Phoenixpower
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I am not adding to walks again, as this was mentioned...well...often...however, whilst my comparison sucks a little bit as my furrys are 4 cats and not a dog, nevertheless I thought to give you an example from my torty girl pepper... She is addicted to treats...and yes, I mean addicted (never had such a nutter before and I had many cats in almost 3 decades of my life), as mentioned in a different topic, if I don't have any she keeps getting on my nerves about it for days so at some point I buy them again just that she shuts up.... That fact made me a bit nervous that she might gain weight as she is not outside much (I think she encountered one of the bullycats when she was younger or maybe the fox, I don't know, however, she only enjoys being outside when the door or window is open that she knows she can come back at any time...once I close it she panics.). Ergo, her exercises are limited...now, whilst I don't overfeed her with her treats I was concerned (as it simply is a difference to the 2 boys who are outside to 80% as they love to be outside) that she might gain weight...so I started to make it a bit more difficult for her to get her treats...(though with quite amazing results...either she has a significantly better nose then the boys or it is simply due to her greedyness)...and started to place them all over the place...so at moments when she is outside I might hide treats in my shelves on top of my wardrobe, etc...and gosh, she is in less then a minute and already close to the treat...she gets it straight away... so basically...when she wants her treats, then often she has to "earn" them...in her case (here the example sucks as that doesn't quite fit with dogs) she tends to have to climb up the curtains to get onto the shelf, or jump onto my small fridge, from there onto the big fridge to then get onto the shelf...so instead of just giving it to her....she has to "move her muscles"...and by now she tends to check it even without treats being there... so maybe you would also find a way to exercise your dog with interesting search exercises or so... So far none of my cats were overweight and whilst my boys are heavy in their cases it is their muscles due to roaming a lot outside, they don't look heavy...but gosh, they have almost their 5kg by now... Whatever you decide to do with your dog...good luck But yes, as LaTigresse said, we have taken on the responsibility with the pet...my 4th cat I only got as my girl (as stated) is scared outside when the door is shut and therefore has to be inside when I am not at home...at some point I thought about that she is far too much on her own...ergo I got her a birman kitten as birmans don't go out much either...therefore she has company now and is about 70% less clingy then she used to be when I got home and seems to be much happier and relaxed now...was costly but a normal kitten would probably not have done the trick as a "normal" kitten would be likely to enjoy the outside as the boys do once it would be older...so the birman was chosen for her tendency in her breed to be inside a lot (she has her brief strolls when I am at home, then the girls take their sniff outside for a little while and come happy back). So at times we have to kick ourselves in the butt and to do what is good for the pet...if we like it or not, but thats what it means to be a responsible owner... Good luck edited as I forgot to mention that my pets don't get human food from me (except meat sometimes), when curry was young he thought to can eat what I eat and had a go at my chocolate maltesers on my bedside table...that made clear to me to keep them out of reach...I think by now he would not even be attracted to it anymore, but I don't give them food which is fattening for them as some people give their pets remaining chips or so....nope, my cats have their cat food and sometimes meat from my plate, but that's it!
< Message edited by Phoenixpower -- 10/30/2009 4:06:21 PM >
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