Last update of 2012!

Here it is, the end of December! We've had SP for about 4 months now and she is going strong! Unfortunately, she has become a poop connoisseur, which has slowed her weight loss, plateauing at about 70 pounds. But she is running 2 miles a day and you can see from the videos that her energy level is way up! On her walks, she is at the end of the leash and trotting. It is hard to keep up with her. We love you SP! Keep up the good work! (Skip the turd flakes though, please!!)

Blood Test is clear!

The vet came last weekend and took blood. We got the call Monday that her bloodwork was clear! Hooray! No more poison is left in her system!

We celebrated by breaking out the balls and frisbees and getting her moving a bit more. Here is a video from today's adventure with a new frisbee.

Quick update

Just a quick update on Sweet Pea! The vet came today a week early, for her blood test - oops! Rescheduled til next week! SP weighed in at 77 pounds! Huzzah!

In other SP news, she's gotten very interested in squirrels lately. We think she's so hungry she's looking for food! She also has been playing more and more ball outside. We hope when she's at a good weight she'll turn into a ball freak like Ole was!

At the dog park, she plays well with Baci but still tends to lie down. She loves her hikes and walks though! I'll update again when we know her blood test results.

Poison!

Sweet Pea's update this week lacks a weight, because we were all too traumatized to take her to Petsmart.

Sunday afternoon she got into some rat poison at a neighbor's. We called the Emergency Vet, who referred us to the ASPCA Poison Control line. They walked us through the process (induce vomiting with Hydrogen Peroxide 3%) and we called our vet this AM for a 30-day Vitamin K1 prescription.

The type of rat poison she ingested is an anti-coagulent, which means she could literally bleed to death if enough of it got into her system. The Vitamin K1 helps restore the blood's clotting ability. She'll have a blood test in 30 days to be sure she's clotting again. In the meantime, I'm not going to encourage roughhousing, so her weight loss may slow this month. That's OK with us.

Hang in there, Sweet Pea. We love you!

83 pounds

SP has been doing amazingly well! Her activity level is way up, as she chases balls and plays at the dog park, as well as jogging daily. I'm her Jillian Michaels and she is the biggest loser!

The vet came Monday for her official weigh-in. She came in at 83 pounds, down from 88.4 last checkup! Hooray hooray! Good job, SP!

This morning after the dog park she ran a mile with me and then happily trotted home.

Here are some awesome videos to enjoy. Our girl is really coming into her own!

85.2

Sweet Pea has been getting more and more active. Not only does she prefer to trot now (rather than saunter...) she has been getting very crazy in the mornings, chasing a ball or toys like a puppy. Sunday night, when we arrived home late and she missed her third walk of the day, she was a ball of energy, chasing a tennis ball with hysterical enthusiasm. I must video that next time!


She's been better at the dog park, though she hasn't yet recreated the energy she showed in the last video. Fewer dogs are coming now that it's getting chillier, so perhaps the lower energy is contributing to her mellowness while there.

She does love Lewis and his squeaky ball toys. She will follow him around and sneak in and steal the ball when she can. She will actually fetch those and bring them back, so today I got her a 4-pack of her own. We'll see how those fare tomorrow at the dog park.

First Run! 

Today we began her new morning routine. Besides a brisk walk to the dog park and some (hopefully) romping with other dogs, we return home via a half-mile trail. Starting today, we jogged the trail! She stopped a lot to sniff, but when she wasn't sniffing, she was trotting! Hopefully after a few weeks we can add on another half mile until she can run the full 3 miles with me along Bobolink.

I took her to Petsmart today and she weighed in at 85.2 pounds - another 2 pounds down! Hooray! She is doing so well. She is a total couch dog now, ignoring her dog bed on the floor. She also sleeps with us in the bed at night (good thing we have a King size bed!) She is a great dog and we are all loving watching her get healthy!

Keep up the good work, Sweet Pea! 

Feeling frisky

This morning was a milestone day for Sweet Pea! As usual, we walked to the dog park to play with other puppy friends before heading out on our short hike on Bobolink Trail. Sweet Pea surprised us all by actually playing and running with the other dogs! Look for yourself!

As if this morning wasn't amazing enough, she and Fuff showed us that they are really getting along these days. In spite of the occasional hiss or growl, they co-exist quite peacefully. Hooray!

Sweet Pea also accompanied me to PetsMart (Bruiser needed more crickets). Her weight is now at 87 pounds! That's down 1.4 from Sept. 10. Hooray! Granted, this is a different scale than the vet, but as long as the numbers are going down, we'll take it!

