Is kenya underweight?

I made another thread about switching from just treats to both treats/toys in training class, well I tried it it out and it worked GREAT! She performed very well for her toy (her cuz) and stayed focused.
But During the extra potty break time, i overheard this lady with her lab talking about how "Kenya needs all the treats she can get. that dog looks starved."
and a bunch of people agreed with her.

kenya is small, shes about 50 pounds. but i think shes proportional for her size, but maybe im wrong.
The vet says shes fine, and his border collie who is about kenyas size is the same weight.

Kenyas on a raw diet, swims, does agility, and loves to run and exercise. and its very hard to put ANY weight on her. nobody in the agility class seems to think shes skinny.



The german shepherd people in class all have beautiful dogs.. but none of them look like her. they are all really fluffy and have this kind of thing going on..


Kenya stands square, like a normal dog. they all say that shes a purebred, but that she wouldn't be a good showdog and needs to gain weight and that I need to work on her coat..


Well, just wanted to get some advice about it just in case. Honestly, i think its just because their labs and goldens are chubby. but w/e

It's really hard to tell in pictures. It's easier to go by feel. Do you happen to have any pictures from above? That might give some people a better idea

Most people have no clue what an underweight dog is and think all dogs need to be fat

Show dogs are.. well... fat. Have you ever seen a show border collie vs. a working/agility border collie?

Also, show GSDs have low-riding hips as part of their "standard" and that causes serious health problems. Kenya standing square is not a bad thing, that is how working GSDs stand and are MUCH healthier!

Kenya looks fine. I get hints all the time that Finnegan is skinny. I can feel his ribs but not see them, his belly tucks nicely, and I feed him the correct ration of kibble daily for his size. If Kenya is the same, then you are doing right by her.

Dog people are know-it-alls.

Lot of showdogs are chubby. I get told often my dogs are emaciated. At the moment Smudge is too thin. I can suddenly count his vertebrae. I upped his food.. and he looks better.

Dogs ribs should feel like the back of your hand. They shouldn't be hard to find. Even seeing the shadow of a rib is pretty normal in sport dog circles.

Cider at a good weight


Conformation people have had a cow over how thin she is.. She is at a good weight.

Can't find any that show Smudge not in coat that show anything..

Enzo is slightly underweight. I can see a rib or two too many. Kenya looks good to me!

Show dogs are usually at least 10 pounds overweight. And her coat looks fine to me, though without putting my hands on it, I couldn't be sure.

Yeah, there is a big difference between show-bred and working-bred.

I get it, too, about Blaze. He's skinny (40lbs), I can feel his ribs with a very thin layer of fat over them. But he's a VERY active young dog, so I wouldn't expect anything else. Plus, Border Collies are made to be thin.

Kenya looks fine to me. But like others had said, it's hard to tell in pictures. If you can fill her ribs with a thin layer of fat other them, and you can't feel the hip bones too much, I'd say she's fine.

Personally, I think Kenya looks sounder and at a much healthier weight than 95% of the GSDs I see. Except for her longer legs, she's much more the old style GSD. Which isn't a bad thing at all

Lol, not all show dogs are 10 lbs overweight. *tries to imagine Beau showing at 17 lbs*

Okay, I know you mean bigger dogs, but just thought I'd toss that out. Actually, Beau was at his best condition-wise when he was showing. I wish he'd kept all that muscle he'd gained while showing.

I don't get many comments until people feel Summer. That's one reason I <3 longhaired dogs. When she was shaved though... :yikes: I got comments all the time.

Haha, true. I was thinking Labs, and GSD's, etc. I didnt deal much with the smaller dogs though!

I just keep laughing at an image of a beachball Beauzo. :rofl1:

I don't think you could put weight on that dog if you wanted to. He just moves too much.

I think she looks great! I get comments like that all the time with my dogs. When I was showing Dance, I had someone come up and tell me that she (Dance) needed to gain at least 5lbs... umm, no way. Spring feels skinny to most people, but she's not. She's just a lanky teenager at the moment. And Keira probably could use maybe a pound or two, but she's almost impossible to put weight on, and looks good to me.

