The number one new year’s resolution that most humans make is to lose weight. Last year at this time my owners were doing a special diet program, and both lost weight, and when they stopped the program, the weight started coming back on, which seems to be the way it goes.
Dogs like me gain more weight than we should, too. How do you know if your dog is overweight? Here’s a couple of general guidelines:
When you pass your hands gently down our sides where the ribs are, you should be able to feel them, but shouldn’t necessarily, depending upon the breed, be able to see them…that means we are starving. We should have a thin healthy layer of fat over our ribs.
Our belly area, which is the tail-end 1/2 or so of our body, beyond/below the ribcage, should not bulge out on the sides, our bodies should narrow out in that area.
My owner and I are making a resolution before New Years, and that is to get outside and walk more…she used to take me out when the weather was warmer, but we tend to get lazy when it gets colder. I can’t walk as far as she does, so first we go out for my short walk, then she goes for her longer walk. Walking is really the best exercise we can get, especially if you live in an area where your dog doesn’t have free run of a yard or large piece of property.
For some dogs, you may not be able to leave food down all day…some dogs you can and they will only take from it when they are hungry, others will eat all that they are given. If your dog is the later, then give the dog a couple of meals a day…most packages of dog food have instructions on how much to give by weight.
Of course, always leave water for your dog available 24 hours a day.
Actually, I’m being nice…my owner has been lazy, she’s the one that does my typing for me, and she’s been busy doing other things. It has been hard enough to get her to take me for my walks, give me my snacks and give me my “tummy rubs” lately, and getting her to type for me has been impossible.
Oh don’t worry, she hasn’t totally ignored me. The weather is nice now, and sometimes she just wants to be outside, so we’ve been taking walks more. Other times she lets me run around the yard while she watches, because she knows I’ll sneak next door or run out in the road if I see a cat or something fun to chase. We have bears around here, too, so she does have to keep a close eye on me just because she loves me.
But we’ve missed blogging together, so will try to do better, and hope you are having a good summer so far.
The weather is getting warmer, and my owner and I are starting to go for more walks. We really need the exercise because it was such a long, cold winter in the northeast, and we are really out of shape!
Walking is one of our favorite things to do together, and now it has new meaning, because Bumble Bee, best known in our house for their tuna (I even like it!) is donating money to help fight Breast Cancer for miles that you walk.
What you do is go to the BeeWellMiles.com website and record the number of BeeWell Miles that you walk on the days when you do walk. If you need help calculating the miles that you walk, use a Pedometer, or take your car out and drive the route you walk and use your odometer to calculate the miles, or use the helps at the website. We like the idea of using a Pedometer.
Between 4/1/09 and 10/31/09 Bumble Bee Foods will donate 15 cents per mile for every mile that you log at BeeWellMiles.com up to $200,000 dollars. The money will help the Breast Cancer Network of Strength in their effort to help provide a cure for this terrible disease.
When you visit the site, you’ll find other helpful resources…there are healthy living experts, you can log your miles and see how many calories you have burned, and more. You can learn how you are doing as far as calories in the meals you plan, and share ideas with other guests to the site. Every day that you visit and log your miles, you are eligible to win one of 15,000 prizes. So lets start walking and recording those miles for this great cause!
