"Gordita". Little fatty. This is what everyone here is calling my poor Boo (our nickname for Molly). Don't get me wrong, everyone is in love with her. Kids, adults, elderly folks -- everyone stops to pet her, hug her, and declare her cute...and fat. Is it true? Periodically, Chris and I would step back and stare at our Gordita long and hard. 'Did she just need a good brushing?', we would ask each other. There is no way she has gained that much weight...or has she? Finally, after several weeks of noticing shocked looks by strangers we passed, Chris scooped up our yellow beast and stood on the scale with her. 84 lbs???!!! How is it possible she has gained almost 7 lbs. since we have arrived in Spain?!
Now, let me back up. Molly has never been the most svelte pooch to begin with. She was the biggest, fattest puppy of her litter. A giant, cuddly fluff ball that just kept growing after we brought her home.
She is an English lab, short and stout, with plenty of padding to keep her warm in the icy Canadian waters where they were bred to retrieve lobster traps and return them to the boats. Except...she is not so much swimming in icy waters, but rather catching rays belly up in the Mediterranean sun. We knew the breed was intended to be hefty, but I always was sure to ask our vet in the US if she was
too fat. He would assure me she was within normal weight limits, but to keep an eye on her and start to cut back on food if we noticed her waist disappearing. Once our kids were born, her exercise did get cut back a bit...she didn't get a ton of long walks, but did get a fair amount of play out in our yard, and trips to the beach during off season. She had a good life, maybe a little extra padding, but nothing excessive or worrisome.
When we first talked about moving abroad, the only part that really gave me reservation was Molly. What would we do with Molly? I had assumed most countries required months of quarantine once we arrived, and I wasn't sure I wanted to put her through that...plus, we had no idea how dog friendly a city Barcelona was, and assumed that we would be living in a fairly small apartment, landlocked and relying on elevators and long walks to find green outdoor space. Not the kind of life we wanted for our big yellow lab, but it made my chest ache to think about leaving her behind for two years. I know most dog owners feel their dog is unique and share a bond, but I think labs are just special. Hearts of gold, with a soul so pure you can see it through their human-like eyes. Molly's our girl, and it was heart wrenching to think we would miss two years out of her already very short life.
Luckily, we found a place to live here in BCN that blew these worries out of the water. Our apartment is close to the beach, on street level, and has a back yard. I don't want to say we picked this apartment for the dog...but...we picked this apartment for the dog.
We truly felt we were giving our dog an even better life than she had at home in Rowley -- at least once weekly visits to the beach, leisurely naps outside on the patio, and at least four 10-minute walks per day, with added fetch sessions in the evening and occasional longer walks in the morning with the kids.
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| Molly's first day in Barcelona |
Then there is the food...Back when Molly was just a puppy, I had taken her to Plum Island for a swim, and was stopped by an old salt of a man sitting on the back of his truck with his elderly lab mix. He smiled when he saw Molly, and said in his gruff voice, "Best dogs on earth. The time will go fast, so enjoy every day with her." We talked awhile after that, he said his dog was now almost 12, and still going strong. He warned me: "You need to feed her good dog food, none of the crap you find at most stores. Get her the good stuff, and she will live a long life." Maybe true, maybe not, but this struck a cord, and from that point forward, I only got the good stuff. Although Spain has some great fresh food, and overall eating here is much healthier than in the US, the dog food ain't great. Perhaps the US takes it a little overboard with "holistic" this, and "nature-made" that, but Spain goes the opposite way. The dog food here is terrible. It took me a month online research, and trial and error, until I found the best dog food made here in Spain, and only found in one store in the entire city that sold it. We started her on the food, cut out the treats, and kept up the walks and fetching daily. Good. Molly is taken care of, she is with in Spain, we have done our duty and we are good doggie parents. Exhale.
Now, imagine our surprise when after three months of our "healthy doggie lifestyle" our dog is now 7 lbs heavier! That is a 10% body weight gain, obviously terrible for her health, especially her joints. We have suspicions that this new fancy pants food is the culprit, which is kind of ironic...healthy food, turning her into an unhealthy obsese dog. It seems it is higher in calories, and I have failed to measure it out properly. Plus, it doesn't help that Molly has stolen her fair share of baguettes out of unsuspecting strangers hands and shopping bags (always a good time).
So it has begun! With her 5th birthday approaching in just one week, it is time to take action. I have named myself Molly's new personal trainer, and we are determined to get her down to a healthy weight again. Our plan of attack includes daily morning runs together along the beach, carefully portioned diet food, and more frequent, longer pee walks. This morning was our first run together, and she did...OK. We made it about 15 minutes running, until I started to feel really bad for her and had to slow it down to a power walk. She is just so out of shape, jiggling along after me trying to walk fast to avoid running. She started panting just looking at the leash. This is going to be a long road for her, but we'll get there. For now, we are posting her "before" picture, with updates to come on her progress...Our little Gordita will get her body back. :)
