The Biggest (Furry) Loser

A few months ago, my husband and I adopted an adorable Dachshund that we named Tobi from a local shelter. He was sweet, energetic and loved to pin you down to lick your face. Our only concern was his weight. Miniature Dachshunds usually have a max weight of 7-8 lbs and our new baby was a whopping 25!

Due to their hotdog like nature, that particular breed of dog is at an increased risk of back injuries... being 17 pounds overweight definitely wasn't helping those odds. It was time to play the biggest loser!

His past history, the shelter told us, consisted of lots of human food with little exercise... sometimes being abandoned inside the house for days on end. First thing to cut - human food!

Yep, our poor abused Tobi would give us the saddest eyes while peering down from under our glass table. How could we love him and not share?

Next I began measuring his food portions instead of leaving a giant bowl of food others 24/7 like we had for our previous dogs. This seemed to help a little but our biggest challenge was exercise.

Now Tobi was a dog who couldn't even hop up onto the couch by himself, continuously smacking into the side overtime he tried and then rolling over with that tearful look he gave us so often. You can imagine just getting him down the stairs of our third floor apartment was a task!

We started out carrying him up and down the stairs and starting the morning with a log walk followed by four shorter walks throughout the day. This also helped keep him from using any particular part of the house as his personal toilet.

Eventually he got to the point here he was able to walk up and down the stairs himself with a lot of encouraging and before we knew it, he could even hop up onto the couch with only a few piggy grunting sounds.

A few months later and we just took him to the vet... 8 pounds less!! (That's a lot of weight for a dog that small) our fat little bratwurst had shaped up into a muscled workout machine. Besides his chub slimming down, he's also acting a lot happier as well. Booting around the house, playing with toys and springing from couch to recliner and back again.

He's such a motivating little guy... if he can do it - so can you and I! Here's to a happy, healthy life! :)