A veggie-eating dog (who weighs 111 lbs)

I've always thought of canines as hard-core carnivores. I've had at least six dogs in my life, and every one of them turned up his/her nose at any form of vegetable. Not Cessie. This dog will eat pretty much anything.

It started with her first visit to our vet about six weeks ago. Dr. Jang suggested that her weight-loss program could include baby carrots, green beans and apple slices. Both Cessie and I looked at him with extreme skepticism. I would not have even thought to try feeding her such things.

Turns out she loves them, and lots of other stuff, too. She went for the carrots right off. She'll eat 10 of them in a row, making all sorts of crunching noises in the process. So Jeanne, Cessie's other pet human, tried the apple slices. That is a bit dicier. The dog won't take them unless Jeanne takes the first bite. Then Cessie will finish the rest of the slice.

It took a couple of weeks for us to get around to trying the fresh green beans. She went for those right away, too.

Last evening, I was making a huge tossed salad. After she'd gobbled a few carrots, I decided, just for grins, to try feeding her a 3-inch piece of celery. She left behind a few of the really stringy parts, but darned if she didn't eat most of it. So, next a tried a sliver of Vidalia onion just an inch long or so. She ate two of them and left behind not a trace. Radish slices were next. She gobbled them up, too.

I can't decide if Cessie has a surprisingly wide-ranging palate or is just so darned hungry that she'll eat just about anything. She weighed 121 when she was turned over to G.R.E.A.T., the Golden Retriever rescue group, in early February. As of yesterday, she's down to 111. That's a loss of just about 1 pound a week! Strangely, it's not showing up on her waistline yet. She's still a 38 (yes, 38 inches!).

Her physical conditioning is improving. If you've been reading these musings regularly, you know that she could barely make a half-mile walk around our neighborhood when we rescued her. She's doing much better now, but she still slows down for hills, squirrels and birds.

Here's a better video of the Amazing Newspaper Trick.

The amazing newspaper trick

One thing about rescuing a dog is that you never know what they have been taught by the previous owner.

In the third week of the very fat dog's life with us, the two people had to travel. We prefer not to kennel our animals, especially when they have been with us for such a short time, so our good friend Jean came over to stay with Princess for two nights while we were away.

One morning, Jean took "Cessie," as we're now calling her, out when she went to pick up the newspapers. To her amazement, the dog waddled over and very gently picked up the New York Times. The dog then walked right in the house with it and laid it at Jean's feet!

What an amazing feat!

Oh, and she expects a treat after each fetch. Check it out below.