If, for some reason, you had no idea what time of year it was, had no access to a calendar, and didn’t know it was January, all you’d have to do is turn on the television and you’d know. As soon as the commercials started.
Flood of fitness ads
We’re inundated with ads for fitness programs, gyms, diets, exercise programs, exercise equipment, yoga programs, and everything else that could we could possibly spend on to help us keep our resolutions. One of the statistics we saw said that 85% of New Year’s resolutions had something to do with fitness, losing weight, and/or getting in shape.
It’s a noble ambition. We do it ourselves and we wish everyone else good fortune with their resolutions. And we’re here to remind you not to forget your dogs in the fitness commitment.
Dogs’ fitness can slide, too
Just this week one of Hope’s students in her competition obedience class asked for some help in getting her dog slimmed down.
This nice lady is a convert to positive reinforcement training and she’s seen her dog, while improving his obedience skills, gain about a pound every month since she began training. Her boy Rizzo, a Nederlandse Kooikerhondje (read more about the breed here) is a small sized dog. Rizzo (named for the Chicago Cubs 1st baseman!) has lost his waist!
Not alone
We have a feeling that Rizzo isn’t alone in his weight gain. We read that about half of all American dogs are overweight. So it’s time to share what we know about keeping your dogs in shape, painlessly. We’ve found that hungry dogs, like hungry people, aren’t very happy souls. So we want everybody satisfied and feeling full, while still accomplishing our fitness goals.
We’re guilty, too
Because we want to minimize possible injury for our dogs, especially since we enjoy dog sports like obedience, rally, and agility, we try to be aware of our dogs’ weight and fitness. Hope let Torque’s physique get out of control last year, but pulled him back into fitness with these tips.
If you, like Rizzo’s mom, are using lots of treats for training, good for you! Instead of those training goodies being “in addition” to your dog’s regular meals – make your dog’s meals part of training.
Use what you’ve got
It’s simple if your dog eats kibble regularly. After you fill the bowl with the normal amount of food, grab a handful back and stash it in a separate container for that day’s training session. If you think your dog will notice and miss the volume, replace it with frozen string beans. We don’t know why dogs love frozen string beans, but we’ve never met one that doesn’t. You can use other vegetables, but be careful of carrots and/or fruits that contain a lot of sugar. We’re minimizing additional calories, not adding to the problem.
If your dog eats moist food, it’s a bit more challenging to use as training treats. You can certainly give less and add the string beans, but using the food as training rewards if more difficult. One solution is to teach your dog to eat from a spoon. Another is to find refillable squeeze tubes, often available from camping supply places, and fill them with your dog’s moist food. They work just like toothpaste tubes, as long as you make sure they’re tightly closed. We can’t even describe the mess the first time we used one and didn’t close it right.
Getting real
We’re not going to advocate some kind of exercise program where you have to get out there and walk your dog for miles, or even 15 minutes. Mostly because it’s cold, wet, windy, and miserable out today and the last thing we want to do is spend any time in the great outdoors. And our dogs would, frankly, refuse. Even the most obedient dog will dig in its heels when Mom’s acting crazy!
What we will suggest is a few minutes of active play and/or training a couple of times a day. It’s good for everyone, combats cabin fever, and can use up a few extra calories. We do use reward-based training, so we’re careful to use tiny pieces of treats. It’s one of the reasons we like the freeze-dried Chicken Heart Treats. They break up into non-messy, tiny bits that are big on flavor, so dogs love them.
Mix it up
We like to use a “trail mix” of treats for dog snacks, with containers in just about every room. We use some kibble, some Chicken Heart Treats, and some Cheerios, mixed all together. The dog never knows what tasty tidbit she’s getting, so the excitement level is always high. And the higher-calorie treats are offset by the lower ones, just as the not-so-favorite treats are balanced by the high-value ones.
Even if you aren’t going to be training, we suggest you keep a container of your own doggy trail mix on hand. We’re always giving our dogs treats for one thing or another – sometimes just because we can’t resist those puppy-dog eyes. If there’s a healthy snack already prepared, we’re less inclined to share our potato chips with our pups.
