The weather is starting to get nice and we’re hoping to able to hit the walking trail more regularly. Beans is still too fat, though she would disagree. She could probably benefit from a treadmill during the winter months, but then so could my husband and I. She has lost about nine pounds and has the beginnings of a waistline. I would like to get her one of those doggie vests, with pockets for soda or weights, since she tends to wear me out long before she’s winded.

Sorry, about the lapse in posts. I’ve had a horrible flu since Tuesday and have pretty much been flat on my back. I think I may even lost a few pounds and possibly, due to high fever, a few brain cells.

Beans has also lost a couple more pounds and though she’s still by no means svelte, we’re starting to see the beginnings of a waistline. Unfortunately, since she’s been getting less food, we can’t seem to keep her in rawhide chews, she goes through them like a buzz saw and then she starts chewing on inedible and potentially dangerous found objects like the entry-way coat tree, a package of bic pens and the base of my Swifter mop. I know exactly how she feels, when you’re dieting, a plastic mop head can start to look pretty tempting…

It’s official! Beans is the biggest loser! I recently put her on a low calorie diet and cut back her treats and today I weighed her, she’s lost two pounds! Yeahhhh Beans!!!!!

However, I still can’t see her waist, so we have a ways to go. I have been perusing websites, with the idea of finding interesting toys and low-cal treats to help Beanie regain her girlish figure, but I keep getting side-tracked and finding things for me.
I love to shop online. Being out in the sticks, it’s pretty much the only way I can find unusual items! You can get some great deals online and discounts too, like Overstock coupons for places you like to shop. I can no longer imagine a world without online shopping…

Beans is getting too fat. She’s getting older and less active and now that’s it’s cold out, she’s really packing on the weight–she’s gained eight pounds in two months! We recently put her on a diet which she hates, really hates. She stands there giving her low-fat food contemptuous looks, all the while hopping from foot to foot, as if she’s waiting for the real food to be brought out. We’ve also cut back her treats. Cutting back treats was particularly difficult because we have five dogs and we couldn’t give everyone but Beans a treat–she’d be heart-broken. So we began giving her smaller treats, which she notices. I know she notices. She looks right at me, then at the other dog’s treats as if to say…”MOM! Her treat is bigger than mine!” Which makes me feel terrible–it’s not like I can explain that it’s for her own good…

It doesn’t help that poor Beans is totally focussed on food 24-7. It’s like she has an addiction! Like I used to be with cigarettes! But while you can find addiction treatment for humans, poor Beans has to tough it out. The only thing that has helped satisfy her are rawhide chews, which she quickly devours, so I’m not really sure they are all that helpful. I guess I should be grateful that Beans can’t open the fridge.

Meet Beans. She’s one of our rescue dogs. We got her about at a high kill shelter. It’s hard to believe that no one wanted her, she’s such great dog! Beans is one of the best watch dogs we’ve ever had. The other dogs have been known to bark at squirrels, the mailman, a leaf floating by, but if Beans is barking we know there’s a problem! She has quite a strange bloodline, note the one blue eye, she also has a merle coat and four dainty little white feet. Her daddy was reputedly a Jack Russell terrier and her momma was a Catahoula cattle dog mix.

Beans is not actually a tiny dog, but she seems to be under the impression that she is, when she gets into my lap she hangs off the sides a bit. She took her size from the Jack Russell side evidently, as she’s about the size of Wishbone.