I torment myself by watching lots of dog rescue programmes , Paul O`Grady at Battersea Dogs Home being one of them . On the last episode , a chocolate Lab called Cocoa was featured , she was terribly overweight and had been put on a diet . Paul O`Grady came out with a comment that irritated me like mad because it seemed to be so stupid , he said " Chocolate Labradors are prone to being overweight " For the very life of me , I cant see why a chocolate Lab should be more prone to being fat than any other Lab or any other breed for that matter, or perhaps there is something I am missing ?
No, you are not. It's entirely down to the owner how slim or fat their dog becomes. My lovely Boogie came from Battersea Dogs Home - he was 6 months old and a Manchester terrier/border collie/heinz 57 cross. I was 18 years old and still at university and he came to all my lectures with me, then home on a train for holidays! He saw my boys grow up and he lived a happy, healthy 19 years. I will never forget the day we went for him. We chose the quietest dog there - until we came out with him then, zoooooooooom!!
Owning a Choccie Lab, I do hear this a lot (and a lot of other stuff about Choccie Labs!). I think it's true that there are a lot of overweight Choccie Labs around but there are also a lot of overweight Blacks and Yellows too - and dogs of all other breeds too. I can't see why it would be true that Choccies put on weight more easily than other dogs. Although it is true that I have to feed Charlie a surprisingly small amount to keep him slim, I really doubt that is anything to do with his coat colour. His black sister is a lot, lot heavier.....
I do think that most overweight dogs are simply under exercised and over fed and I cant believe that colour or even breed could have any influence on the issue . Sam has a massive appetite , but stays slim , also drops weight very quickly if he is poorly as he was recently when he was really ill . Millie , on the other hand piles weight on very easily so has to be monitored closely, not easy when the eyes are pleading I guess like humans, it can sometimes be down to metabolic rate , but how colour could enter the issue is beyond me
I was annoyed with that comment as I looked down at my slim choccie girl. I know one yellow Lab who is now around a year old who is overweight, due to her elderly owners not walking her enough and feeding her too much. I was on a walk last week with a spaniel cross who was very overweight, and one of the fattest dogs I've seen, in the UK, was an Alsatian. So I guess any dog can be overweight if they are fed too much and not exercised enough.
When discussing why a dog is overweight, regardless of breed, I think you should look at the owner first.
By coincidence there was an article in The Sunday Times today about a residential weight loss programme for overweight dogs (all breeds) and it was mentioned Chocolatel Labradors were on average 3lbs heavier than the Yellow ones It is probably more to do with the owners than the dogs colour!
Could it be the whole show line/working line thing in that choccies were more typically from show lines so often more stocky than some of the yellow or black working lines? People just seeing the show labs as the "fat" version of the working labs? Yep, there were a huge amount of generalisations in the comment ☺
Good grief Kate, people are thick to make such silly comments, no wonder you are cross. It doesn't matter if you/dog are yellow with pink spots, too much food + not enough exercise = FAT simple!!!
I think there is a lot of truth in your comment. If I remember rightly around 80-90% of working dogs are black. The rest are yellow..I guess the percentages don't favour chocolates. I have never seen a working labrador, well one that belongs to someone who either works or is serious about training...overweight, actually though see working line labs kept as pets that are overweight.
Actually, there are two chocolates who go to the same training - one is Charlie. The other one is from much more working lines, and is absolutely square - like a coffee table. The same height as Charlie, but many, many kgs heavier......the dog works, and can do the job, but is definitely fat. If you sat this dog and Charlie side by side and asked a stranger which was the show line dog, I'd put money on not many people saying Charlie...
Rory is often mistaken for a pointer lab cross, I think one of the problems is people don't really know what a fit dog of a healthy weight should look like. They see a fat lab so thay think thats what they should look like. I have seen some labs that are so fat they can't run and get out of breath going up a steady incline, I want to take them home and put them on a diet. I could cry
I really don't think it's just a Lab thing though - although there are definitely loads of fat Labradors around. I walk on Wimbledon Common which is the M25 of dog walking. I see all breeds of dog that are overweight. Bull terrier types in particular, more so even than Labradors I think. Perhaps because the owners expect them to have a "stocky" look, they just don't see that the dog is fat.
I love this comment; it is so true. I remember one comment (though not who made it) along the lines of 'If your dog is too fat, YOU aren't getting enough exercise'
There aren't so many overweight dogs over here - certainly not the Catalans' dogs. Some would argue they don't care enough about their dogs to overfeed them. Amongst my English and French friends, though, only a handful have what I would call healthy weight dogs. The majority, whatever breed or mix of breeds, are at the very least "stocky", with several being really fat. My business partner's beagle is the worst. Every time I see him (he lives in England), I tell him that he needs to sort it out, because it's not fair on her. Luckily, I can tell him straight what I think, and he does listen a bit. Sadly, it doesn't necessarily translate into him doing anything about it.
No, don't mention cake - all such things are banned as I struggle to lose some weight. A whole 300g in 2 weeks , still at least it's downwards and now my medication is really beginning to work walking with Juno is becoming easier
