Heidi Goes for a Walk

Heidi is the dog I am fostering for Beagles of New England States (BONES). When she first came to us just before Thanksgiving of 2008, she weighed a whopping 82 pounds. At the making of this video (March 2009) she is down almost 21 pounds and is starting to enjoy her walks.

For more about Heidi, visit her link at:
http://heidi.maryclarespringer.com

To learn how you can adopt a beagle like Heidi and others looking for a permanent home, please visit http://www.bonesbeagles.org

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Heidi
• beagle
• obese
• rescue
• foster
• BONES
• fat
• new
• england
• loser
• diet
• weight
• loss
• dog
• walk

[FattyDudley]

That is one MORBIDLY OBESE dog.

[tillyny]

@FattyDudley She was...she's not anymore. :)

[FattyDudley]

@tillyny I could see two possibilities.

1. You love her so much that you keep on giving her food and didn't monitor her food intake.

2. She was that way when you got her.

Anyway it's good news that she's slim now.

[tillyny]

@FattyDudley She was definitely that way when we got her...I belong to a rescue group for beagles and she was the ultimate rescue case and I fostered her for several months. She has now been adopted by a loving family who got even more weight off her than we did, and she's a much happier pooch now, doing what beagles are supposed to do. :)

[wircom88]

I know it's A LOT, I didn't mean to sound as if I was not giving credit to that tremendous improvement. I guess I thought the fat would "melt" away if she were put on an almost zero diet. I know that she'll eventually get to a point when she's still overweight but the pounds wouldn't drop anylonger or at least it will be VERY difficult. I feed "Lea" lots of vegetables and very little meat. She's pretty good at finding food outside, though, but she's NOTHING like Heidi, she still looks normal.

[tillyny]

Before that, when she was with the previous rescue, she had already dropped almost 40 lbs. Like humans, dogs lose water weight first, then fat. But keep in mind that 20 lbs since November is nearly 25% of her November body weigh lost in 4 monthst. For a dog, that's HUGE.

[wircom88]

But I have NEVER, EVER seen anything like what they did to Heidi!!! I keep thinking about her and I do hope she'll shed those pounds! I read the diary on BONES and saw, that she "only" lost 20 pounds between Novemebr and March. How come that doesn't go faster?

[wircom88]

Well, Talia is 13 inches small and she weighs 18 punds being VERY slim. But she's all show breeding and they are built stronger. My previous beagles were US field trial beagles and built more slender. However, my female "Lea" is spayed and I fight a constant battle against chubbiness. I'm out running the beagles 5 hours every day, but Lea's metabolism is VERY slow. So, it's not THAT easy to keep a beagle thin! By the way, Wendi, that's the reason for the spinach, cabbage, apple etc. ;-)

[tillyny]

Unfortunately, overfeeding a dog does not come under the legal deinition of abuse at this point. I myself am glad I never came face to face with the previous owner. Right now, Heidi's best revenge is to lose the extra weight and become the very active and happy beagle she wants and was meant to be. She is well on her way there (at this writing she's lost nearly 60 lbs and is still going strong!) Thanks for the support! (and Heidi says "Arooooo!!" -- that's a happy, not a sad arooooo) :)

[Luvbeags]

Oh, I just visited Bones.

She was 120 pounds, what a sin.

He old owners must have been horrible lazy people. As the saying goes, "If your dog is fat you aren't getting enough exercise."