"Show Weight"

[joce]

My corgi gizmo was in show condition for the first couple years of her life. really a lot of that is keeping them groomed properly and the hair makes them appear more weighty:lol-sign: Now it was very hard to keep weight off of gizmo at times. I'd rather have a dog a bit thin than a overweight.

There is a huge show thats corgi oriented in oberlin every year. I haven't been there in years so I don't come home with a breeders name again but I would assume its still the same. Its in the summer. It would be great to go to if your really interested in it.

As many shows as I have gone to I do not pay attention to what breed standards are other than my breeds. I know dobes tend to look so petite compared to my byron and I think the corgis look pretty good. I used to love looking at the huskies thinking at least someone can care for that hair. Who knows what the body looks like under that

 

[nikkiluvsu15]

Don't even get me started on some Labs in the show ring. I'll give them that some Labs do indeed have that bone and extra coat that make them look fat, but some of them are just indeed fat.

 

[kady05]

Don't even get me started on some Labs in the show ring. I'll give them that some Labs do indeed have that bone and extra coat that make them look fat, but some of them are just indeed fat.

Oh the Labs are some of the worst! My friend who owns a Lab had never been to a show before was shocked when she saw the condition of some of them (she keeps her boy looking really nice). Some of them waddle around the ring!

 

[Whisper]

I agree that labs are some of the worst, one of the most commonly obese in the show ring.
I've seen a lot of fat chis, too. Little sausages.
Merico, lol. Millie is built a little strangely and also has some oddness when she's at her best weight. I can feel and sometimes see her spine before I can feel her ribs without pushing too hard. And even when she's muscly and fit, she has a small waist, but not all that much tuck-up.
I don't know, Millie is 30 lbs., and before I realized what a fit dog was, she was 45 lbs. Realizing I had such a fat dog and didn't even know it, I'm kind of obsessed with fitness now. I totally agree that it can depend on the dog, though. Not all dogs are built to be so slim and tucked up like most fit APBTs should be. For example, I'm not going to diet and work Millie hard enough that she has a tuck-up I'd like to see in most other dogs. She's just not built for it.

 

[Sapphire-Light]

We only see a few different breeds at shows here, but some bulldogs, beagles and rottweilers are really fat the sad thing is wit this hot weather you can see that when they trot a few minutes their mouths get like a steam train and they trow saliva all around.


At least in poodles they can be lean

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/english-american.html

Many times this is just an illusion. The coat can make the dog look heavier and rounder.

The owner of the above dog says that she looks totally different, when she is out of coat. Her coat makes her look heavier than she is.

I wonder how true that is... I never thought about it but I guess you could create quite an illusion with the coat if you tried.

 

[Kimbers]

Blech, I swear there's no such thing as a fit cattle dog. They may be built stockier than other dogs, but most of the ones I've seen are just plain fat.

 

[joce]

That's what I was saying with the corgi coat. Ever fluff up a corgi coat and see what it looks like? On my gizzy it made her look huge! Her coat looks a lot different than the op dogs coat though?

 

[Beanie]

It can go both ways... an agility person once told me I should starve Auggie until he was skin and bones. Auggie is not a fat dog by any stretch of the imagination. And he's not heavily coated, but even under his coat you can see a waist (he's just built that way; his brother is too.) So we're not talking about getting extra weight off an overweight dog. But this person seriously suggested I starve him - so I could try and get a lower height measurement on him. And it wasn't just a "oh feed him less," it was literally starve him... I asked for clarification to be sure.
Yeah no. I'm not going to starve my dog so *I* can get more ribbons. I wouldn't make Payton a big ol' fatty to try and win in the confo ring either. Nope... not worth it.
Some people just have their priorities in a very, very different order.


Payton looks a lot like Keeva too. He is a bit too thin for my liking as a puppy, but I haven't been able to get any extra weight on him. I upped his food and he just ran around more/faster and burned it all up. I WAY upped his food and he looked fatter the next day but it was because his stomach was all gross and bloated. =P He's eating twice what Auggie eats and is still a skinny-mini. I've actually considered doing Satin Balls with him just to try and get a little bit of extra QUALITY weight on him. I figure a skinny puppy is better than a fat puppy though... and definitely better than a bloated puppy. Ugh!

 

[kady05]

Payton looks a lot like Keeva too. He is a bit too thin for my liking as a puppy, but I haven't been able to get any extra weight on him. I upped his food and he just ran around more/faster and burned it all up. I WAY upped his food and he looked fatter the next day but it was because his stomach was all gross and bloated. =P He's eating twice what Auggie eats and is still a skinny-mini. I've actually considered doing Satin Balls with him just to try and get a little bit of extra QUALITY weight on him. I figure a skinny puppy is better than a fat puppy though... and definitely better than a bloated puppy. Ugh!

