# Help my girl get in shape



## MrsKifer (Jul 27, 2012)

CallaLily is my 4 year old pitbull mix. We rescued her half dead from the pound with severe emaciation, wounds, sores and heartworms. She was found tied to a tree. Weve had her almost a year. ANYWAY... When we rescued her we wanted to put healthy weight on her and treat her heartworms. Although gradual, her increase in food and decrease in physical activity due to the heartworms treatment caused her to gain a little too much and lose muscle mass. We have a large fenced backyard to exercise her but I'm not sure what to do to shed a few pounds and gain some muscle. Any insight???


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## circlemkennels (Aug 29, 2010)

cut back on her food.. does she like a flirt pole?? just anything simple like that can help.. anything that catches her attention is better than her laying on the couch.. if you want you can post pics of her and we can tell how over weight she is


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## BullyGal (Jun 25, 2012)

Spring Pole! Do you have any trees with sturdy but flexible limbs? If so just tie their favorite toy to it and stand back. My girls go nuts over their rope so thats what I used. This picture shows how basic my springpole is. Some people use a spring attached to a more sturdy object but if you have a nice springy branch you don't need one. All I did for my girl was cut back her food by a cup and give her more springpole time, while she wasn't obviously fat to most people, she had room for improvement. Now she's 55lbs of lean muscle. The best thing is all you have to do is supervise, make them take a break when they get too excited if it makes you feel better. I constantly have to tell my girl to tone it down because she goes nuts for it.


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## Cain's Mom (Oct 25, 2012)

BullyGal said:


> Spring Pole! Do you have any trees with sturdy but flexible limbs? If so just tie their favorite toy to it and stand back. My girls go nuts over their rope so thats what I used. This picture shows how basic my springpole is. Some people use a spring attached to a more sturdy object but if you have a nice springy branch you don't need one. All I did for my girl was cut back her food by a cup and give her more springpole time, while she wasn't obviously fat to most people, she had room for improvement. Now she's 55lbs of lean muscle. The best thing is all you have to do is supervise, make them take a break when they get too excited if it makes you feel better. I constantly have to tell my girl to tone it down because she goes nuts for it.


Good shot! 
We will be making out spring pole soon and we have a flirt pole. I have already seen an improvement in Cain. He wasn't over weight or anything but it's just keeping him exercised and in shape. We also play a little fetch. Throw something and the dogs are on it haha.


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## BullyGal (Jun 25, 2012)

Thanks! But you should have seen how many I had to take to get this shot lol. I swear it was like a thousand! lol.

I'll also let y'all in on a secret of mine. Military Paracord. Its also called 550 Cord because it can withstand 550lbs of pressure. That rope has been used for a spring/flirtpole for the last year and a half and hasn't shown signs of deteriorating. You can order it online at Grunt.com or if you have a Surplus store in town you can check that out too. You can use it for anything, just remember to take a lighter to the freshly cut ends.


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## MrsKifer (Jul 27, 2012)

spring pole? never heard of it but i can see by ur picture i think shed like it. i dont think our limbs would be suitable or positioned right for that but well definately look into it!!.. any other ideas for fitness training? shes not obese, just a tad chunky. she needs to trim a bit and gain her muscle mass. weve lowered her food from 2 cups/day to 1 cup/day based on her food bag's instructions. she eats beneful or pedigree. any other brand suggestions? here are some pics! ive included one of what she looked like the day we got her. also if u have any idea of wat she may be mixed with? i cant seem to pin it.


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## Cain's Mom (Oct 25, 2012)

If you look there's a food rating under the nutrition section. Many have given ratings for feed they use.


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## BullyGal (Jun 25, 2012)

Fetch, biking, hiking. Anything that will get that heartbeat up and stay up. Also if you have an old metal clothesline holder that works with a spring. As for feed, you have to find what works for you. You need to take into account budget and activity level of your dog. I personally use 4Health from Tractor Supply Company. I've fed everything from Taste of The Wild, to Ol' Roy and finally settled on this food. Also you don't always have to follow the feeding guidelines on the bag, if you see that she's getting too heavy with the suggested amount, cut back a 1/4 of a cup.


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## circlemkennels (Aug 29, 2010)

pedigree and beneful arent that great of feed.. its not good on them to be switching back and forth either.. theres no way of knowing the breed of a dog without a pedigree.. just call her a pet or a mutt  pretty girl!


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## Cain's Mom (Oct 25, 2012)

BullyGal said:


> Fetch, biking, hiking. Anything that will get that heartbeat up and stay up. Also if you have an old metal clothesline holder that works with a spring. As for feed, you have to find what works for you. You need to take into account budget and activity level of your dog. I personally use 4Health from Tractor Supply Company. I've fed everything from Taste of The Wild, to Ol' Roy and finally settled on this food. Also you don't always have to follow the feeding guidelines on the bag, if you see that she's getting too heavy with the suggested amount, cut back a 1/4 of a cup.


I use The same feed. Has worked great for my two. Have to drive 25 minutes for it but no big deal lol I like it and its not too expensive.


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## MrsKifer (Jul 27, 2012)

Well I said we used those 2 because she was on beneful for 8months. We recently switched her to pedigree. I don't know what's considered good or bad food.. I do read the ingredients and I just pick what looks better than others. I'll definately check out the nutrition section to see if there's a post about food.


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## BullyGal (Jun 25, 2012)

Cain's Mom said:


> I use The same feed. Has worked great for my two. Have to drive 25 minutes for it but no big deal lol I like it and its not too expensive.


The price is awesome lol.



MrsKifer said:


> Well I said we used those 2 because she was on beneful for 8months. We recently switched her to pedigree. I don't know what's considered good or bad food.. I do read the ingredients and I just pick what looks better than others. I'll definately check out the nutrition section to see if there's a post about food.


In the end its gonna be what works for your dog. You can feed them the most expensive food for months, but if it doesn't agree with their stomach then you aren't doing them any good. I have a friend who can't feed anything other than Beneful because her dog gets sick on anything else. Its weird, but not worth making your pup miserable for the sake of feeding an expensive food.


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## MrsKifer (Jul 27, 2012)

I'm a nutrition nut with myself and my kids. I'd love to be able to be the same with my dog! Human and dog nutrition are different, I'm not as educated. If i had iit my way shed be on a homemade meal plan. But I looked into it and it seems complicated to get all her nutrients in the right combinations, etc. We exercised her this morning and she loved it as usual. I pushed her a little harder though. Spring pole definitely in the future!! Thank u so much guys been a big help.


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

Here is a pic of my portable spring pole. I don't have trees in my yard either.










As long as you keep the weight not crazy one walk a day my boy wears a weighted backpack. It's 10% of his Body weight right now. Another way to increase his workouts.










The food on my pups bag calls for 4 cups a day. My pup maintains a healthy weight at 1 to 1.5 cups a day. It might be more expensive but you save money in the long run feeding less. Don't go off the bag look to your pup.

Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com App


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## Skye (May 7, 2012)

I use Taste of the wold- Salmon. My dogs love it and it is grain free (which is preferred for this breed). I ffed my girl 4 cups a day and my boy 5....they look great weight wise but after reading other posts it seems like I am feeding too much????


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