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Paws to Read

The mission of the PAWS TO READ Program is to improve the literacy skills of children with the assistance of registered canine reading companions in a fun and relaxed environment. Research with therapy animals indicates that children with low self-esteem are often more willing to interact with an animal than another person. Also in Canada at Therapeutic Paws to Read

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Puppy Shih-tzu 8 weeks

Dog Paw Print Icon for DogDoogle.com Dog Doogle Tails: Tails of Maggie & Katie

Maggie is on a Diet

by B. A. Brown

Maggie is on a diet. A strict one. Has been for two months.

She has not lost an ounce.

Katie weighs 122 pounds, Maggie weighs 94 and should be 80 pounds. Vet says Katie is lovely. Big and lovely and sleek. No diet required.

Yes, they are sisters. Both black with tan points. And the similarity ends there. Different coats, different body structures ( For horse people, Katie is a Trakehner, Maggie is a Quarterhorse). And Maggie now has hip problems which are exacerbated by excess weight.

Katie being the larger gets more dinner. Lots more.

Katie gets two large biscuits in the morning. Maggie gets two "small dog" biscuits. If I could find "toy dog" biscuits she would get those instead.

No plates to lick, no pots to clean, no hand-feeding. (It has been a very difficult few weeks for Mom!).

Why is Maggie not losing weight?? There has been no lessening of activity.

You could not possibly reduce their activity without getting into the realm of taxidermy.

Tonight I found out. Unfortunate timing for Maggie, providential for Katie.

I fixed their dinner as usual. Put bowls on the floor, grabbed my coffee, left.

EEErrrkghkk. Coffee is cold! I hate cold coffee.

Healthy Pets Especially Dogs
Go back into kitchen - to find Katie sitting politely in the laundry room whilst Maggie eats Katie's dinner. Maggie's bowl is already empty, and let us just say that the chances that Katie dined there are slim.

Now I have seen Maggie make Katie leave a preferred place on the bed with a simple baleful look. She gets the Good Spot on the couch with a menacing glance. No vocalization or baring of teeth required for such submission. But they have, since puppydom, always maintained Separate Spheres when it came to dinner dishes.

It had not occurred to me that I must supervise the actual dining segment of dinner. Sufficient, I thought, to attend to the specific preferences (Katie likes more hot water in her mixture, prefers peas to green beans, not so fond of rice but barley is super, generic kibble is fine if soaked in good things; Maggie prefers no damned pills in there, no bread or bread-like substances, not an iota of shell left on the hardboiled eggs, expensive kibble only - none of that cheap stuff). Once the meal was prepared and served, I figured I was done. Not so.

Add to my list of services to be performed for the girls: Neutral Dinner Observer. Supper Safekeeper. Meal Monitor.

Heck, it beats barf butler.

..... and now, more Tails of Maggie & Kate (ongoing stories, please keep checking back to see what has been added)
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