Thanks everyone for the input.
I'm lying on the sofa all congested - frustrated about losing training time.
Guess i will just be nice to myself and listen to my body.
Uggh - hate being sick, it is sooo annoying.

S

Oops! Sorry Sheila. Good luck Michelle!

Sznn feel better soon.

Allison, we've only been able to weigh Carter at the vet too. He's due for his vaccines next month so we'll find out how he's doing then. We can still feel his ribs easily, and his waist does go in in the back, so he's not THAT overweight, luckily.

When we got him, his first vet weigh-in was 80lbs, and they said that he appeared to be at a perfect weight. We took him to the vet again maybe 6 months or so later because he was grunting and snoring a lot, and they weighed him in at 88lbs and said the grunting was because of the extra weight and we should put him on a diet. We put him on a diet, and a couple months later took him to the vet for a pulled leg and he weighed 83lbs. They told us to feed him a little more so he would not lose weight so fast.

After that it was summer, and we took him running with us all the time. We can't really run with him from December - February. We took him to the vet again right after getting back from our Christmas vacation (he had been staying with MIL) to have a growth looked at and he weighed in at 90lbs. That was his last official weigh in.

We feed him 1 1/2 C twice a day usually, which is the amount recommended on the food package (Iams preventive health). Since he got the 90lb weigh-in, we've been making sure we feed him level cups instead of heaping cups, and not giving him any extra food even if he begs for it. We have never really fed him treats or table scraps so that is not an issue. The vet said it is okay for him to gain about 5lbs during the winter as long as he loses it again in the summer.

The weather has finally been nice so I'll take him running with me tonight. He loves to run and it's great exercise for both of us. It's just frustrating in the winter because sometimes the weather is too crappy to take him for a walk even, especially when people don't shovel their sidewalks.

Okay, enough rambling about my dog. I was laughing at myself the other day when I was choosing a purse to use with a nice outfit, and my criteria were that it had to be big enough to hold my wallet and a roll of poop bags. I think that's worthy of a "You know you're a dog mom when..."

Suzanne - I misread earlier and thought you were already feeling better... Hope you feel better soon.

Sheila - googled 'slideboard'. Cool. I would break my neck.

Jessica -

Jessica~that's too funny about the purse. We always take poop bags with us, but it depends on which dog we're with as to how many bags to take. Buddy is good for a 2 to 3 bag walk every time. Chico? Not so much. I have carried the same bag (folded and tucked into my waist line) for about 2 years. In the 5 years we've had him, he's pooped on a walk twice and peed only once. Weird dog.

Sheila~I love the Oscars. It's about the only awards show I really pay attention to, although watching Sandra Bullock give Betty White her lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes was great (and so was Betty's acceptance speech). I didn't get a chance to see any red carpet, but I got all the good/bad/ugly dresses critiqued online this morning. I think my favorite dress was Penelope Cruz's red dress.

I watched a bit and did see one of the dresses I liked most "live". I thought both Queen Latifah and Sigourney Weaver hit it out of the park with their dresses. The fit flattered each respective wearer as did the colour, and the styles were interesting enough to be memorable in a sea of sequins, frills, semi-nudity, etc.

I thoguht Zoe Saldana was totally overwhelmed by her purple can-can number. She's gorgeous and the dress did nothing to show that. I also liked Sarah Jessica Parker's dress but what the heck was she wearing around her neck???

I should talk. I'll have to post a photo someday of me in my winter work get-up.

Dagmar

Snzz, I hope you feel better soon. I’m not a runner but when I’m sick, I do a reduced aerobic workout so that I don’t “lose” anything. I’ll do less resistance and speed on my elliptical or an easy video. It helps so I’m not stressing about not exercising.

Jessica, like Allison, we weigh at the vet. Blizzard has monthly laser treatments for her hips so that’s her TOPS weigh-in. J We used to do that pick the dog up and then without for the weight but the dogs hate it. Our vet will let us bring them in to just weigh anytime we want but I go often enough. And TOO FUNNY about the purse selection. You are a doggie mom.

Allison, our vet recommended the carrots as negligible calories last spring. I buy baby carrots by the 5 pound bag and very few are for me. All 4 dogs love them and Blizzard gets a handful as I leave for work and gives me the eye if I try to leave without leaving them on the floor. They are a great doggie snack.

Shannon, I love image of Carter’s mirror thoughts. Good luck on your half marathon. DH used to do marathons and they were fun as my kids and I would cheer, jump in the car, drive to another spot and cheer some more.

Hi everyone! I'm overwhelmed by my crazy week ahead after a crazy weekend so I can't respond to everyone.

Dagmar-- I missed it-- is one of your clients getting a new puppy? Fun! What kind??

Yes, I am going to the eye doctor Wed. for a test. I am trying not to freak out. The second child in a week asked me today "why is one of your eyes bigger than the other?"... uggghhh..... Not sure when I'll find out the results. The specialist ordered the test and I'm going to my local opthamologist (sp) for it so I'll try to get info from him.

I'm going to be working 2 plus weeks without a day off and I'm feeling exhausted already! I usually have Saturdays off but I agreed to work the next two Saturdays. Next week is my bookfair and there is always a ton of prep work for that! We also just had our first ever Read-a-thon and I'm tabulating all of our students/ classes to see how many minutes everyone read/ how much money they raised, etc. All I did this weekend was tabulate forms and I brought a ton more home today.