Borzoi folks have told me there is something called "show weight" and then there is "field weight". Show weight can be up to 10 lbs over, and doesn't necessarily have to be muscle (though muscle is good). Field weight is really the most healthy. One very respected breeder told me that she showed a coursing dog and the judges kept telling her it was a beautiful dog, but needed to put on more weight. And she politely informed them that the dog was in the middle of a coursing career. They understood.

Honestly, if Kenya is being that active I wouldn't want to see much more weight on her. Carrying extra pounds around while running and whatnot is hard on the joints.

As for her coat, GSDs have several different kinds of coat. I don't know how they think you are supposed to "work on" something that is genetic. She is incredibly glossy, so it's not like she has a crappy dried out coat. I'm not really sure what they want you to do to "work on it". If it's not in the genetics then no amount of supplementing is going to magically make her grow coat. And if you're not showing her anyway, what's the point? So she can be more uncomfortable in the Florida heat?

Anko had the same kind of coat as Kenya. It's fine.

Thanks everyone I can feel her ribs but they are not sticking out

As for her coat, its shiny and soft to the touch, What they were refering to is that her coat isnt fluffy and neither is her tail. The GSDs at training are very fluffy in a way while kenyas coat lays down flat.

I think she looks fine! People are just used to seeing overweight dogs. I had a few people tell me Molly was too skinny but in reality she was at her ideal weight.

On the flip side, Lucy is overweight. A couple pounds on a large dog isn't too bad, but a couple pounds on a dog that should only weigh 10lbs is pretty significant.. but has ANYone (other than the vet) made any comments about her weight? Nope. Fat just looks normal. And I think people assume that if you have an overweight dog, you must love your dog because you give her so much treats... but if you have a healthy/"underweight" dog, then obviously you're abusive and aren't feeding your dog.

4GSD - Coat Colours

If you scroll to the bottom of the link it talks about the coat lengths in GSDs. I have seen people call Kenya's type a short stock coat, but I don't know if that is the technical term.

If those folks don't know that GSDs can have different kinds of coats, and that there's nothing you can do to change it I don't think I'd be putting a lot of weight on their opinions of Kenya.

I think she looks GREAT! Don't sweat about what other people think - they're used to seeing fat dogs.

And on the note of show dogs, I have a little story to tell. My former manager breeds and shows labs. Her dogs when not actively showing are in beautiful shape. I went into the store a week or so ago and commented that Mud has gotten FAT. She sighed and said she HAD to pack weight on her for showing or she wouldn't place. Sad.

I agree with Romy, and a few other things to consider,,I believe Kenya is still young correct? So she really hasn't gotten her adult coat yet. Another thing, I know you don't really know her 'lines' since she was a rescue,,but she looks to me be of east german/maybe czech lines and frankly they mature SLOWLY...

As for her weight, I agree it looks FINE,,My female (czech/slovakian/east german) is just a year old, she is one tall long legged bitch, and weighs in at 69#, not an oz of fat on her, all muscle,,she probably looks "thin" to John Q Public who like 'meat' on their dogs, but I definately want her this weight,,she's in excellent condition physically, and getting our dogs 'fatter', certainly doesn't help them one bit. As for 'coat',,again, mine also right now has that short short stock coat,,I think 1. cause she's young, and 2. I am not foo foo ing her out for the show ring ))...

When I did show my male, he also had a somewhat flatter coat,,however, grooming for the show ring, there are ways to definately poof your dogs coat out..I wouldn't worry about her's at all...

I just wanted to clear up a misconception I think I saw Allie post,,,because a dog (GSD) is "square" does not mean it is in better health condition (structurally) than a dog who has 'angulation'.. Rear angulation or lack of on a german shepherd has nothing whatsoever to do with hip or health status, tho it may be unappealing to the eye.

I think Kenya looks great, and if anyone says they think she's to thin,,I would just say,,"she's young, she burns it off as fast as she eats , and being "fat" would not be healthy for her"...

Why do it then? I mean. . .gah, thats sick! Making your dog fat on purpose just to win a show?

Well said, better than I could have! I didn't necessarily mean it was a guarantee for health, I was more saying it in jest. But also, the UKC exposee on show dogs did an interesting spiel on the rear angulation of show GSDs that was a real eye-opener.