For the best exercise, get a dog!

Jim Hillibish: You don’t need a gym, get a hound dog instead
I had a heart bypass last summer. Our dog took it personally. As many of you know the hard way, bypasses are fairly easy.

The killer is the rigorous and highly therapeutic permanent exercise they require afterwards.

“It’s one thing to get the blood flowing again. It’s another thing to keep it flowing.” Physical thera-pests are trained to say that.

I had to sign off on the therapy program, a contract that included swimming and thrice weekly visits to the torture chamber, I mean gym. The manual was 84 pages of hell.

I did not buy the track suit, no Nikes for me, but a year later I am in great shape. My most recent inspection revealed I have the “heart of a younger man.” (They gave me a transplant?)

“Congratulations, your blood’s flowing in the right direction.” That was the conclusion of my echo-cardiogram.

When I got home, Lily, our mini long-hair Dachshund, did her appropriate welcome dance, then pointed to her leash. She has me trained. Exercise time.

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