OT, but Sako is just like that.. except if I up his food too much, he just poops it all out. Satin balls HAVE helped though.

 

[Shai]

Yeah putting weight on some growing pups is a lost cause. To me, making sure they have good nutrition and are free of parasites is the key...some dogs' body type, especially as adolescents, tends toward the whip-like.

And Beanie, that is scary that they were recommending you starve your dog for a height measurement. I get that it is advantageous to keep agility (and other physically demanding sports) dogs at the minimum weight that still supports a healthy structure, strong tendons/muscles, flexibility, energy, etc...the less weight hitting the ground, the better for career longevity. But as several people have said, extremes are to be avoided in all cases, and doing what is best for an individual canine's body is the most important thing.

 

[Emily]

Keeva already eats a high fat diet, lol... 1/4 lb ground beef (not lean) with organs and veggies mixed in and 1/2 lb skin on, dark meat chicken is the base of her diet. And when she eats her chicken, it's so much it makes her little stomach distended until the next morning, haha. If I thought she needed weight, I could probably put it on by feeding grain-inclusive kibble, but then I'm just giving her junk, and I don't see the point in that.

Anyway, back on topic, I'm still curious as to why thicker dogs seem popular in the breed ring. I'm thinking of a Dobe (show dog) I see at an obedience club pretty regularly. He's certainly not obese, he's just sort of.... soft and squishy looking. To me, it's not attractive. Now, I get why a dog that's at a hard and boney working weight might not make the prettiest picture, but I feel like that Dobe would look better if he was nicely toned and trim, at least.

It kind of reminds me of how my trainer was always trying to get weight onto my old TB hunter... He's hard keeper, and we never could keep weight on him, especially during the show season. She was always saying she wanted him to look "fat and happy" in the ring, since appearance does count for something in the hunter ring. And show hunters, as opposed to their field counter parts, are supposed to be immaculate and look nothing short of pampered.

I'm wondering if it's the same mind set that creates fat conformation dogs - the idea that the weight implies good care and proper turn out, as opposed to a skinny farm dog? lol I mean, it's clearly a trend in certain breeds (like labs) but in my experience, many breeds that you wouldn't expect to see chubby dogs in (like that Dobe) will still carry more weight than I would let my spayed pet bitch walk around with.

I have also heard people say that like coat, fat can be used to hide conformation flaws...

 

[Aleron]

Yeah putting weight on some growing pups is a lost cause. To me, making sure they have good nutrition and are free of parasites is the key...some dogs' body type, especially as adolescents, tends toward the whip-like.

This is very much the case with Belgians of all types. I don't even give their skinniness a second thought these days but I know with my first one, a lot of people at the training club seemed sort of...alarmed by her weight. I was told very seriously that she HAD to put weight on. But really, she was healthy and active, so there was no real reason for concern. It wasn't like she was emaciated and had muscle wasting or anything.

And Beanie, that is scary that they were recommending you starve your dog for a height measurement.

I've really never heard such a thing before.

 

[Dekka]

On the topic of putting some weight on skinny dogs. (I have picky whippets, I know lol) Dash actually eats all the food I put infront of him, but he didn't really start to gain any untill I added a little high quality complex carbs.

Best way it seems to fatten ANY animal up IME is high fat with carbs. (satin balls have that mix)

As to why? I think stockier dogs are 'cute' to most people. Or if larger more impressive.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

Yeah, we've been adding oatmeal and brown rice and oil to the malinois meals here and there for adding weight.

 

[BostonBanker]

I have seen too many people take this wide pendulum swing away from the obese dogs and maintain a too-skinny dog.

I've been seeing this lately too. It is almost like it is a medal of honor to have the skinniest dog out there with sport people. I'm all for keeping dogs lean, especially those who are highly active. But if they aren't consuming enough calories to build some muscle, they just look ill cared for to me.

And Beanie, that is scary that they were recommending you starve your dog for a height measurement.

I definitely haven't been told to starve Gusto, but when we were measuring him at a recent trial, the advice from several people was to get him even thinner (and he is not a roly poly puppy) before his official measurements. I think it will be a moot point, as he's only a hair under the "measure up" height already, but people seem to think it will help. I can't imagine that my puppy is carrying all that much fat on his withers to make it matter.