[post_page_title]Eating to excess[/post_page_title]
Alongside this, his previous owners were absolutely besotted with Obie and just couldn’t say no to him. When Obie asked for food, Obie got food – and his ability to eat to excess eventually worked against him. Over the many years in the elderly couple’s care, Obie piled on the pounds and eventually became dangerously overweight. Because his belly was so large, he often struggled to walk from place to place and had to wear a special harness to ensure he did not chafe as his belly scraped across the floor. Obie was in need of some serious help.
[post_page_title]Wanting to inspire[/post_page_title]
Luckily, Nora Vanetta was the perfect person to help Obie lose the weight he desperately needed to shed, to live a happy and healthy life. After obtaining a degree in animal science, the Portland native had all of the necessary experience to take good care of the daschund. During this time, she noted that she felt “blessed” to be a part of Obie’s weight loss transformation and that she wanted to use his journey to inspire other owners and their animals to ensure that their pups were choosing the right foods and exercising as regularly as possible.
[post_page_title]A strict diet[/post_page_title]
To ensure that Obie lost all of the puppy fat from his form, Nora put him on a strict diet and healthy regime that would provide the best results. Her first step was to limit the amount and the type of food that the daschund was eating. To do this, Nora restricted his meal times to just twice a day and made sure that he was eating the correct food for him. According to Nora, trying to get Obie to eat dog food after eating “people” food for so long was one of the hardest aspects of their journey. Nevertheless, he eventually made the transition.
[post_page_title]Getting him moving[/post_page_title]
The next step in Obie’s weight-loss journey involved a plan to get him moving. As he started to lose weight from the new diet, Nora started him on an exercise plan that would shed even more pounds of his puppy fat. To start with, Nora would get Obie on the treadmill to simply get his heart pumping and his legs moving. Then, she managed to get him outside for long walks along the beach. The piece de resistance came when Obie was finally able to go into the water and frolic in the sea like the other dogs – the added bonus was that this was also exercise to add to Nora’s list.
