A weight discussion: how far is too far?
- Thread starter Picklepaige
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I don't actuallly have a clue how much my dogs weigh. Todd's never been weighed, Lucy weighed 27kg at the rescue, I think she has maybe put on a kg or two since adoption, but I feel she is a good weight now. I have no clue about Katy. I need to weigh her to give her worming tablets, I should check.
I don't like feeling hipbones protuding personally. Ribs and spine I can deal with, but I'm not a fan of hipbones. Freuchie (the collie I look after) is far too thin. You can feel every bone he has. People don't notice because of his coat, and I know collies should be slimline anyway, but if he were mine, I would want a bit more weight on him.
Katy is too thin to me at the moment, too much ribs on show
107 copy by Niseag, on Flickr
Lucy and Todd are OK in my opinion.
Oldshoremore Beach by Niseag, on Flickr
Oldshoremore Beach by Niseag, on Flickr
Katy
I don't like feeling hipbones protuding personally. Ribs and spine I can deal with, but I'm not a fan of hipbones. Freuchie (the collie I look after) is far too thin. You can feel every bone he has. People don't notice because of his coat, and I know collies should be slimline anyway, but if he were mine, I would want a bit more weight on him.
Katy is too thin to me at the moment, too much ribs on show
107 copy by Niseag, on Flickr
Lucy and Todd are OK in my opinion.
Oldshoremore Beach by Niseag, on Flickr
Oldshoremore Beach by Niseag, on Flickr
Katy
Duncan has gotten fat since I left for college, and I still want Cameron to lose like 3 pounds.
This is Duncan before I left for college.
He's arching his back, but you can still see his tuck. I wouldn't call him a muscular dog, and there were times I flippflopped between thinking he could gain a pound and then thinking he was perfect. He's probably gained like 5 lbs since, and I do not like it at all. I want Duncan to be at the low end of normal, and I would rather have him be underweight than fat. I don't trust his joints as far as I can throw him, and I don't want them to have any added pressure.
This is Duncan before I left for college.
He's arching his back, but you can still see his tuck. I wouldn't call him a muscular dog, and there were times I flippflopped between thinking he could gain a pound and then thinking he was perfect. He's probably gained like 5 lbs since, and I do not like it at all. I want Duncan to be at the low end of normal, and I would rather have him be underweight than fat. I don't trust his joints as far as I can throw him, and I don't want them to have any added pressure.
Loki is fat. She's deep-chested, so it gives more of an illusion of trimness. But she doesn't do much these days -- she's 8 and basically retired from any sports -- so she's got a little weight on her. I always kept her light in her younger days. In spring she'll probably tone up a bit as we all come out of our caves. I think she could lose 2-3 pounds and not miss it, but I also don't monitor her weight, just her health. She's not so far gone as to be unhealthy, so I don't worry about it much.
Here is Loki a bit more fit a few years ago:
And here's an old pic of Loki at her fittest point, about 2-3 years old. She got a lotta lotta work at that time, and was eating quite a bit of raw instead of straight kibble.
I put a lot of work into Terra during spring-summer so she looks good for the shows, and yes, she's flexing in these pics. Right now she has some more weight on her for winter, but the tone is still there. I talk about this from time to time with a dog friend who is also a fitness buff himself. The body remembers. Seems like when you condition once, its easier to get dogs into that shape the next time. I'm hoping that next year she will have an even easier time of it.
I'm still learning about getting a dog into really, really lean shape. Its hard to get those results spot-on unless you've got a dog that's really genetically blessed.
I'm kind of obsessive about keeping my dogs in good physical shape.
Millie doesn't have a ton of muscle, which is just the way she is, because even during the peak of her fitness and exercise level not a lot of muscle was ever apparent. She's built kind of awkwardly. For example, when I get her ribcage to where I want it (feeling ribs easily, only last 2 ribs visible during movement) I can see her spine.
Here she is early-mid this year. She doesn't have a lot of tuck up, but it's easy to separate her ribcage from her waist.
Here she has a much more pronounced tuck up, but she was too bony.
Basically with her I just strive for balance based on her individual build and exercise needs. As I think it should be with every dog. Lucy always had way more muscle- the comparison of Millie and Lucy was just build and genetics.
Millie doesn't have a ton of muscle, which is just the way she is, because even during the peak of her fitness and exercise level not a lot of muscle was ever apparent. She's built kind of awkwardly. For example, when I get her ribcage to where I want it (feeling ribs easily, only last 2 ribs visible during movement) I can see her spine.
Here she is early-mid this year. She doesn't have a lot of tuck up, but it's easy to separate her ribcage from her waist.
Here she has a much more pronounced tuck up, but she was too bony.
Basically with her I just strive for balance based on her individual build and exercise needs. As I think it should be with every dog. Lucy always had way more muscle- the comparison of Millie and Lucy was just build and genetics.
I like the dogs on the lean side, but I like slightly more weight on Sally then Jack (relative to body size). Jack has elbow dysplasia, so we are very careful about not putting too much strain on his joints. Having Sally too lean makes me a bit nervous--she has had incidents where she has gotten a stomach bug and gotten too skinny fast. She still has plenty of tuck and not much fat at all, but her ribs are not visible (easily felt though).
I am going to have to disagree with that. There is a big difference between an extra 5, 10, or even 15lbs or more of fat hanging off of a dog, around their mid section, and a lean dog with muscle encased joints.
The overweight dog is more likely to put extra stress on their back, neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and heart.
A lean dog is less likely to strain or injure joints that are protected by muscle. I have even had a vet tell me that a dysplastic dog could have a normal life, if kept lean and with adequate muscle tone on its hind quarters to support its joints.
That is like saying that I should stop working out, because the 10lbs of muscle I put on would be same as not working out and gaining 10lbs of fat. That is completely ridiculous.
