A Few Pounds Among Friends

Sure, we’re still recovering from the heartbreak and training loss when Lilly’s best, best dog friend Katie, the borzoi, got rehomed. However, there appears to be some additional fallout from the loss of our fast-running pal … in the form of an additional of a few pounds. Now, I could blame the weight gain n a bunch of things, but not having Katie to chase a few times a week is affecting Lilly’s leanness, and that’s for darn sure.

Yep. My darling, tiny girl is a few pounds up. During the peak of her agility training as a young adult, Lilly hovered around 33-34 pounds, which is a tad thin. Typically, I keep her around 35-36 pounds. These days, she’s around 39 pounds.

That’s the same weight she was when we started agility training with Joy Bishop (who has been on the world team). And, as I mentioned long ago, Joy’s first words to me at our private assessment were not “Hello” or “Nice to meet you.” She looked at me and Lilly and simply said, “You need to take 3-4 pounds off your dog.”

I must have made a face because she dropped her sunglasses a smidge, glanced at me over the rims, and said, “This isn’t conformation.”

So, there you have it. At 39 pounds, Lilly would do great in the conformation (or show dog) ring. But, for agility, that’s a tad heavy.

Even though, we’re not competing or dealing with the rigors of daily (or weekly) agility runs, I prefer to keep my girlie-girl on the lean side. I attempt to do that same for myself, with less success.

Lilly has always eaten smaller-than-normal meals since so much of her daily calorie intake gets used up in training and calming exercises, but I’ve had to trim them back even more and be more conscious about the snacks I give her.

I didn’t realize how many calories Lilly burned in her regular play dates with Katie. Chasing that fast, fast girl, really put Lilly to the test, so beyond the loss of friendship, I’m sad at the effect it’s had on Lilly’s waistline.

There is also a good chance that some of this is our boys’ fault. Ever since we moved to dogs back into the basement, following all the hullabaloo down there, Ginko has been waking us up way early. Tom (the saint he is) gets up more often than not to feed and potty the dogs so that I can sleep. And, I’ve seen what meal portions he thinks are just right, and they are MUCH bigger than what I feed either dog.

So, for a while, I need to step up my Mealtime Mommy oversight and make a concerted effort at enough dog exercise. Make that ditto for me, and soon I’ll be able to report that both of us are back to our ideal bods.