Hooray Sweet Pea! Hope you continue to frolic this way every day!

3.4 pounds down!

Hooray hooray! From 91.8 two weeks ago to a slender 88.4 today, Sweet Pea is losing weight! She is down to 1 cup of dry food in the am and pm, and about a quarter cup total of teeny treats for training. We are so excited for her!

The vet will return in a month to check her progress, but at almost 2 pounds of weight loss a week, she's doing great. Perhaps her metabolism just needed to be kick-started? I can't believe that she is getting so little food - she is now eating what Ole, at 49 pounds, ate most of his life. And he didn't eat diet dog food! Poor dog. But she's happy and seems fine with it all.

water loving dog

She trots more on her walks now and has taken to swimming around the water holes we frequent mid-day. She's still a chewer; she chewed through her collar last night and has gotten into the mitten bin, so we are trying to be extra careful about leaving things around that she can get into.

She still has her morning crazies. Every morning after the alarm goes off she starts whimpering and will do anything to get us out of bed! She even chases a ball in the morning. She is so funny. I hope that when she is down to a healthy weight she will have that happy energy throughout the day.

We need to schedule another Basic Manners class for next weekend although she is doing really well at "Target" and responding to her name. We even have her off leash on the trails now because she doesn't stray very far from us and will come back to us when we call her name. Bonus!

She will chase squirrels, we discovered, so we may discontinue the Gentle Leader, which can give her some serious whiplash if she were ever to bolt off unexpectedly. She doesn't pull on a regular throat leash at all (Well, if I'm around...)

She still needs to know where I am at all times. Paul is a close second, but I'm #1. I wonder why this is, as I still think of myself as a cat person. Oh well. She's a sweet sweet dog and we're so glad she's ours!

First Hike

 On Labor Day, we were scheduled to go on a hike with some friends. Rather than a toughie, we settled on Sanitas, where the energetic among us could hike to the summit while the rest of us could meander along the trail.

Sweet Pea did great on the trail, sticking close by us and interacting with other dogs in a mellow manner. We stopped twice in the shade to offer her water, then the group split into two.

Waving off the summit-ers, Sam, Mae, SP and I took a nice long rest in the shade before walking back along the higher, shadier section on the trail. Our plan was to beat the others, run to the store for more water, and meet them back at the trail head.

Almost immediately after starting back, SP lay down and wouldn't get up. She was hot and tired and darned if she was going to keep this foolishness up, we felt like we could hear her saying. A kindly young mother gave us an entire bottle of water (yes, she had been drinking the entire time but by this time our water was running out so extra was awesome!) which we poured into her water bowl and on her back and head to cool her down.

I admit I was a little worried. How in the world was I going to get this 90 pound dog down the mountain? Had we overtaxed her? Was she going into heat exhaustion? My sweet children gave up their water for her - how long would they stay so patient?

We spent probably 20 minutes in the shade while she cooled off. And then, miraculously, she got up and trotted down the trail. We didn't stop til we got to the trailhead and immediately drove to the store for a gallon of water (and more snacks. Of course!)

SP finished off about a half gallon of the water and then happily dozed at the foot of the trail in the shade while we waited for Ted and Paul to meet us. We all felt badly that we had obviously worked her too hard and she spent the rest of the day napping.

Last night around midnight I awoke to a terrible smell. The poor thing had had diarrhea, luckily on the hardwood floor and not on the carpet! We cleaned it up and sat with her for a while to be sure she was "finished," then returned to bed.

She seemed fine this morning and had her regular walks today. Let's hope she continues to improve, and for heavens sake, we need this heat to break! Poor dog.

But, all in all, a super fun hike and we know she'll do better next time when we go on a cooler day! We love you Sweet Pea!

First Day of School

Today Sweet Pea went to her first day of Level 1 Basic Manners class at the Humane Society. She did surprisingly well. She enjoyed the treats and seemed to catch on quickly to what we were asking of her. She learned to look at me when I said her name, to sit, and how to target. These basic skills were taught pretty quickly and I bet she'll be a pro in a week's time. She was remarkably uninterested in the other dogs which meant she paid attention to me quite well. When she was supposed to relax and chew on her bone, she just curled up and went to sleep. Cutie!

She did have a moment of being over it though and that was funny!

It's fun having a treat bag around my waist again. She's going to do great! Happy first day of school, Sweet Pea! 

