Category Archives: Baby Steps – The Adventures of Junior and Mindy

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Erin Go Bark!

McMindy and O’Junior would like to wish everyone a happy St. Pawdy’s Day.

“May your bed stay warm, your bowl stay full, and may you live a long and healthy life.”

McMindy & O'Junior love St. Pawdy's Day

McMindy & O’Junior love St. Pawdy’s Day

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The Pooches Pick Peanuts, Potatoes, and Pumpkins. Chihuahuas on the Farm.

Glorious fall days call for hiking, pumpkin picking, apple cider drinking, and taking big gulps of fresh, cool air.  Searching for that perfect spot – close to metro D.C. – that you can bring your dog and enjoy a day outdoors?  We’ve found it for you.

Autumnal display at Hollin Farms

Welcome to Hollin Farms in Delaplane, Virginia.  We’ve enjoyed visiting the Davenports’ farm for many years now – each year brings new crops, the view is exceptional, and you know how we love our family farms!  This particular trip we were on a mission for the great pumpkin.  We decided to bring Junior and Mindy with us for some exercise and socialization.  The pumpkin patch is dog friendly, but please use good canine etiquette – keep on a short leash, avoid allowing your dog to pee or poop where people will be picking,  and clean up after they go in more appropriate spots.  “The Beast” and “BooBoo” surprised us with their perfect canine manners and even served as model adoption ambassadors when people asked about them.

We were thrilled to find out that not only was there an abundant crop of pumpkins but peanuts and potatoes were ripe for the digging.  That’s right, “dig your own”!  Families were enjoying teaching their little ones that peanuts grow underground and the little ones were enjoying getting dirty.

Unearthing peanuts

Mindy included.

Mindy learning to pick peanuts


Found ’em!

Peanuts don’t come fresher than this!

Next, we were off to the potato patch.

Junior and Mindy leading the way

Look, ma, I caught one!

As if that weren’t enough, there are huge plots of all kinds of greens – bok choy, collards, kale, arugula – and daikon radishes and turnips and other yummy edibles. There are even some colorful zinnias for picking.

Field of greens

You’re encouraged to cut from above ground – leaving the roots intact allow the plants to continue to grow. After filling several bags, we were off to the pumpkin patch.

The ultimate pumpkin patch

By this time, Junior was exhausted. He tried to talk us into the first pumpkin he came upon.

Junior’s pumpkin

A fun day was had by all. And today we’re trying our hand at boiled peanuts! We’ll let you know how they turn out.

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A Milestone for Mindy, the Chubby Chihuahua

Mindy's "fitting"!


The latest from Mindy.
“Diet – schmiet! And I keep hearing them calling me their ‘chubby chihuahua’ – harrumph!
I don’t know what they’re talking about. But I do know I like how my clothes are fitting. No more sucking in my tummy! And I even took a little jog today. OK, it was for my breakfast dish.”

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Weighing In: Junior and Mindy’s Official Progress Report

Junior and Mindy thought they were just going for a ride. We had other plans. We were headed to (shhh) the V-E-T’s office for an official weigh-in.

Hey, this isn't so bad!

They fooled us – they pranced right into the Marshall Veterinary Clinic like it was their favorite place on earth. Happy, effusive greetings from Dr. Becky Verna, also of Paws for Holistic Pet Care, didn’t hurt.

But, it was time for business. Their last weigh-in was on Valentine’s Day, before we’d met them – Junior was at 10 lbs. and Mindy a whopping 13.2. We’d decided not to do an in home weigh-in as we really wanted an accurate reading of how they’re doing. Kathy and Dr. Verna did the honors.

All smiles!

We are ecstatic to announce the results!
Junior is now at: 8.6 lbs.!
Mindy (drum roll): 11 lbs.!

We’re very proud of our “little” chichis. More on how they’ve obtained those losses in our next post.

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Back to the Beginning

Junior and Mindy have been with us a week now! Their first night home we mixed a very few pieces of their kibble with Pawgevity Chicken Formula, cooked. We decided to take the conservative course as they’ve had so many changes in their lives recently. Overnight and the next morning, there were no signs of digestive upset.

As of their next meal, we nixed the kibble altogether. In the past week, they’ve had cooked Pawgevity only, carefully measured prior to sauteing. We’ve switched it up randomly between Chicken and Lamb Formulas, with no detrimental effects.

Junior in Detox (and Sleeping Soundly)

We’ve seen a humongous difference in their stools – quite literally, when it comes to size (sorry, no pictures). Both dogs seem to be gaining energy. And they’re still detoxing, that’s for sure – but not on the extreme end. Their mild detox symptoms range from runny eyes to Mindy exhibiting a limited amount of paw licking. We’re quite pleased with their progress.

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Baby Steps – The Adventures of Junior and Mindy, Chunky Chihuahuas

How do I put this delicately? Our newly adopted, wonderful and sweet Chihuahuas, Junior and Mindy, are, well – ahem, a tad chubby. Chunky butterballs, really.

Mindy and Junior

This makes them extra adorable. It also, statistically, will take two years off their lifespans. It’s time to get to work.

A bit of background. Junior and Mindy originally hail from South Carolina – they ended up with a rescue group there when their person passed on. They’re a bonded pair of littermates, almost 7 years old. Several months later, they were transferred to one of our favorite rescue organizations, Paws for Seniors. They began the weight loss process with them.

We brought Junior and Mindy home with us as fosters, six days ago – our household includes four senior cats with special needs and we had to make sure that they would be comfortable with any new additions to our family. It was almost instantaneous. We’ve now officially adopted them.

We want Junior and Mindy to live long, healthy and happy lives – as we wish for all of your animals. As we guide them through their weight loss program, we plan on sharing their progress with you, in hopes that their improved selves will help others out there.

Excuse me, it’s time for our walk!

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