It's so sad to see a fat dog, I just hate it. It's true what Julie says about feeding treats as training aids and then having to cut down on food - my OH thinks I'm terribly cruel to Simba when he sees how much goes in the bowl but I keep telling him he gets plenty of treats on his walks("leave it!" "Leave it!" Sit!"leave it!" ) so he's not suffering. Generally for some of those "leave its" I give him some kibble that is formulated to clean teeth (larger crunchies) thus accomplishing two things at once as well as pieces of kibble (poor dog is hard done by). I have a couple other bags of small treats I can use for variety just to spice things up a bit and for use for recalls, etc. I will admit that my OH is a problem He likes to have a snack at night and has fallen completely under the Lab-eyes spell. He tends to share his popcorn and chips a little too liberally for my liking
@Cath as a cheese lover I was quite shocked to see what a small cube of cheese was worth to a dog. It certainly convinced me that we don't use cheese in training. Closest Juno gets to cheese is making sure our hands are clean after we've had cheese and biscuits
My dogs get cheese everytime I use the grater. I shake the last bits on the floor. It's their favourite thing! They get cheese as treats very occasionally. Neither lab or spaniel is overweight
Charlie absolutely adores cheese. He'd sell his soul for it. I get amazing results when I train with cheese. I very, very, rarely do because it gives him runny poo unfortunately. I wish it didn't....
This is the dog yesterday that prompted me to post.... chocies by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Yes, the difference is quite striking. Poor lad. I'm afraid I don't weigh my dogs' food. I just use my eye. I don't think that's a problem in itself, as long as you keep a critical eye on your dog's condition. The treats they have vary so much day to day that I just make a judgement call as to whether I chuck a little bit more in, or leave a little bit out. Since they're fed three times a day, the amount of food in their bowls really does look quite pitiful! The good thing about Burns kibble is that it's not very dense (compared to the Hills they were on as puppies), so it looks more than it could otherwise. And I put about a mug of water in with it, which both slows them down and fills them up a bit, so I don't feel so bad
I inherited my friends lab about a year ago - at her heaviest she was 40.9 Kg - she's now about 27Kg - I love to see her run now - she's now into retrieving and will race the length of the orchard for a memory dummy - unthinkable before (won't make a gundog because she knows how yummy pheasant is - and its not for giving up!)- loves to be chased - a born hunter and can now catch her own dinner. She was on the vet diet kibble for years - but when the bag was finished I switched her to raw - In some ways raw is harder because its variable and more difficult to judge but it looks a lot more in the bowl and takes them longer to eat
It must be similar to when you take on a rescue who has lived a hard life, and teach it the joy of playing. The rejuvenation must be incredible to see.
14kgs is a lot for a Lab to lose, @FoxyLady! That's quite some achievement! Well done you! It was a bitch. About the same height as Charlie. She should weigh much less than he does....
I should have done the weight watcher before and after videos - if people could just see the difference. Mind changing from being a solo dog with lots of snoozing to being one of a pack with a pesky puppy who's def. not for snoozing probably helped too.
My Malamute was always a free feeder, and really did not like kibble so he was always lean. When we got our first Lab (Ginger, a rescue) we tried that for about 3 weeks and realized that we had to control her food. We always kept her at a good weight, and since she became diabetic at 12, we really had to control how much she ate. Tilly was a free feeder most of her adult life, and she didn't tend to eat too much. We had to put her on 2x per day feedings when we got Cooper, because as a puppy Cooper would/will eat anything that was left around. It is pretty easy to keep dogs trim, since we really control how much they eat. We can always feel our dogs ribs, and see a tummy tuck from the top and sides.
Gosh, now I'm a bit worried! Saba is almost eight months, and weighs about 29kg. He's quite short at the moment, with a glossy wavy-backed coat. On the Vets recommendation, he has no more than 400g of kibble daily, including his training treats. If he's lucky enough to have left-over chicken, I cut the amount of kibble with the meal. He is looking a bit chunky just now, and I was hoping that he'd have a growth spurt, and catch up with himself. We're back at the monthly puppy clinic next Thursday, where Saba will be weighed and checked over, so I'll check again how much kibble is best for him while he's still growing.
Well, there are a few alarm bells there - unless your dog looks lanky and slim (but you say he looks chunky), 29kgs at 8 months - for what you say is a short dog - is a lot. My dog is a moderate show line dog, a lot of people would call him a 'chunky' type, exactly on breed standard height and with full adult muscle has a target weight of 29kgs (he is 29.3kgs right now). He has never been fed 400g of kibble in his life. He is currently on 100g. So sure, your dog might be heading for being a tall, naturally very heavy dog, that's healthy. If in doubt, cut down that food though....
I have no idea if his pedigree line is working or show, but three generations of family bitches are stocky. Mum, Grandma, and Great-Grandma are all owned by the breeder, so we've met them on many occasions. It's hard to say how tall Dad is as we only saw photos, so perhaps Saba is destined to be a short-legged Lab! Saba is still on puppy food, and being an inexperienced owner, I do tend to rely on the advice from out Vets. We are very careful not to give Saba 'human' food, and he is disciplined enough to stay in his day bed for our meal times. I'll have a full and frank discussion at clinic next week, and go from there. Thanks for the advice!
When my dog was a puppy, I took him to a vet practice with a few vets - one said he was fine, one said he looked slim, and one said he looked fat! He was too heavy (I made up my own mind) and reduced his weight. Do not excuse a fat puppy/teenager because he might be heavy as an adult! Keep your young dog slim. With a very obvious tuck up side and looking down. Not just that you can see a tuck up, it should be an obvious tuck up. As in there is no way on earth it's not an obvious striking feature of your dog. For me, I like to clearly see the ends of my dog's ribs when he is stood straight. As soon as I can't see them, I cut down his food. Of course, for all I know your dog is a perfect weight!
We have carpet licking here. Not sure what that says about my cleaning. I saw a fat Dachshund yesterday. Now that's not a good look at all. Poor wobbly sausage.
