Keeping Dogs (AnD Their owners) Fit

Inspired by her own experiences exercising with her 11-year-old golden retriever, Mason, OSU veterinary medical student Brooke Lewis created “Lean Dogs, Happy Owners, Healthy Lives,” a walking program for area residents and their pets sponsored by the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences and Nestlé Purina.

“Lean Dog” participants may walk alone with their pets or in groups at set locations. “We mapped nine different routes throughout Stillwater so participants can get together,” Lewis says. “The paths vary from three-fourths of one mile to three miles, and they are all well-lit and safe.”

The program includes monthly meetings at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences where they receive human and animal health information and the dogs are weighed. Participants who sign up earn incentives based on the duration of their walks. The walking program is open at no charge to area residents of all ages and their pets.

aDam HuFFer

The Dean’s Development Associates serve the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences as a development committee and an advisory group to Dean Michael Lorenz, back row, far right. Attending the group’s charter meeting in April 2005 are, front row from left, Patty Whitecotton, trustee, Bank of America Private Bank in Oklahoma City; Dr. Dianne Nail, class of 1965, Broken Arrow, Okla; and Dr. Tony Thomas, class of 1961, Midwest City, Okla.; back row, Melinda McAfee, CVHS director of development; Dr. Eddie Fisher, class of 1963, Winfield, Kan.; Dr. Kenneth Kirlin, class of 1983, San Antonio, Texas; and Dr. John Kirkpatrick, class of 1965, Stillwater.