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For the past two years I have been very diligent with our huge German Shepard, Rex, because with his age and arthritis, about keeping his weight down. I’ve been rather successful at keeping his weight in the low 120 range, which is quite a feat considering that he had gotten all the way up to 140. In his defense he did carry the bulk very well, we only noticed when he started slowing down. I think that since I had concentrated the bulk of my focus on Rex, that the little baby boy, Jack, slipped through the cracks in terms of weight management. When I took both of my boys to the Vet. last November, we weighed both of them and Rex clocked in at 124 lbs and Jack at 15 lbs. I was fairly happy with the results until the Vet said that she would love to have Rex lose 6 more pounds and that Jack was a little chubby at 2 pounds over what he should be. I have been working on Jack for the past month or so, especially since my son reminds me often that Jack is fat. He even wrote it in my Mother’s Day card, it was funny but I got the message, if I don’t do something about Jack’s little weight issue, Jack was going to get a complex, or at least I was going to be shamed into it. So besides reducing his daily intake to a heaping 1/2 cup of high quality dog food and one morning doggy biscuit, Jack and I go on our mid morning power walk up the hill and across the park and back around, over and above the three other walks that we do with Rex to keep him active. I promise you, it’s work enough to keep one’s family healthy and oneself exercised; when you have to worry about your dogs weight and exercise regimen, it’s a lot of diet and exercise to think about.
laurieanichols 