The Marley Fitness Program

Marley is a high-energy dog and needs a lot of exercise. If he doesn't get it, you'll know - either a lot of jumping or the 9 pm "zoomies." The zoomies consist of a quick series of 8 to 15 sprints around the apartment and long jumps onto the couch or bed. Sometime, Marley will jump onto my easy chair and use that as a springboard for a higher & longer jump onto the couch. If there's a closed door along the obstacle course, Marley will force it open as he zooms about.

During the week, Debbie will take Marley out first thing in the morning and tries to take him on a long morning walk. He's usually out 4 or 5 times before I get home from work. I'll take him out 2 or 3 more times before 9 or 10. When I walk him, we usually go at least 4 or 5 blocks and run a short stretch of 42nd Street and up 4 flights of stairs. If it's not to late, we might jog over to the dog run and back, after he's had 20 or 30 minutes activity in the dog run.

On the weekend and on holidays, Marley is mine. I typically will take him on all his walks and we get to the dog run a minimum of twice a day. But he'll get in a 2 to 3 hour afternoon nap and he's ready to go to sleep for the night no later than 10:15.

Over the summer, we used to take 3 and 4 mile walks. We made it to Central Park a couple of times. On some of our shorter walks, 1 & 1/2 or 2 miles, Debbie sometimes joined us.

In the 10 months before we got Marley, Debbie started a diet, and I lost 15 lbs.

I took a business trip to New Mexico about a month after we brought Marley home. I thought that I would need to get in shape in order to keep up with him. So, after dinner, I put on my shorts and sandals and did one-hour power walks in the 95 degree heat. After that, when I went on business trips, I would walk or use the hotel treadmill. I also started watching what I ate a little more closely.

I started running in the mornings about a month ago, but I hurt my foot. I may start again, but I would run every other day, rather than daily.

After 4 months, I started telling people (truthfully) that I had lost a pound a week since we got Marley. We've had him a little over 9 months and I've lost and kept off 27 lbs. So, I've lost 42 lbs. in total and I feel great. And I know that having Marley around will keep me motivated to stay in shape.