I hope everyone has great weather, feels better, eats OP, enjoys their exercise, gets along.... does that cover everyone? I'll check in later this week when I hopefully have more time..... I'm taking Wed. off to see the eye doctor and spend a day with dd while she's home from Spring Break-- so I guess I lied about working every day-- forgot about Wed. We are planning pedicures, lunch and maybe a movie.....

Re: poop bags , I was walking in the park with my dog when he decided it was time for a poop. I didn't have any bags with me but they provide them at this park.I was only about 10-12 feet away from them, got one and came back to be a responsible dog owner and couldn't find it !!! I searched the area diligently and just couldn't locate it. We finally left but I'm sure someone came along later and cussed us out.

Can happen to anyone - particularly in the winter if you're wearing a coat hood and have no peripheral vision. Most of the commercial dog walkers I know pick up any "orphans" in the park so I'm sure someone got your dog's pile.


We had poop bag dispensers in a couple of our parks for a bit but unfortunately the bags weren't big enough for most of the poop my guys produce. Funny how the government thinks. If they'd sent a person out to look at the size of the dogs in the park they might have drawn a different conclusion about how big the bags should be.

And my new puppy (who's too small for the doggie bus right now so gets a puppy visit at his house) is a 7 week-old golden retriever. He's very cute and I'm going to have a lot of fun with him. I'm still feeling very sad for the 14 year old dog who lives with him - he was so depressed yesterday that even a walk in the sun with his "girlfriends" didn't cheer him up. I gave him a lot of extra love but he kept looking at me with incredibly sad eyes. I hope he can come to terms with the new guy.

Have a great Tuesday all!

Dagmar

Allison, Carter almost never poops on regular walks, but he almost always poops if we take him to a park. I like to just keep a roll of poop bags in my purse at all times because otherwise I might forget to bring them!

Bargoo, that has happened to me too. Actually one time at the dog park, Carter pooped, and I couldn't find it, but I found a different poop that was much older, so I picked up that one instead!

Michele, good luck with the eye appointment! I hope they can get you taken care of quickly.

Dagmar, yay for the new puppy, sorry to the older dog. That is totally dumb about the park poop bags being too small. There are a couple parks that have poop bags near us, but not all of the parks.

I'll have to consider carrots for feeding Carter. I do think he's in his summer weight loss mode though. Yesterday he didn't eat his breakfast until 7pm, then he didn't even ask for dinner, so we didn't give him any. This morning though he must have been extra hungry because he gobbled down his breakfast immediately. Maybe it's because I took him running last night?

Oh, this was too cute. On our run, Carter stuck his head out to the side to sniff something and got a big piece of some kind of dried out ornamental grass wrapped around his face. So I'm running along and he's running with me with this big piece of grass on his face, and he totally couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. I actually had to stop and pull it off of him.

I'm having a great day so far today. The sun is shining, it's warming up outside, the crocuses are blooming, and because I got a high rating at work, I got a big raise and bonus! Last year we had a salary freeze because of the recession, so it was nice to get a raise at all this year, and a big one is even better. Too bad the bonus is going straight to paying my taxes. And yes, my company is very strange for doing our annual reviews in March instead of December.

Re: feeding carrots to your dog. I had some mini carrots.. I thought my dog would like them being as they are so crunchy. I put them in his bowl with his kibble, I found them lined up OUTSIDE his dish, apparently raw carrots are not on his list of faves.

DH took Buddy for a short walk on Saturday (just up the street and back as that's about all he can handle any more). He didn't take a poop bag--not that it would have helped. Buddy decided to have diarrhea (side effect of one of his pain meds) right in front of a neighbor's house. DH went back with a milk jug filled with warm soapy water and a scrub brush and cleaned the black top where Buddy had made the mess. Gotta hand it to him for doing that!

I buy 10 pounds of carrots each week at Costco. We go through a lot of carrots!

Michele, I hope the eye tests gets you answers. And enjoy the pedicure afterwards.

Dagmar, I probably missed the news on the new puppy. Can you post a picture? I need a puppy fix. I just adore puppies but DH would go over the edge if I brought a new one home. There are days I envy your job. You get puppy fixes all the time.

Jessica, YEAH!!!!!! On the raise and bonus. Congratulations!

Allison, wow your DH is amazing. That was way beyond what most would ever do! The carrot bag at Costco is 10 lbs? I guess I was wrong that I was buying 5 pound bags. I buy mine at costco too.

Nothing new in my life today. DH’s b-day cake was wonderful and I so wanted a BIG piece. The small one was good but I kept starting the cake and wanting to let myself slice another piece. I persevered and am not even tempted today. Of course being at work and the cake at my house makes that easier. Tonight DH is going to cut portion sizes and freeze them for his lunches so I should be good against that German Chocolate temptation.
Marie

Marie~Yes, I'm pretty sure they're 10 pound bags, but I'll double check. And that's not all my DH has done in the line of poop duty. Once we were on a walk and our ever dependable Buddy pooped not once, not twice and not three times but FOUR times. We only had three bags with us and we had already filled them and thrown them into the appropriate receptacles. Well, we finished our walk and DH went back to the little park area where we had been and spent half an hour picking up all the poop he could find. Yeah, he's a keeper!