Picture of Turbo

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

She also has the same size heart and lungs, which means she probably won't live as long as normal whippets.

 

[airbear]

I know. It's like gigantism in humans - lifespan is definitely decreased.

[clara]

I love how the OP is long gone and this thread continues with a life of it's own!

 

Last year, I was trying to decide if Ling was too heavy, at close to 22 inches and 48lbs. The vet said she was perfect, with the heart rate of an athlete and a perfect waist. But comparing her weight to other Border Collies her age and height made me think maybe she was a tad too heavy, so I posted the question and some photos over on the rescue board. Psmitty and several others told me that for an agility dog she could probably drop a few lbs. I absolutely took NO offense and decided they were probably right and cut back on treats some. Now she's down to 42lbs, and even at that weight the herding trainer I went to commented that she is "big bodied", clarifying after feeling her that she is very thin but has a bigger bone structure than most females she's seen.

 

So now I get crap all the time from everyone, from my agility trainer to my husband, about how I'm starving my dog. Mostly just teasing, but making a point nonetheless. She is on the very slim side, with no fat on her ribs and a very defined waist. I'm going to keep her that way because we do a lot of agility and I don't want any stress on her hips and joints, but it is annoying hearing all the time how my dog is too thin and I need to feed her more! She proved she has plenty of "get up and go" at our last trial when she Q'd in a 34 sec standard time Wildcard course with a clean, 14.6 second run! The next fastest dog ran it in 20 seconds.

 

Very sad story about the Whippet.

[MrSnappy]

I posted about this when the article was in, I think, the New York Times.

 

I couldn't believe I had never heard of this before. It's fascinating .... and a little creepy. It's especially ironic given how narrow Whippets generally are.

 

One day I would like a whippet. Not like that one though!

 

ETA: Clara, I have a friend who refuses to acknowledge that her border collie is fat. She says her vet and her groomer both say it's "nice to see a border collie that isn't grossly underweight" or some such thing. It's kind of sad, because she is surrounded by folks with healthy-weight dogs, like mine, and doesn't get that her dog is the odd one out ... not ours. Some people just can't recognize the truth.

 

 

RDM

[Rosanne]

My mother has a big-bodied bitch. she's 20.5" and about 40 lbs. 42 would be pretty light for a 22" dog, but every dog is different. As an instructor, I usually take my students' dogs' well-being into mind and try to advise them on their dogs' weight and fitness level. I don't nitpick, but I did indeed tell someone their dog seemed too thin to me. After asking the other students and some friends the same question, she increased his food (raw) and he put on about 2lbs and felt perfect. Still not an ounce of fat.

Having had a dog who wouldn't eat much in his younger age, and known friends whose dogs lost 5lbs in a week due to a sudden illness - I don't like underweight either. I won't even pet a dog when I can feel every single rib and the hip bones are poking up. Gives me the heebie-geebies! Not quite as bad as jiggly-bones, but still; Ick!

Under/overweight is up to the owner.

My male can fluctuate from 33-39lbs, depending on my trial schedule (the more I'm away the less he eats), and he doesn't *look* particularly scrawny at 33lbs, but if you lay your hands on him at 38lbs, and realize that he *still* doesn't have any fat on his body, then obviously he was underweight at 33.

 

 

Weight is a sensitive issue with pet owners: I guess it's just another form of transfering their own worries onto their dogs. Maybe since they feel obligated to be skinny, they just want their dog to be fat and happy - which is what they wish they were deep down? Oh well, I never did finish Abnormal Psych.

[Rosanne]

I am not making this up:

From this article in the local paper

 

And I thought Wick was the most muscular non-bully dog I'd ever seen!

 

But even on that dog there's no ribcage jiggly!

I saw that article the other day. Sad, but at least now they have a way to test for it. It'll be interesting to see what they decide to do with the information.

 

The saddest overweight dog I had in class (glad I don't teach beginners anymore) was an overweight Bernese Mountain Dog. Owned by a vet. She refused to take weight off him. Now, this dog DID have big bones, but he ALSO had big jigglies. . . She also wouldn't train him with a collar and used a harness (on a 100lb dog???). He could have done alright, is the weird thing - he had fun working, but he just wasn't comfortable doing it.

