What a healthy dog looks like

[Zoom]

Since we're on Labs...

This was Virgo at the weight I liked her at:

DSC_0170 by Stephanie Owen/CrazyDog Photography, on Flickr

This was the fatass cow I got back from a failed homing attempting:

 

[Saeleofu]

I need to post pictures when I get home. Gavroche looks SO good now. He gets so much exercise out here, he's getting SO muscular. Looking down from the top, his thighs are HUGE, much bigger than his hips, and solid muscle

 

[HayleyMarie]

I love where Teagan is right now. Body wise. She is 15 pounds right now. Last summer she was 13 lbs, but she has gained so much muscle its insane. Her legs, her thighs are just pure raw muscle.

I dont think she looks 15 pounds. For one she has so much hair. I think its just the added muscle that she has gained that beffed her up from the past year.

 

[Zhucca]

Fat labs make me sad....especially because they are prone to joint issues anyways, carrying around extra weight just makes it so much worse.

Java and Moka are both bench bred labs (show labs) so they are built shorter and stockier and could carry much more weight than they do to have the proper look for their breeding lines, but I just can't do that. Their mom is 82 lbs, their dad is 90 lbs...they weigh much less than that (51 lbs & 60 lbs) and I am very happy with their weight.

My BF even says they are too skinny (he is used to his fat family dogs-all of his family's dogs are/have been overweight and died of heart disease at young ages) but too **** bad. They are healthy and happy and will live a much better life than all the fat labs out there.

It's just a shame. Fat dogs depress me...and tick me off at the same time.

Yeah with Labs I think having a healthy one is a target. Everyone believes they have to weigh over 85lbs no matter what. There are labs that are just that big, but people have blinders on. Whenever I walk Boomer, a big bruiser who weighs 100lbs, people always compare their fat lab to him. There's a difference of 100lb of muscle and your waddling hambeast, sorry buddy!

I don't have any decent from the side pictures of him, and he is way more conditioned now (summer means swimming and biking) but pic of Boomer:
You can see how trim he is just by looking at his sides.

Another one, you can see his tuck just above Gruff's head.

Your dogs are adorable by the way!

 

[Tankstar]

I had a owner in a few weeks ago with a lab, who is past obeese. she was boasting about how he was 145lbs. I was disturbed, poor dog could hardly move. The owner goes on to tell me to be careful, as he was old (9) and had bad knees and hips due to age. No I assume its from the extra 70 or so lbs he is carrying around.

We had a shepherd sheltie mix in yesterday. the dog was about 20 inchs high and the owner laughed and said the vet told him he needed a diet, well duh. the dog was 184lbs (just took it to the vet that day for a check up) 184lbs!!!!!!!!!! it was HORRIBLE. took 5 of us to lift him in to the tub. To me thats plain abuse

 

[skKi]

We had a shepherd sheltie mix in yesterday. the dog was about 20 inchs high and the owner laughed and said the vet told him he needed a diet, well duh. the dog was 184lbs (just took it to the vet that day for a check up) 184lbs!!!!!!!!!! it was HORRIBLE. took 5 of us to lift him in to the tub. To me thats plain abuse

I never knew how many obese dogs were in my area until I started working at a grooming salon. One could gamble that around 80% of the dogs coming through here are overweight, many of which could be in the obese category. I used to wonder where all these fat dogs were hiding; I'd never seen so many before! Then I realized that was because I only saw dogs on walks, and these grooming dogs sure as heck don't get walked.

Surprisingly, I don't have any side shots of Pit to show his body. He's about 22" and 43 ish lbs. He gets walks, hikes and swims like nobody's business, but he doesn't have much muscle definition. Just a slim jim.

 

[CharlieDog]

Everyone at work is amazed at how fit and trim and muscular Enzo is. She's a bit heavier than she looks, and in the summer, when she's got more muscle on her from exercise, she's about fifty pounds of lean mean machine. In the winter, she's about 47 to 48.

She could easily be put into the show weight range by bulking up on her kibble and feeding her satin balls, but I don't want fat on my dog. I keep her thin for a reason. As it is, she's eats quite a lot and still stays in shape.

All of the clients at work who own labs are always saying how skinny she is.

No, your dog is just fat.

 

[Southpaw]

Then I realized that was because I only saw dogs on walks, and these grooming dogs sure as heck don't get walked.

Yep. I go to the dog park and see nothing but in shape dogs (with an occasional older, overweight dog). But at the vet clinic most dogs we see are overweight, and a lot of our patients coming in for their spring annuals have gained 5 or 6 pounds since last year. Yeah, we had a bad winter, but holy crap!


I didn't have any above pics earlier, so I snapped these crappy cell phone pics last night.

 

[monkeys23]

Yeah it was pretty obvious from my vets exclamations of how amazing the girls look just how rampant pet obesity is... She was so blown away that they're in ideal condition and have clean teeth. I was happy they got praise, but its so sad that so many dogs (and people) are so overweight.

 

[DogKisses]

I asked a family member (dog lover) if she thought Lacey was at a good weight. She was at a good weight, I was just curious since she was trying to get me to give Lacey soooo many treats every time she came over.... I got the feeling that she felt like Lacey was underweight because of it, so I asked: "What do you think about Lacey's weight?" She said "Oh, well she looks good. They say it's good to keep them on the skinny side for their joints.... But I think she could gain a couple pounds."

You would think my dog was skelatal lol, the way she wanted me to keep handing Lacey treat after treat. Her dogs (Chi's and Weiners) are all fat, she means well but it's sad. A Chi that is suppoed to weight 4lbs and has joint issues should not be 7lbs. She feels like any time she eats something, it's unfair/cruel to not give the dogs a bite of it... a big bite lol. And when they whine she gives them some of her food so they "be quiet." I tried telling her that she is rewarding them for whinning/barking, that giving them the food its TEACHING them to bark. Same way you teach ANY dog to do ANYTING.

