Sad shape

They say if your dog is out of shape, you probably are too. We knew Tanner had gained some weight, but we didn’t realize how bad it was until last night. We are leaving for a few days to go to Missouri tomorrow. The dogsitters fell through, again, so the poor mutts have to stay home and have people come over and feed them and let them out. They hate that. They also get really antsy when they see the suitcases come out. I started packing last night so that I can go do something else tonight, and sure enough, they started getting nervous. They know what it means. So we decided to take them to the school down the street so they could run around and wear off some of their nervous energy. I put the harness on Tanner and even without all his hair, I had to loosen it. He wore it not too long ago, maybe a few months ago. Then I was looking at him and realized that he looks like a sausage- the same width from shoulder to hip. Most of it is muscle I am sure, given his Rottie background. We walked down to the school and threw the ball for maybe 15 minutes, tops. We had to stop because a) it was getting dark and he can’t find the ball in the dark and b) he was foaming at the mouth. Nicki was also acting tired- not running as fast as usual and not caring to get her toy away from me. As we walked home (a whole 8 houses away), he was dragging his back feet. Then he proceeded to mop my entire floor with a combination of drool and tail-wagging.
I remember the days of his puppyhood when we would go to the dog park for HOURS and he would still not be tired when we went home. He could chase the ball for at least an hour straight, either swimming or dry, and not be tired. On Saturdays, the only way we got anything done all day was if we spent at least 2 hours at the dog park. He would give the (super high-strung) Brittany a run for her money. They would swim after the ducks together or run around chasing each other. Then there was the time he retrieved the log (seriously, at least 6” diameter and 3’ long, 20+ pound log) 3 times from the middle of the lake. He swam out, dragged it back, and pulled it up a foot high shore. I’m sure he would have gone again, but I didn’t let the Brittany’s “dad” throw it again because I was worried he would drown. Now he can’t even chase the ball for 15 minutes without seriously worrying me that he is going to have a heart attack. We obviously need to get that dog more exercise.
I also may have killed my brand new tomato plants. It was really cold Monday night, much colder than I expected. And I didn’t cover them. And they are really sad. I am hoping that it was a lack of water more than anything else. I gave them a good drink and hopefully they are a little perkier today.