Kai was 173 pounds.
I was in awe at the sheer size of the guy.
He was like a great big bear.
He was taken into the vet to be put down.
I think he was loved by his previous owners.
But maybe they didn’t realize he was overfed and under-exercised.
When I first saw him I thought, okay I have to do something.
There’s no way I can give up on this dog.
Even though he was morbidly obese and had to have been in pain,
he just had such a happy personality.
I decided that I would adopt him and take him home.
Good boy!
Yay!
It took him about 25 minutes
to get up the three steps into the house.
When he got in the house, he just laid.
He wanted to be part of everything, but he just couldn’t move around that much.
The vet said he should weigh around 75 pounds.
You’re talking like a hundred pound weight loss.
I thought, what exactly have I agreed to?
I don’t think he’ll ever run, but I think we’ll be able to go for a walk.
He got hooked on healthy foods early on.
Carrots, blueberries, bananas.
But with exercise he needs to stay motivated.
What’s going on, buddy?
He panted basically 24 hours a day.
Isn’t that the happiest face ever?
We started with a water treadmill.
He did it happily.
But I just felt like he wanted to go outside and go for a walk.
Each day we would try to go just a little bit further.
Well done, buddy. All by yourself.
Is that really necessary?
You need to rest right now. Okay, fair enough.
No, no!
No.
He was so excited to see the people at the dog park,
but it was just too much work getting up.
You’re doing so good, buddy.
Good job, buddy.
I have a black Lab called Abby who is extremely active.
So it was very helpful for Kai to have her
to keep him motivated.
It’s like a big brother and younger sister relationship.
Get your ball.
Abby, no!
She gave him a little bit of motivation for
what he could possibly maybe one day do
if we dared to dream.
Yay! For once!
When Kai started to lose weight I was so proud of him.
It was a very big deal for us.
You can come downstairs.
Come on, you can do it.
Come on, keep going. You’re almost there.
Yay!
As he got more mobile
he could actually go meet and greet every single person.
I started thinking he would be a really good therapy dog.
Keep coming. That’s my boy.
I never thought I’d see that dog run.
I would film every weight holding my breath.
Thinking, this is going to be the one where we don’t lose anything.
And it never happened.
He amazed me every day.
I’m sure everything hurt.
And I’m sure he was exhausted.
And he did it happily.
I’m so excited. I just want it to keep going.
Lots of people, as they got to know him would be like,
“That’s the same dog?”
He could do all the things you knew he wanted to do.
There was no getting out the door without him.
Keep coming, Kai! Come on!
Every day is a new day, and it’s a great day.
Are you fishing?
When he was getting skinny, we went on a big road trip.
We stopped at little tourist sites.
And he was happy to jump back in the car
and just carry on wherever we’re going.
It was a big deal to me for him to be able to step in the Pacific Ocean.
Here we are buddy. It’s the Pacific Ocean.
If we drove ten minutes or twelve hours, he doesn't care.
As long as he gets to go with me.
Get up.
Get on the scale.
Come on. Good boy. Sit.
Good job, buddy.
Good job!
When Kai hit the target weight I couldn’t believe it.
Old Kai. New Kai.
It took just under a year for Kai to get to his target weight.
I’ve never been so excited or so proud
of anything in my whole life.
Now that Kai can be more social
he’s on his way to becoming a therapy dog.
Are you going to be a therapy dog?
Are you? Yeah?
Today's the big day. Our final evaluation.
He’s actually going to be in front of patients.
At least one of us isn’t nervous.
Regardless of what happens, whether he’s successful or not,
I’m just so proud of him.
I’m honestly more worried about me screwing up than him.
I just really hope we do well.
Maybe just gentle.
He likes to be pet kind of up here.
Leave it.
- Can I read you a story?
So I’m right up in his space.
He could care less.
- He just wants you to pet him.
- I know. That’s all you want.
- We’re done!
We’re finished. We did our final evaluation.
Kai was a superstar.
So now we wait.
Kai, we just got our text.
You passed! You passed!
You’re a therapy dog!
Way to go big guy!
Do you even care?
Huh? Do you even care?
Kai makes you feel like you are the most important person in his world.
He just taught me so much along this whole weight loss journey.
He’s always been so amazing to me.
He lost weight every single time we went to the vet.
Hey there big guy!
He has come farther than I ever dreamed that he could.
He will stay a very happy dog with me for the rest of his days.