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Progress report written October 7, 2007
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Penny Puppy is 3 years and 8 months old. Boy, how time has flown by. She about 50 pounds now and still over weight. We know it's our fault. We just can't seem to say 'no' when she gives us that sad little look of starvation which always comes with a sad little whine or yelp. Penny has us trained so very well.
When the tainted dog food horror happened we switched Penny's food. We had to stop giving her kongs because we use canned dog food in her kongs and she's one of the pickiest eaters for a dog that we've ever seen. We couldn't find a safer brand that she would eat... so, we stopped. Last fall she was at the vets spending the weekend when we had to go out of town, she weighed 53.5 pounds. When we carried her into the vets for her yearly shots and things this past June, she had lost down to 50 pounds again. They wanted to know what we had done. And we told them about the food and the kongs. They were quite impressed because apparently, it's super hard for a housepet to loose weight. So we did do something right to help her weight.
Penny Puppy sleeps all night now. She no longer sleeps in the crate. She pretty much sleeps wherever she lands. I put her crate away because there's really no reason to have it up now. She's not the tornado she once was. She's mellowing with age. However she still really enjoys a grand rambunctious playtime.
Penny still steals socks, washclothes or towels. It's so strange to find these little nests around the house that she makes with them.
She's fully house broken now and has cleverly separated her alarms for going outside. If she rushes the door with a fury of barking, you can bet that someone or something is outside. If she rings the bells hanging from the door knob, it means she has to go out and potty.
Penny Puppy has grown into a wonderful dog, just like the vet assured that she would... I remember thinking the vet was just a bit soft in the heart and was fibbing to us... lol I'm glad that we listened and kept tolerant while we lived through her chaos years.
Penny Puppy is a real joy and a comfort to have at the heart of our family.