Heidi, at 14 lbs, is a couple pounds over her best weight. She
needs to exercise more, but she is not easy to get interested in
active play, usually preferring a style of play which involves
watching under a door for me to poke something through, and then
only occasionally attacking, without any chasing. Strings get
two passes; a ping-pong ball gets one desultory pass; all other
balls are disdained (even the crinkled paper ones), as are
various mice which once were more in favor. Flying feathers
excite her, but after the first leaping attack she leaves the
room. Since she gave up tossing her mice around, the only thing
she will play with for a long period is her kibbles -- which, of
course, I no longer want her to have access to for long periods.

Today we shelled and canned beans -- and were reminded once
again (we saw it to a lesser extent last year) that letting a
bean hit the linoleum when Heidi is lurking under the table
produces activity on the order of tossing chum to a shoal of
mackerel. Each bean that someone let fall was chased and batted
all over the kitchen floor, until either it found sanctuary
under an appliance or the attack was diverted to the next
arrival.

For over an hour this morning our zaftig fraulein fought the
bean wars, and this afternoon she sleeps the sleep of the just
(plain tuckered out). I can only imagine how many calories she
burned. So now I wonder if I can get the same level of activity
with dried beans. They'd be a pain to vacuum out from under the
refrigerator and stove, and probably a literal pain to have
under foot, but that would be a small price to pay for getting
Miss Heidi off her furry butt.

--

Wayme M
(indulged by Will and Heidi)