It would appear that the marketing world has sunk to a new low.

I saw a commercial for a diet plan for dogs. It looks like it's dog food, but it's in individual packages complete with an appropriate amount of treats for one day. So that you know how much to feed your dog. Because you can't look on the bag and scoop out the appropriate amount, or ask your vet how much you should be feeding your dog.

Overweight pets make me insane as it is, as do overweight children. Because we, as the ADULTS, are wholly responsible for what our children and pets are eating. Unless your dog/5 year old has a job, a bank account and some special car they can drive, you buy the groceries, you prepare the meals, you dish out the amount that goes on everyone's plate (and or dog bowl).

Although statistically, I have read that most parents of not only overweight, but clinically obese children do not feel their child is even remotely overweight. So maybe it's the same for dogs. "What? Their bellies are supposed to scrape the ground!"

Let's look at Stella for an example. Lately we've noticed that Stella is looking a little porky. Hmm, how could this be? We feed her the same amount of food every day; she is exercised every day. Why is she suddenly boasting a spare tire? (Well, save for the course of allergy medicine she's on that is making her crazed with hunger to the point that she's horking down frozen green beans,. But that's another story) Ah-ha! The culprit would seem to be that we had changed her brand of food. And yet we had continued giving her the same amount, not thinking that this food may require a smaller or larger amount for her size. So we adjusted the amount of food appropriately and she's back to being healthy. See how easy that is? And I didn't even have to spring for undoubtedly expensive individually packaged diet dog food to correct the problem. I just had to be responsible for checking to make sure what our animal pal was eating was the proper amount for a dog of her size and age.