{"id":1913,"date":"2013-02-18T01:31:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T01:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janinajacobs.com\/?p=1913"},"modified":"2013-02-18T01:31:17","modified_gmt":"2013-02-18T01:31:17","slug":"fat-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/golf\/offcourse\/1913\/fat-dogs","title":{"rendered":"Fat Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pudge patiently waits for the 'Walk' command.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"Oh my, my.\u00a0 It\u2019s official.\u00a0 The gravy train is over because, according to the vet, my dogs are fat.\u00a0 Yep, while I wasn\u2019t looking, the pounds crept up on my pooches, the aptly-named Pudge and Starr.\u00a0 My mistake was portion-control related: I used the wrong measuring cup for the food bowl.\u00a0 Yes, I do let them run through the woods when I walk my daily 4-5 miles, but apparently it didn\u2019t counteract their intake.\u00a0 But I defy anyone to stand there, unaffected, when your beloved pups are in a perfect sit, looking up at you with mournful eyes and doing the doggie-whimper-feed me-feed me routine.<\/p>\n

Starr is almost 7 years old, though she does get around alright.\u00a0 Born with congenital hip dysplasia, she tires more easily than Pudge, but she is very enthusiastic, spinning, and barking, and doing pirouettes when ‘Mom’ puts on her walking shoes.\u00a0 And she knows when to say when at the food bowl.\u00a0 Four-year-old Pudge, on the other hand, does not.\u00a0 He would eat bags of food if I left it out there.\u00a0 He eats quickly and when finished, lays right next to the more daintily-eating Starr and hopes beyond hope that she will leave some morsels.\u00a0 She used to….but not now.\u00a0 She knows his shtick.\u00a0 And it is just as well because I worry about Pudge.\u00a0 Not only had he developed the poochie-belly, but he had also gotten lazy, sleeping far too much, and had to be pushed outside to do his duty.\u00a0 Try that on a 100-lb. dog who is supposed to weigh 80.\u00a0 After a thorough check-up, the bad news was it cost $200+ worth of tests to find out the good news: he was just too fat.\u00a0\u00a0 But guess what?\u00a0 After only two weeks of strict portion control, fewer treats, and more exercise, ol\u2019 Pudgie has noticeably lost a few pounds.\u00a0 He has a lot more energy too.<\/p>\n

Is there a lesson here, folks?<\/p>\n

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Starr, the Lady of Leisure.<\/p><\/div>\n

So many people come to me with weight and health problems, aches and pains, and really, it all boils down to some very simple facts: they are eating too much, getting too little exercise and not enough sleep, drinking little water, consuming too much salt and sugar and too few fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 Winter can be a diet killer if you live in the frozen north.\u00a0 It is not fun to spend 10 minutes bundling up in Gore-Tex, sweaters, boots, mittens, and ear muffs and then fight the ripping winds with your eyes watering and nose running for those multiple miles (me, not the dogs….).\u00a0 But those of us with fortitude do it.\u00a0 Afterwards, you really feel as if you have accomplished something.\u00a0 However, there is one caveat: be wary of the temptation to come back in thinking you ‘deserve’ your own treats and sweets.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s bad enough I get suckered into giving Pudge and Starr both a Milkbone; but now I am smarter: I break it in half.\u00a0 They think they’re getting a deal…….and I save them the calories.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh my, my.\u00a0 It\u2019s official.\u00a0 The gravy train is over because, according to the vet, my dogs are fat.\u00a0 Yep,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19164],"tags":[524208,759185,4988,759453,201],"class_list":["post-1913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-offcourse","tag-fat","tag-walking","tag-exercise","tag-milkbones","tag-dogs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2013\/02\/117.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1913"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2033,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions\/2033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}