Doggy Diet Day 1

Well today was the first day of my Beagle Tony's diet. I quit living in denial about his obesity and decided I needed to do the responsible thing and take action! When we got him (refer back to this blog for a picture!), his head was too big for his body, now it's kind of the other way around... I attribute most of the weight gain over the past year to the fact that after he's finished eating, more like scarfing, his food, he decides to move on to the food in our 75 pound German Shepherd Troy's bowl. Troy is a much slower eater.

Current Weight Day 1: 43.2 pounds

Goal Weight: 35 pounds (sorry Tony... the truth hurts)

Tony on Diet Day 1, you can't see his "Tootsie Roll" aka fat belly very well, but it's there.

I started some research about good diets for Beagles and learned that "lite" or "diet" dog food isn't always the solution and often just contains fillers. Several websites suggested just cutting down the daily amount of food you give the dog and supplementing the rest with carrots or steamed (salt-less) green beans. This sounded easy and convenient because I happened to have some carrots in the fridge!

One site I used was Beagles on the Web. They also had a lot of other info, and gave me answers about this crazy "backwards sneeze" thing Tony does (yes, that's really what it's called) and told me some ways to fix it. One way was covering his nostrils and rubbing his throat... yeah... that sounds like a comedy routine waiting to happen...

Last night I taste-tested the carrots with Tony and Troy. Troy acted like he loved them and chewed them right up and came back for more... well they didn't "settle well" with him, if ya know what I'm sayin... Tony wasn't too sure. It took him a while to chew it up and still spit out some of the pieces.

Now it's Day 1 of Tony's diet! And if you know Tony, you know he loves to eat, you also know he has a very unique personality. We got home from our walk today and he was ready to eat!!! I steamed the carrots so they were a little easier to chew, of course Tony thought I was making a steak or something... little did he know...

Tony's delectable meal! 

For his weight, Purina One recommends he have 2 cups of food a day. Earlier today he had one cup, and this evening he had about 1/4 cup of food and 1/4 cup of carrots. When I put those carrots in his bowl, I swear he cussed me out.

THEN you know what that little sneaker did RIGHT when he had cleaned out his bowl? Went straight to Troy's (at least he liked the carrots)!! It's going to be a long road... Do you think they have doggy Weight Watcher classes at PetSmart?

Food coma. I'd say the carrots were a hit!