Sweet Pea's 2 week checkup

The vet came today, two weeks to the day since her last visit. Sweet Pea was on a strict food schedule and daily 3-walks-a-day exercise routine. Want to know how much weight our 90+ pounds dog weighs now? Ready? 92 pounds. Yup. Nary a pound lost. *sigh*

We are to reduce her food by one cup in the am and pm. She doesn't seem to care; she's not a fan of the dry food anyway. She was also given the all-clear to swim (now that her incision has healed up nicely) so we can add that to her activities. She also seems to be able to jog well with me, so we'll do that too. Not run, just an easy jog.

Tonight we took her to the dog park with the water section to swim in lieu of her evening neighborhood walk. She loved it and got right in, paddling around happily. She then trotted home easily. We hope the new regime will work. The vet will return in two weeks.

We are also going to start Obedience Training with her this Saturday. Once we have a good recall from her, we can start letting her off leash on the trails! She is such a good dog; commands like "Leave it" and "Sit" aren't really needed right away, but a solid "Come!" would be wonderful!

She now sleeps in our bedroom at night and seems much more relaxed when I leave the house. She is settling in!

One week ours!

We have had dear Sweet Pea for one week now and she is getting more and more comfortable each day. Like her sweet headshot? That was the picture from the Humane Society's website that I hadn't ever seen (Ted and I were looking at dogs and saw her just a day after she was relinquished). What a cutie with her pink bandana! It makes me sad too though. Someone loved her enough to put a cute little bandana on her the day they were giving her up? Ugh, makes my heart hurt.

Today she ate well, tucking into her wet food eagerly and reluctantly eating up the dry afterwards. Cutie.

She's been enjoying the dog park in the mornings, though she made it clear today that she was NOT to be mounted under any circumstances! Hee hee. You go, girl. She also goes into any water she sees along the trail, so I hope the next week goes by quickly so we can start obedience school and get her off leash!

The kids are back in school and she is always there to greet them when they arrive back home. She has, sadly, ripped up and chewed a few shirts and books, so the kids need to keep their stuff picked up around here - not a bad thing!

All in all, what she's learned in a week is astounding. What a great gal.

First Vet Visit

Sweet Pea had her first vet visit yesterday and it went quite well. She weighed in at 91.8 pounds, so probably the Humane Society weighed her prior to her surgery. Our first weight loss goal is 10 pounds and she is on a mixture of wet and dry prescription weight control food. She ate the wet food with enthusiasm this morning, so I think she was fed wet food in her old home. At least she's eating! She also peed and pooped! Hooray! (Geesh, it's like talking about a newborn!)

We have her on three walks a day: a morning walk to the dog park to play with other dogs (she's super friendly to everyone and seems to enjoy the girl dogs), an after-lunch walk to the creek path (she LOVES water - I'l have to take a video of her enthusiasm) and an evening walk around the neighborhood.

Today she actually peed on both her first and second walk! This is the first time she's peed more than once a day, so we were very relieved. We used to think she was a chewer but it turns out she's just a picker-upper! If anything is left on the floor, on the stairs, or on a low chair she'll pick it up and take it to her "den" behind the couch. She is so sweet!

Tonight we have our Orientation for Obedience School. We can't treat her til she loses some weight, so we are curious to hear if we should wait to start school or not.

All new things!

Sweet Pea has been very busy learning new things around our house. Some of her recent accomplishments:

• Going up and down carpeted and wood stairs
• Going for walks on a leash
• Tolerating a gentle leader on her face
• Sharing space with a top cat

Keep up the good work, Sweet Pea!

Welcome to the family, Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea, Day 1

Sweet Pea joined our family today, August 9, 2012. She is a 3 1/2 year old purebred yellow lab. We don't know too much about her, but it seems that she has had a few litters and she definitely has a weight problem - we even had to sign an Obesity waiver at the Humane Society! She is very sweet and gentle, though she knows no commands. We will put her in Obedience Training as soon as she recovers from her spay.  She's a great gal.

Paul thought it would be fun to document our 99 pound girl's journey back to fitness and vigor. We will meet with our vet in the next few days to come up with a diet plan for her. Until she recovers completely from her spay (~10 days) we will keep her walks mellow and short, though frequent. She didn't seem to know what stairs were, so a large part of her first afternoon with us was spent learning about stairs. We hope we didn't overdo the exercise today, based on stairs alone!

The kids adore her and she is in severe danger of over-cuddling. Here's to your health, Sweet Pea!