Doggie Update

So you know that the doggies are now living with us. We picked them up on Saturday August 22nd in Ashland, from my parents. And we're all getting re-adjusted to living together again. It's an adjustment for us, because you have to get back in the swing of caring for little dogs, which takes time and TLC during your day. You have to consider their morning potty and walk, their afternoon potty and walk, and their evening potty. And these are three events that haven't happened in a year. So, it's trying to get the schedule re-tuned. It's an adjustment for them because we have very different rules in our house than Lila did in hers. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having them back and will never give them up again, but there have been a few days of mopey faces.


Most of you already know that they are fat, now. Grandma Lila spoiled them and they have packed on some serious pounds. If you can't see their ribs, they are fat. There is not a rib to be found on either one. Chihuahuas are supposed to weigh somewhere between 4-5 pounds. We had weigh-in two night ago, and Swarley popped up at somewhere between 6-6.5 pounds and Lola weighed in at a whopping 8-8.5 pounds. This is not a truly scientific weigh-in: I used the bathroom scale and subtracted my weight to get to theirs. It's not ac exact science. But generally, you get the idea. They are overweight.


But that's just a few pounds, you might say. Sure, when you're a 140 pound human being. In equivalent human terms, Lola is about 70 pounds overweight and Swarley is 30 pounds overweight. So if you had a person that should only weigh 100 pounds, it's like they weigh 170 pounds. Ugh. Think of what that does to her poor little joints. Okay, I know it could be worse. It could be this:

But we're definitely going to playing the doggie version of Biggest Loser. So far we've discussed portion control and excercise. And I think they get it. But they have to want to lose the weight.

Unexpectedly, weight is not the only problem that we will have to address. It seems they have somehow learned, in the last year, to bark, growl, yip, yap and generally make obnoxious noise at anything that runs, walks, rolls, or otherwise makes itself known to them. Especially bikes and runners. They HATE bikes and runners. They've always been a little bit nervous and anxious, but hardly ever really freaked out with people and other dogs. Especially not Lola - she was the much more mellow one. And we've definitely never had serious growling before. It honestly makes it hard to go on walks right now. I've been yelling at them to stop and to hush and then I read something the other day that said this is the last thing you should do - the dog thinks that you are barking along with them. Great. So now we're going out with treats - lots of little tiny treats - that they get when they behave properly. When they meet a new dog, I try to give them a treat right at the beginning, so that they associate new dogs with good things - treats! When I see someone running towards us, I distract them with treats. However, there's always that unsuspecting runner that pops out from around a corner or a bike that zooms by while they're standing on the corner and then they go apeshit. But, we're working on it. If anyone has tips, I'd be more than grateful to hear them. This is my least favorite new development - even more than the weight. The weight we can take off - but I've never been great at training.

So, we'll do weekly weigh-ins and hopefully they'll start to shrink soon. And I'll let you know if they start to make friends with the other doggies and the runners. Until then, I'll be heading out each morning with fat, noisy babies. But still my babies.