I'm Madison Engel.
And I'm her mother, Lisa Engel,
and we have a chihuahua named Gracie.
We got Gracie from a rescue about three years ago.
She weighed a pound and a half.
We noticed Gracie was gaining weight
about five months after we got her and started limping.
She's had one knee replacement,
but she can't have the second one
until she loses more weight.
I'm afraid if we don't get some help
that we might lose her.
I can't help Lisa and Madison
get Gracie down to her ideal weight
unless they understand how dangerously obese she is.
It's so important for Madison and Lisa
to see exactly how much she weighs
compared to what she should weigh.
A healthy max weight for a full breed chihuahua
would be eight pounds.
Wow.
(laughs)
42 pounds.
Here with me is animal expert and trainer,
the man you were just seeing at the end there,
Travis Brorsen.
(audience claps)
Travis,
just like in humans,
obesity is the cause of much of our disease, right?
Yep.
And the same for animals.
That's right.
She couldn't stand to eat her own food,
like literally, stand up on her feet to eat her own food.
They'd take her out for a walk,
she couldn't get halfway down the block
before somebody had to carry her she was so overweight.
Whenever I lived in Los Angeles I had a boxer
named Presley and he changed my life.
I did everything wrong, that's why.
I literally was making all the mistakes in the book,
'cause it was before I was a trainer,
and I had that experience with a pet that changed my life
from that bonding experience.
And so I thought, "If there is a way that I could help
other people have that same connection and that same bond,
all they need is to be educated."
That's really all it is, right?
(audience claps)
I think so many people, just like with humans,
we equate love with food,
and those two things are very separate.
Very separate.
Pets, to them love is compassion, caring,
spending quality time.
It doesn't have to come through food.
It doesn't have to come from treats.
So Gracie is the dog that we saw there.
What's the program like?
Yeah, of course.
So we come in and we first assess the situation,
because a lot of people could say,
"Oh my gosh, well, the pet's overweight,
they just need to feed it less and exercise it more,"
but that's not always the case.
And with Gracie, she couldn't exercise more,
because she was physically incapacitated.
That's right.
So owners go, "Well she can't," so they don't do it,
and they don't take action.
They validate then make excuses.
So we come in and we find out what's gonna help the family
make these choices so they can do it together
and grow that bond and relationship.
And continue the work after you leave the process.
Absolutely.
(audience claps)
Okay so this is Gracie before.
Shall we bring Gracie and Lisa out?
Come on, Lisa!
(upbeat music)
(audience cheers and claps)
Hi Gracie!
Hi!
Hi Gracie!
Gracie, you look so great!
Hi! Hi! Hi!
She is.
Her collar literally came off
when I was holding the leash earlier.
It slipped over her head.
She was so excited.
Yeah.
Lisa, tell us about...
It's very obvious to me, but tell us about
her changes in mood and energy since the process began.
She's a different dog.
I mean, Travis got her standing up to eat now,
and before she wouldn't go on any walks alone.
Well, she wouldn't go on walks at all.
And now she gets excited, loves swimming.
Yeah we got her swimming, that was, yeah.
That's brilliant!
Of course, she can move her legs without the stress.
(audience claps)
Yes, do you love to swim?
Okay, so we have a couple of displays set up here,
should we bring Gracie on over?
Yeah, yeah, let's do!
Can Gracie come, can we put her up here
so that everybody can see Grace?
Hi baby!
Hi!
How much has Gracie lost so far?
So Gracie's lost almost 13 pounds.
Yay!
(audience claps)
Which is, when you think about it,
30% of her body weight that she's lost.
That's a lot!
You're doing so well.
So what are we looking at here,
the Body Condition Score?
So this is something people can use at home.
Veterinarians use it to visually assess
whether a pet is overweight or obese.
One and two, very underweight,
one being severely underweight,
where you can actually see ribs protruding.
Ribs on them, yep.
You don't want that, clearly.
And then you move onto number three,
which is an ideal weight,
where you want to actually be able to run your hands
gently over her sides,
so Rachael, if you just gently run 'em over your sides.
We want to be able to feel ribs and we can't quite
feel 'em on Gracie yet,
'cause she's still has a little work to do.
But you're gettin' there!
But she's getting there.
So Gracie really is around the number four,
which is where you can't see that hourglass shape
that you want to see with her,
but she was-
She started out obese.
Yeah, she was at the five.
So that's exactly where we need her going.
(audience claps)
Yes, yes!
(shimmering)