For any of you who may be on the edges of your chairs, awaiting a status update on Ollie’s weight… your wait is over! I’m happy to report that Ollie “Bear” is down 3 lbs in the last 6 weeks. That may not sound like a lot… but a half pound per week is pretty good. I’m proud of him.
What’s the secret to his early success?
1) I read my mom the ‘Riot Act’. She’s been overfeeding him when I’m not around. Ollie has no appetite control whatsoever and will eat anything put in front of him (in addition to occasional… um… treats… that he finds on the ground). We’ve scaled back his food by a half cup per day.
2) Hiking, walking, hiking, walking. Fortunately I’ve been home (not traveling) for the past few weeks and I’ve made a concerted effort to get Ollie moving for at least 1 hour or more per day. The nice thing is that not only does he really enjoy it, I do too. We both get exercise. On Saturday we hiked for almost 3 hours! And a lot of that was up hill. As I like to say… what’s good for my dog may be even better for my butt!
3) (Almost) no extra treats. A big contributor to Ollie’s weight gain (I suspect) was that he was also eating too many “extras”. Nearly all pet owners love their furry friends… but love should not equal extra treats.
So, Ollie is now down to 90 lbs. Still a lot more to go to get to 81-82 his “goal weight”. But he’s getting there. More updates to come soon!
– Katherine
