It seems everyone in America is on some sort of diet, including Obie the Dachshund, who lost a whopping 50 pounds. INSIDE EDITION caught up with the newly-energetic pooch.
He was once the fattest dog in the world. Obie the Dachshund weighed 77 pounds. That equals 770 hot dogs. An average adult Dachshund weighs around 20 pounds.
When Nora Vanatta adopted Obie she actually thought he was a Basset Hound. A year ago, she told INSIDE EDITION it would take at least 12 months for Obie to lose 50 pounds.
"We're definitely not doing the bootcamp approach with him. It has to be pretty gradual and safe," said Vanatta.
Now, get ready for this—one year later, Obie has gone from barely being able to move, to a ball of energy. It's an amazing transformation. He's lost nearly 50 pounds.
"He did it the old fashion way, through diet and exercise," said Vanatta.
The road to health has not been easy for Obie. Vanatta was taken to court by an animal rights group who claimed she was keeping Obie fat because she liked the media attention. A judge ruled in Vanatta's favor.
Obie has his own Facebook page with hundreds of thousands of fans. Vanatta says she was pleasantly surprised when her dog's weight loss inspired people to shed pounds.
Vanatta revealed, "A woman wrote and said Obie inspired her to walk to her mailbox for the first time in months, something she hasn't been able to do because she was obese."
Obie's lost so much weight that he even had to undergo a doggy tummy tuck because he had so much extra skin dragging along the ground. But he's recovered nicely.
