or preparing my clothes for the next day for work. Some of my favourite things to give him are greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and peanut butter.

4. Train your dog. I do a few sessions a day and since I know he's very treats motivated, I cut up his treats into a bunch of pieces so he doesn't consume too much and use them as rewards when he listens to my commands. This also keeps your dog from getting bored. Asher didn't know any treats when I adopted him. Now he's potty trained and he knows sit (he'll only sit on top of my feet but it's too cute for me to want to correct him), stand up, spin, drop it, gentle, touch my hand with his nose, and he'll boop his nose into my hand that forms a circle.

5. Tell yourself that it's okay you're not using your degree and believe it. I felt like a disappointment a lot, but I've learned that I'm actually good at baking and it's so therapeutic I do it outside of work now, too. I'm dabbling in more different areas that I've never done before. Strawberry muffins, pumpkin peanut butter cookies, and more. My coworkers are older than me but they're trying to be as good as I am and they want me to train them to mix the bread from scratch when it's their turn. I'm trained to work all the stations for bakers but I'm the best at mixing bread from scratch because that's what I've been doing the longest, ever since our bakery opened. So I bake and earn money and work with coworkers that are supportive and make me happy while Asher sleeps in his dog bed by the door, waiting for me to come home.

6. Last but not least, just keep trying. It's okay if you're not perfect. You're trying your best, and that's more than enough. Me and Asher's story is just beginning.