Finding our Princess

This is the story of two people and a very fat dog.

The two people love Golden Retrievers, so I guess it will be no surprise for you to learn that the very fat dog is a Golden Retriever, and since this compendium is entitled "The Princess Blog," it's likely no surprise that the Golden Retriever is named "Princess."

That is not, frankly, a name the two people would choose for a dog, but as you will learn, it was not our choice. Princess is adopted. She is the third Golden Retriever in our 30-year love affair with the breed. The first one was named Wayne. The second was Pooka (yes, like Harvey in the Jimmy Stewart movie). All have been rescued in one way or another.

We met Princess through a wonderful organization called G.R.E.A.T Rescue of Northeast Florida, the Golden Retriever Emergency Assistance Team, based in Jacksonville. GREAT accepts dogs who, for one reason or another, are not wanted by their current owners. It places those dogs with foster families, ensures that they get the health care they need and, once they are healthy, places them with adoptive families. That would be us, the two people. I'm Dave, the dad, and Jeanne, my spouse of 25+ years, is the mom. We live in Gainesville, Fla.

We met Princess on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. We picked her up the next afternoon at a foster home on the southwest side of Jacksonville. She waddled willingly to the car for the two-hour ride to meet her future.

Normally, I wouldn't blog about life with a dog, although it seems a suitable enough subject. I'm blogging about this dog because Princess has a problem, a weight problem. She is 5 years old and weighs 118 pounds -- about 30 percent more than she should. Her "waist" is 38 inches, the same as mine. She has the body shape and lumbering gait of a bear all fattened up for winter. But she is as sweet a dog as you ever met, maybe sweeter.

So, this is intended to be a chronicle of The Princess Diet. Our goal is to get her down to 85 pounds in a year. That's 33 pounds in 52 weeks. Why not stop in now and then to see how we're doing?

Princess on her first day at our house. Weight: 117.