Dieting "en France"!

Dali has never been a tiny dog.  Even as a puppy she was all paws, head and nose, but she grew into a beauty.  She has a deep chest and short legs, so people are always telling me she's fat.  That's like telling somebody their baby is ugly! I always say: "No, elle n'est pas grosse!" But I can never quite figure out how to say look at her chest in French at the same time!  (Come to think of it, maybe that's a good thing!)  She hovers around 60 pounds, but got up to 70 once when she was on steroids for scratching. The steroids brought a nasty attitude along with the weight so we stopped.  Our French vet has mentioned "régime" for Dali more than once.  She is almost 10 years old now, and that makes her a pretty old girl to be carrying around too much extra weight.  This last time I succumbed to the very expensive (74€) diet dog food.  We are measuring it out according to the plan and cutting back on treats. It's been more painful for me than for her.  I'm the one with the bad habits.  We began our "régime" when Rocky was here so I wasn't quite as religious, but it got us on the right track. I've been noticing that she has more energy.  She is running around.  She is wagging her tail more than usual and appears to be smiling! I thought it might have been because our 4-legged house guest went home, but then I remembered...elle est au régime!  Her waist is returning and her paws are prancing.  The bag says new and improved flavor...hmmm, I wonder!  All kidding aside, I'm going to have to thank the vet next time or maybe drop in for a special thank you visit.  If curtailing my bad feeding and treating habits and a few (okay a lot) more euros give me even five more years with Dali...it's an investment well made!