[PSmitty]

I guess it's just another form of transfering their own worries onto their dogs. Maybe since they feel obligated to be skinny, they just want their dog to be fat and happy - which is what they wish they were deep down? Oh well, I never did finish Abnormal Psych.

 

Nah, I think most of the time it's the Italian Mother Syndrome: Food=Love.

[clara]

After asking the other students and some friends the same question, she increased his food

 

When my trainer mentioned it to me, that's what I did, but I asked those with Border Collies if I could feel them to compare, and for their opinions. The two in my class have rougher coats so it's hard to compare just by looking. My trainer has a corgie BTW, which is a completely different build, but she used to be a vet tech and runs a doggie daycare, so I don't dismiss her opinion at all. But the BC owners' opinions were that Ling is fine, not underweight or malnurished. She has HUGE muscles (not like that Whippet though!) in her hind legs and is very well muscled elsewhere also. Just thin.

 

I'm switching from Canidae to Innova though, so we may have some wieght experimentation going on pretty soon.

[juliepoudrier]

Nah, I think most of the time it's the Italian Mother Syndrome: Food=Love.

I agree Paula. I see it all too often, treats when I leave, treats when I come home, treats just for looking cute. "I just want Fluffy to know I love him!" Ugh.

 

Rosanne,

FWIW, I think one of my dogs is too thin at 26 pounds (~19-20 inches). But at 17 months old I expect her eating habits are pretty much set (this is a dog who will even turn her nose up to nice, yummy raw things--her dam is the same way), and since I can't force her to eat, I accept her as she is. Seeing working pictures with her hip bones sticking up does make me cringe, but really I'd rather that than the opposite if I had to choose. But you're right--it's not terribly attractive and I do feel like I'm starving my dog...

 

J.

[Rosanne]

My dog's eating habits didn't settle till he was about 3, at which point he put on about 5 lbs. He, too, turns down yummy raw things.

 

If the dog won't eat more, then the dog won't eat more. I had a 19.5" dog who weighed 27lbs, fit. She WOULD eat more, but she was just the opposite of big-bodied so that was actually a good weight for her.

 

I just get worried that some people take the whole "fit" approach too far, that's all

 

 

Another funny tidbit - I was giving a seminar in VA a few months ago and due to a car needing repairs had to take my small sedan (that does NOT ride 8 BC's), so I only took 1 dog with me to demo (it was on contact training). In the course of talking about something I mentioned my other dog that I'd left home, and that she was a different size, being only 25lbs - immediately one of the people looked shocked and told me that was impossible and that she must be way too skinny. This woman was truly horrified. She told me that her 19" dog weighed 40 lbs so there was no way my BC could weigh 25 without being grossly underweight. Her breed? You know I forget but it was a bully breed. Yeah. Totally comparable to a BC....

I tried to reason that Drifter, who I'd brought with me, was 20" and 38lbs, so why couldn't Kiba be 17 &3/4" and 25 lbs? She didn't buy it. Whatever

[Brandon M]

Yeah I know. But I'm not sure how to prevent it. He goes over it like it's not even there and I dont hear him or anything. Any suggestions on what I could try to teach him not to jump it?

 

Just out of curiousity, if Lance continually jumps this barrier, why do you have it up?

If it is supposed to be a barrier for him, it obviously isn't working.

 

Because I have 2 other dogs that cant jump it. A miniature dachshund and a chihuahua/dachshund mix. I took this pic with my cellphone so its poor quality. That little thing is a dachshund.

 

[Dixie_Girl]

When Jackson was around a year old, I was positive he had some exotic "wasting away" diesese! I took him to my vet, and he said well, his muscles are nice and defined, and he looks real healthy, and if he were another breed, I would say he was too thin, but for a BC he is perfect. I love my vet!

 

 

Oh, and he had NO prob telling me Cheyenne was overweight!