Mom Was Right!

Me at 66 pounds

Me slimmed down to 56 pounds

Holy guacamole!  Who is that dog?  Flipping through my blogs, looking for ideas, I saw a photo of me from August 2014.  

Mom said I needed to go on a diet and at the time I thought she was bonkers.  

I’m part lab and labs tend to be stocky, right?

Well, here we are, just over one year later and what a difference!

 Mom’s a healthy living nut. She watches what she eats and goes to the gym every day.  DixieLee, Dad and I, well we like being retired and hanging out around the house.  We do yard work and such but we really like napping on the couch and watching TV better.

I hate to admit it but Mom was right.  She made all of us go on diets and get more exercise.  It’s not just about looking good it’s about feeling sooooo much better.  Since Mom made us all be better eaters and exercisers we all lost weight and have much more energy.  I lost 10 pounds! We all still grumble that we are starving but we really do like carrots and apple slices as much as cookies and even Dad has discovered that he actually likes vegetables.

I think the bestest part of getting healthy is the walks.  Mom makes us all go on big walks.  It’s so much fun that the minute DixieLee see that both Mom and Dad have their coats on, she runs to the rack where the leashes are an tries to get her halter down.

We never know where we are going which makes it very exciting.  Not going to the same places all the time gives DixieLee and me a chance to explore.  Sniffing out our surroundings is important so being in different places is lots of fun.  Sometimes we walk around one of the towns.  Sometimes we go to the dog park or to one of the hiking trails our part of New Hampshire if famous for but the best times are when we go to walk on the logging road up to the old orchard.

Mom and Dad like the logging road because it goes up a mountain so we get more cardio.  I love it because I get to be off leash.  I only get to be off leash when Mom knows there is no danger to me.  I NEVER get to be off leash where there are cars or even where there are going to be lots of people.  DixieLee doesn’t get to go off leash because before she came to live with us, she must have been trained as a hunting dog because she loves following a scent and would get lost for sure.

We didn’t start out walking up mountains or going for big hikes.  We started by taking short walks around town.  Yesterday we walked a trail that was three miles long.  That’s far!  It was a nice walk cuz we got to enjoy Nature.  It was peaceful, no traffic sounds or other people, and there were lots of scents from the animals who live in the forest.   

Walking with your humans has lots of other Ben Fits.  We are a pack of two humans and two dogs and walking is a way for us to get to know each other better and strengthen our bond.  Walking is a great way for humans to get rid of stress too.

So, if you or your human is a little on the chunky side, consider taking more walks.  Seriously, I know you’ll like it.

Your slimmed down friend,

Zeva

P.S.  Blatant self promotion.  Our Puppy Power gift basket is filled with lots of toys to keep in the most active dog  happy.  It also includes a box of poop bags for those walks around town. Check it out at pawpalsboutique.com

Confessions of a Cookie Monster

I confess.  I love cookies.  I love carrots, potato chips, Triscuits, -…. who am I kidding, I love food. Dog food, human food, I’d even eat bird food if I could just reach the feeder.  You can’t open the refrigerator or pantry door in our house without my help.  Mom had to put a baby lock on the cabinet where we keep the kibble because I figured out how to open it.

My excuse… I’m part lab and labs love to eat.  I never really got to eat much human food cuz Mom said I needed to eat nutritious and well balanced food.  She only buys “the good stuff” for me and DixieLee.  She reads the labels to make sure the ingredients haven’t change and we are getting food, not fillers.

So you can see why I was shocked when I had my physical this summer and the vet man said I was FAT!  Well, he said it nicer than that but he made it clear that I needed to drop a few pounds.  I wrote about that horrific experience in my August blog.  We told him we only eat good food and only what the package says.  He told us that dog food sellers are in the business of selling dog food so the more we eat the more we have to buy.  Light bulb!  He said we should cut my portions in half.

OMG!!! I thought I was going to die.   I was hungry all the time as it was I was surly going to starve to death now.  Fast forward six month…. I have managed to lose 13 pounds!  I look marvelous if I do say so myself.   What’s even better than that is that I feel marvelous.  I didn’t realize it but when I was heavier, I didn’t like to play so much.  Running wasn’t fun.  DixieLee would run up and down the stairs or around our pen all day long.  I would rather have stayed on the deck and watched.  Now she’s in big trouble cuz I can run just as fast as her and I win lots of our fighting games.

How did I do it?  It wasn’t easy.  I found out that cutting my portions in half wasn’t so bad.  I still got treats but we got more slices of carrots and sweet potatoes and fewer cookies.  We also started eating coconut oil and boy, is that delicious!  We had to be careful because coconut oil is fat but it’s one of those super foods packed with all kinds of good for you stuff.

As much as I hate to admit it, losing weight was a really good thing to do.  Like Mom says, it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle choice.  We choose to eat healthy and I hope you do too.

Your healthy friend,

Zeva

P.S.  Shameless self promotion.  How would you like to win a free gift basket?  All you have to do is go to our Facebook page and register.  Contest ends on March 20, 2015 so don’t wait.