Hattie's Reservation is Confirmed

We received confirmation that Hattie the Beagle is coming to stay at Lucies Farm for a little over a month. Our goal is to help Hattie lose weight through a combination of a nutritionally-balanced diet and the right amount of exercise.

We're looking forward to meeting Hattie, and to the challenge. We're told that she now weighs 27.4 kg -- she should weigh about 14 kg at most.

Hattie is a rescue dog and has been described as a "serious food thief." She'll eat anything that's left on any surface. She loves butter and bagels, will chew through the kids' lunchboxes to eat their leftover crusts and she'll eat chewing gum out of people's handbags. She's just not fond of fruit or vegetables as she's not a healthy eater.

We're told that Hattie spends most of her day lying on the couch, sleeping. She's been known to lie in the same position for 24 hours and her family have to force her off the sofa to go to the toilet. Because she's too fat to get into the bath she starts to smell after a while, and gets bad wind because she eats so much odd food.

We're told that Hattie attacks other dogs when she's out on a walk. If let off the lead she will run for miles and not return.