In one ear... out the other. LOL.

(refer to my sig for Lacey's weight (or lack of).)

 

[SarahHound]

Try having a "fat breed". I got a TON of flack from Pug people when i was talking about reducing Izzie's food even more than i had and how she was too fat for agility 4-5 months ago (she's lost 2.5 or so pounds since then) and how i was going to kill her and i need to just let her be a Pug.

The way I see it is that with me saying Izzie is fat, they're seeing their obese Pugs and feeling guilty, but instead of making the dogs lose weight, they just put me down for keeping my dog slim, trim, healthy, and active.

As I was looking at your photos of Izzy, I couldn't believe how fit she looked! I have never seen a Pug in such great shape.

 

[jenv101]

Age: 17 months
Gender/Altered Status: Male/Neutered
Current weight: ~75lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 29" (freak)
Amount you feed per day: 3.5 cups
What you feed: Orijen
How active your dog is: Very

Most recent, decent photo of him... I'll have to try and get a top view one sometime.

 

[Pits&Pugs]

Chloe
Age: 6
Gender/Altered Status: Femal/Neutered
Current weight: 16lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 10"ish
Amount you feed per day: 2/3 cup
What you feed: Wellness Red. Calorie
How active your dog is: low/moderate

Isis
age:3
Gender/Altered Status: Femal/Neutered
Current weight: 62lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 22" ish
Amount you feed per day: 2 cups
What you feed: Kirklands/TOTW
How active your dog is: Mid/High

Bishop
age:3
Gender/Altered Status: Male/Neutered
Current weight: 18lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 13" ish
Amount you feed per day: 1 cup
What you feed: Kirklands/TOTW
How active your dog is: Mid

 

[colliewog]

Age: 1.5 yr
Gender/Altered Status: Female/intact
Current weight: 14.5 lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 14"
Amount you feed per day: ~ 4% of body weight
What you feed: Homecooked/raw mix in am, raw chicken/turkey in PM
How active your dog is: Extremely

Age: 1.5 yr
Gender/Altered Status: Female/intact
Current weight: 14.2 lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 14"
Amount you feed per day: ~ 2.5-3% of body weight
What you feed: Homecooked/raw mix in am, raw chicken/turkey in PM
How active your dog is: Very

Age: 5 yr
Gender/Altered Status: Female/intact
Current weight: 58 lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 23"
Amount you feed per day: ~ 2% of body weight
What you feed: Homecooked/raw mix in am, raw chicken/turkey in PM
How active your dog is: Very


Age: 8 yr
Gender/Altered Status: Female/spayed
Current weight: 55lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 22"
Amount you feed per day: ~ 2.5% of body weight
What you feed: Homecooked/raw mix in am, raw chicken/turkey in PM
How active your dog is: Extremely

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah it was pretty obvious from my vets exclamations of how amazing the girls look just how rampant pet obesity is... She was so blown away that they're in ideal condition and have clean teeth. I was happy they got praise, but its so sad that so many dogs (and people) are so overweight.

My vet is always thanking me too for keeping my girls at a good weight. Every time I go into the vet's office, all the dogs are really really fat. Not just a little tubby, they're HUGE.

 

[Laurelin]

As I was looking at your photos of Izzy, I couldn't believe how fit she looked! I have never seen a Pug in such great shape.

Me either. It's so nice to see fit pugs. I've never seen a fit pug in real life before. My co-worker's pug is very big from the pics I've seen and he's 6 years old and having lots of health problems. She saw pics of my dogs and I told her Summer is 7 and she couldn't believe it. A lot of people think 6 and 7 year old dogs are old and shouldn't be active anymore.

DSC_0131 by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

 

[Pits&Pugs]

There are way to many overweight pugs in my area too...

I have a woman who lives in my neighborhood who has 3 obese pugs....one of her dogs is from the same breeder as my chloe (different sire and dam) and is 3 x the size of my dog. This woman always comments when she sees us walking that Chloe looks like a puppy...her dogs also have a few diet related health issues ...I've tried to talk to her about brands and amounts to feed but ...I've not see much of an improvement......at least she walks them...I see her out at least 2x every day walking them ...but she must be way over feeding them or giving them people food too

 

[vanillasugar]

Some fantastically fit dogs in this thread!! I won't be posting pics of Sierra because I feel she's out of shape and has been for a while. She isn't terribly overweight, but she's carrying a few extra lbs that I'm not happy with. Of course according to the general public she's perfect. *Sigh*

 

[Sekah]

Age: 2 years
Gender/Altered Status: female, altered
Current weight: 35lbs
Current height at the shoulders: ~19.5"
Amount you feed per day: 2.5 cups
What you feed: Orijen 6 Fish, Fromm
How active your dog is: High activity



A kind of goofy stacked photo -- not a proper stack, but the best side view I have at the moment.

Actionish shot.

A shot of Cohen up to her ears in mud during a walk in the ravine. She's angled oddly so she looks a bit funny, but you get the idea.

She's well muscled, but her fur hides most of it.

 

[Pareeeee]

Age: 11 months (almost)
Gender/Altered Status: Spayed Female
Current weight: 16lbs
Current height at the shoulders: 14.5"
Amount you feed per day: 1 - 1.25 cups of dry kibble
What you feed: Actr1um Holistic Diet
How active your dog is: Moderate to High. Very hyper, one to two walks every day, lays on her chair, training session at home and during walks.