Took Bo to the vet...

[charmingnancy]

We had our annual physical today. Bo now weighs 60 lbs. The vet said that he needs to lose at least 5 lbs., which I knew already. Otherwise, he's healthy as can be.

[DogGoneGood]

I'm glad to hear of the good bill of heath (besides the few extra pounds ). Coal tends to be few pounds overweight in the winter, and then in the summer he loses it all. We all get out a bit more in the summer, that's why

[charmingnancy]

Yeah, some of Bo's extra chub is a little winter fattness... It's also from him living with my parents for so long, and them spoiling him. My dad walks the dogs nearly every day, weather permitting, so he does get exercise. But, it doesn't matter how much I tell my dad not to feed Bo scraps, I catch him doing it when we are over there. It's not just that's it's unneeded calories, but the wrong foods will give Bo the runs.

When Bo has an accident in the house, my dad will call me and tell me. And I'll ask "Well, what did you feed him?"
He'll say something like "Oh, just a bit of pizza crust..."
And I'll say "Did you enjoy cleaning the mess you caused, dummy?"

Plus, mom over measures his food. He's supposed to be fed a cup twice a day, but it's usually a heavy cup. Of course, that adds up. Also, she gives him treats, and I don't know how many she gives him. I called her after we got out of the vet, and told her no more treats.

Once he lives with us, his food intake will be closely monitored. We just got our fence designs, with the measurements and stuff, approved by our neighborhood's landscape contractor guy, and we are now waiting for the fence company to call us back to schedule an appointment. So, hopefully we'll have a fence in the next month.

[DogGoneGood]

Yeah, I catch my dad feeding the dogs junk like pizza crust every now and then too. Luckily, I'm usually around to stop him or get him heck for it I feed my dogs all kinds of scraps, but it's only good, wholesome foods like meats, vegetables, and fruit. Generally when they do get scraps after dinner I minus about the same amount of scraps they receive from their kibble, so they're eating the same amount they normally would just less kibble and more real food. I think that makes a big difference; a lot of people I know when they give scraps they ADD it to the kibble the dog usually gets.

It's gota be exercise and diet!

Interestingly enough, I just got the 2009 issue of Dogs in Canada Annual and there's a booklet in it all about keeping your dog active and in shape, different exercises and what not you can do. I haven't read the whole booklet yet, so not sure if it covers much for diet too (I think it's mostly focused on exercise). I've been considering scanning it and posting it. It IS produced by IAMS, but I can't ignore all the good points that are in it.

If I scan it, it'll probably be next week when I'm at work. You should get your parents to take a look at it for Bo

[charmingnancy]

Well, even for being a little overweight, Bo is in great shape. He loves to go on looooooooong walks, and is still jumping around when we get home. I wish I was in good enough shape to run with him.... but I normally only run when I'm being chased

Me and Evan are both a little bit overweight by 5 or 10 lbs., too. I eat a lot of sugary foods, and he sits at a desk for most of the time he's at work. I'm on my feet 35-40 hours a week; otherwise I'd be as big as a house. Evan is 6'2", so he can get away with a little pudge. I bought one of those Gazelle Elliptical Trainers (big waste of $200), and rarely used it. I ended up giving it to my dad, who only uses it when it's too cold out or raining. I'm thinking about getting an exercise bike, but I don't know where I'd put it, because it would mostly just sit there and collect dust

[DogGoneGood]

My parents have one of those eliptical trainer things. I've never used it, but they do a lot. My dad's tried to talk me into using it countless times because I have bad knees so it would be something that would be low impact for that. But I can't bring myself to do it. I HATE using exercise equipment, it's extremely boring. I prefer to do something productive if I'm going to get in shape.

I just started biking with Linkin last week. My bike's a POS so I've been using my dad's which is about an inch or two too tall for me so it's a bit sketchy, especially with Linkin! He's never run along side a bike before, and I haven't ridden a bike with a dog since Coal was about 3 or 4. We're slowly getting the hang of it though. Tonight the neighbor's dog Duke showed up and I was a bit scared at first that Linkin would try to play with him or take off after him, but he did okay. I only had to yell at him once to get out of the way because he was distracted by Duke and ran in front of the bike lol So there's an idea, if you're into that... I would imagine it would be a bit more sketchy where you live though, more traffic and people. We've gone out probably about 5 nights in the past week and tonight was the first time we encountered a vehicle on the road! But of course, there's other distractions/hazzards such as squirrels and other wildlife we may come across here

[charmingnancy]

My bike is also a POS. I've had the same bike since I was 10, it is a cheap 10 speed. I haven't ridden the thing in a few years, and the last time I did, I couldn't hardly peddle down the end of our block. I don't know if it was because the bike is messed up, or I was that sadly out of shape. I used to ride that bike all the time, since the middle school I went to was about 6 blocks away from our house. Took me all of 2 minutes to get there riding, opposed to 10-15 minutes to walk. I rode that thing in a couple inches of snow one day.

Bo is a little weird around bike riders. If we are ever walking down the street or at the park, and Bo sees someone on a bike, he tries to run over to them, semi-aggressively. I guess he doesn't like the tires, or something. I do like to roller blade, but I'd be terrified to walk Bo while roller blading. He doesn't pull as bad as he used to, but it's too much of a risk to try. Cesar Milan can walk several dogs at a time with an awesome pair of roller blades on; makes me jealous.

[DogGoneGood]

Yeah, I use to roller blade with a dog I had when I was 12, somehow it is scarier than while on a bike lol

Linkin had issues with bikes too... when he lived at his last family, I guess the neighborhood kids use to chase him on their bikes (at least, that's what I was told) so he acts the same way. I spent last summer walking him next to a bike and getting him use to it slowly, he doesn't act that way around them now!

Another way I exercise Link, especially in the winter time, and it causes no exertion from myself, is on the treadmill.