Fat chance

Once again it’s Tuesday. Don’t ask me the date, I’m working in two different months on the computer and all that registers right now is May 31st and June something or other.

But Tuesday for another 3 weeks is obedience class for the 4-H kids. And once again is mixed bag of breeds, ages, training levels, enthusiasm, and well, dogs wanting to work. Okay, kids too.

Many want to just come and run the agility with their dogs and run it is. One kid last week said it’s funner the faster you go, regardless of the dog doing it correctly. He’s one I have to watch now and make sure he takes the entire course as fast as the parts he has a hard time on.

One of my constant battles is also the fitness of the dog. So many of these dogs lay around the house, get minimal exercise and the families expect the dog to come to class and work hard core for 2 hours. It’s so unfair.

I actually had a chat with one parent, returning team of a yellow dog(won’t mention breeds) and child and dog was obese. Told her quit free feeding, more walks, throw ball, etc. Not much in the way of improvement. Had another dog start, then quit because it was just too hard on the overweight dog. So what good is it to quit exercising the dog just because it’s now hard—I think it was the owner/handler and not so much the dog.

I hate overweight dogs. Period. Ask Shelley. She never got so much razing as in January when she pulled Cara out of her crate at the show. I didn’t reserve my opinion at all-I think my exact words were “what the hell did you do to that dog in 2 mos time? You can put a dinner plate on her ass!” Needless to say, she came to Fat Camp for about 4 mos, lost a lot of weight, gained a lot of muscle tone back and went home svelt and lookin’ good!  And still better look that way when I see her again!

There are a bevy of retired dogs at my house. Is that an excuse to let them get flabby, overweight and out of shape? Not in my lifetime. 12 yr old Grandmother of All, Phoebe, carries no more weight than the whippersnappers here. Granted she doesn’t move as much as they do, little creaky, so she gets a little less in her bowl, a few more low fat treats(apples, etc.) Horrible to see older dogs that aren’t motivated to exercise by their owners and feed to keep happy, that end up obese, fat, out of shape. A healthy, in shape older dog has a lot less problems and most certainly lives longer.

I might get a little flack on my babies right now. Not the Blues Clues kids, but the Monsters aka Penny and Princess(do not get me started on that nickname). Both spend a majority of the day outside with the three collies and Charlie. They are skinny by nature(hello mom is Dove) but they are fit, toned and active. Nice to have the two legged kids home on summer break, so that they can spend loads of time outdoors. Not a wasted ounce on them, no baby flab or jello puppies there. That’s reserved for the other babies-especially Ms River. She can have a little flab, she’s trying to catch up with her siblings. I hate fat puppies. It’s so unhealthy, put undo stress on those developing joints and like people, obese children sort of develop a life long battle with the bulge.

I’m not immune here folks. I’m working on not pigging out, eating better and exercising more. I used stomach muscles I didn’t know I had when we went riding on Sunday. Phoenix made sure to jiggle me a little and I felt it Monday. And I’ve lost a couple of pounds, but have many more to go.

What it comes down to is that a lot of pets look like their owners-out of shape, carring a little too much extra baggage. Make it a mission to keep your pet in shape, watch what it eats and you’ll have them around a lot longer!

Later gators....
C