That 2nd dog looks fine for an average pet, but it is in no shape for working or sports. IMO, it is too flabby for even being a pet dog in my house.
When I see an obese dog, I want to smack the owner. They always have an excuse too and a way to blame the dog. Really? Who controls what and how much the dog eats, and how much exercise it gets.
I personally prefer my dogs on the very lean side. I am used to the "OMG, do you feed your dog!" comments. I would rather have a "skinny" dog than one that is huffing, puffing, and panting after a couple of runs.
For some reason people seem to be unable to grasp the fact that if you "condition" your dog at the food bowl, they will not (cannot) maintain the same amount of muscle as a properly conditioned dog.
I prefer to have a really nice tuck up, ribs, some spine (when running), and plenty of toned muscle. I can tolerate a hint of spine and hips, if the rest of the dog is nicely conditioned. If I start seeing hips on my dogs, that is when I up their food or add some more fat to their diet.
I have terriers, which by nature are very active, high drive dogs that love to work and are constantly moving. My dogs also have very little coat, so their conditioning is more obvious.
The color of the dog, also plays into how conditioned a dog looks. A white dog almost never shows muscle tone, it is just near impossible. A brindle can be hard to see conditioning on. I have found that black shows conditioning nicely, in the right light. However, I would have to say that red, brown, fawn, and like colored dogs show conditioning the easiest.
Here are some of my guys in the condition that I keep them in.
Jaeger (apbt)
Envy (apbt)
ShyAnn (apbt)
Boom (sbt)
Sniper (jrt)
Hennesy (apbt)
Patron (apbt)
Also keep in mind I live in Florida, and we don't have a winter.
The overweight dog is more likely to put extra stress on their back, neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and heart.
A lean dog is less likely to strain or injure joints that are protected by muscle. I have even had a vet tell me that a dysplastic dog could have a normal life, if kept lean and with adequate muscle tone on its hind quarters to support its joints.
That is like saying that I should stop working out, because the 10lbs of muscle I put on would be same as not working out and gaining 10lbs of fat. That is completely ridiculous.
That 2nd dog looks fine for an average pet, but it is in no shape for working or sports. IMO, it is too flabby for even being a pet dog in my house.
When I see an obese dog, I want to smack the owner. They always have an excuse too and a way to blame the dog. Really? Who controls what and how much the dog eats, and how much exercise it gets.
I personally prefer my dogs on the very lean side. I am used to the "OMG, do you feed your dog!" comments. I would rather have a "skinny" dog than one that is huffing, puffing, and panting after a couple of runs.
For some reason people seem to be unable to grasp the fact that if you "condition" your dog at the food bowl, they will not (cannot) maintain the same amount of muscle as a properly conditioned dog.
I prefer to have a really nice tuck up, ribs, some spine (when running), and plenty of toned muscle. I can tolerate a hint of spine and hips, if the rest of the dog is nicely conditioned. If I start seeing hips on my dogs, that is when I up their food or add some more fat to their diet.
I have terriers, which by nature are very active, high drive dogs that love to work and are constantly moving. My dogs also have very little coat, so their conditioning is more obvious.
The color of the dog, also plays into how conditioned a dog looks. A white dog almost never shows muscle tone, it is just near impossible. A brindle can be hard to see conditioning on. I have found that black shows conditioning nicely, in the right light. However, I would have to say that red, brown, fawn, and like colored dogs show conditioning the easiest.
Here are some of my guys in the condition that I keep them in.
Jaeger (apbt)
Envy (apbt)
ShyAnn (apbt)
Boom (sbt)
Sniper (jrt)
Hennesy (apbt)
Patron (apbt)
Also keep in mind I live in Florida, and we don't have a winter.
Good weight on those dogs, WD 
I try to get a LITTLE extra on Tallulah -- and Kharma -- during the winter. Tallulah gets too chilly otherwise. It's not easy to do, although giving her a dollop of cream when I cream my coffee in the morning seems to help, and she's not complaining (unless I forget), lol.
I would KILL to have Kharma's metabolism.
I try to get a LITTLE extra on Tallulah -- and Kharma -- during the winter. Tallulah gets too chilly otherwise. It's not easy to do, although giving her a dollop of cream when I cream my coffee in the morning seems to help, and she's not complaining (unless I forget), lol.
I would KILL to have Kharma's metabolism.
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This is Nia I think a year ago?? It was towards the end of winter so she didn't have as much muscles as I would have liked. Right now she's much more muscular due to summer just ending and getting hours of exercise a day. I think she's at a good weight though. I do generally keep my dogs a little thinner than some would like but definitely not emaciated!
I do like to see the last 2-3 ribs if the dog has a short coat, or completely wetted down.
I should have taken a now(more toned) picture...when I bathed her a few days ago.
Edit: Another interesting thing is that around here, I rarely see overweight dogs. Maybe some certain breeds like pugs, or Frenchies but in general, people keep their dogs very thin. Even breeds like labs or Cattle dogs which are usually shown to be tubby or outright fat on TV/calendars,are in awesome shape, you can see the last 3 ribs and they're very muscular. So maybe it's not that popular to overfeed dogs here (in Vancouver/BC).
I do like to see the last 2-3 ribs if the dog has a short coat, or completely wetted down.
I should have taken a now(more toned) picture...when I bathed her a few days ago.
Edit: Another interesting thing is that around here, I rarely see overweight dogs. Maybe some certain breeds like pugs, or Frenchies but in general, people keep their dogs very thin. Even breeds like labs or Cattle dogs which are usually shown to be tubby or outright fat on TV/calendars,are in awesome shape, you can see the last 3 ribs and they're very muscular. So maybe it's not that popular to overfeed dogs here (in Vancouver/BC).
