Happy New Year to all. As many of us make resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier, I want to say that having a dog sure helps. The obvious reason is that you have to take your dog out for potty breaks and walks, requiring you to go outside no matter how cold it is.
Having a dog also means having a shadow whenever you're eating...for me at least. Every time I eat, Niko drops whatever he's doing and sits patiently, waiting for scraps. He bats cleanup for me during meal times. Which means, as soon as I feel full, I stop eating and give the rest to my buddy boy Niko. This helps me eat lighter and makes Niko a happy dog.
Niko is also a part-time dishwasher. His appetite also aids our dishwashing process. Give any dish that has a light layer of sauce or hard to get out scraps to Niko and he will lick it clean for us. It's amazing really. Today, I made a yummy tuna casserole that left me with a glass pan with gooey Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. Niko spent a good 10 minutes on it and there was not a smudge left! Who knew? Having a dog also helps me be greener because I save water by skipping the pre-rinse step of washing my dishes.
Haha, so true. If we drop food on the floor we can be sure that it we won't need to clean it up with Suki around (as long as it's not a high calorie or high sodium food, or chocolate!).
ReplyDeleteI find Suki to be a big stress relief too. Coming home from a hard day of work and seeing her little Shiba face is great therapy! ^_^
Oh man, Niko got so big. Must be awesome to have a dog that cleans up the leftovers. Would he eat cocoa pebbles with green beans, too?
ReplyDeleteJonathan - yup, shibas are good moodlifters. we keep niko away from no no foods too. for his own good =)
ReplyDeleteGreen Beans reader - cocos pebbles are not wholesome meals +_+
You're so lucky Niko can keep his figure.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby was sneaking Mika human food for a while and Mika balloooooooned up. He's 20-22 lbs normally (actually 21.something right now, but his weight keeps in that range), but when he was munching on our food, he was a porky 26.something lbs. He looked like a fox that tried to eat a pig! After seeing his weight that high, I had to be strict on my hubby... No Human Food at all for Mika! lol The funny thing was, that time, I was walking him for an hour in the evening and wondering why he was still so round.. until I saw Mika doing tricks for some of hubby's food...
My cousin's golden was Mr. Clean up for a while.. until he started loosing patches of fur, he was allergic to some foods that we were eating. He is also on a strict no human food diet (except for veggies like carrots).
Niko is about 28lbs right now but looks proportionate. lol i would like to see what Mika looked like in his chubby state.
ReplyDeleteI try to only give him scraps that are not high in salt, sauces, or fat. mostly lean meats, cheese, and eggs.