Am I fat???

[JaderBug]

So last night Jade and I saw our puppy class teacher, and I told her I was concerned that Jade was overweight. She wanted to feel Jade and see for herself, and when she grabbed onto Jade's sides, she goes "Oh my, yes! She is fat! She needs to lose a few pounds!"

 

What is a good weight loss program for a dog? She has been cut back from 1.5 cups to 1 cup of food per day, doesn't get many treats. She doesn't get outside to play as much as before classes started, but that can (and will) change. How much excercise and what type does a BC need daily? Is there a number that can be put to it?

[PSmitty]

Just my experience, and every dog is different, so I'm sure some will disagree with me, but my chunky dog lost weight easily when I switched her to a grain free food. Something to consider, but otherwise, cutting back Jade's food and adding green beans or pumpkin will hopefully do the trick. I'm sorry I don't have anything number-wise about how much activity she needs. Maybe just add in a couple more walks or some off leash running and go from there?

 

Good luck.

[MaryP]

I was also going to suggest a food switch. If you are cutting back on the food, keeping up or increasing the exercise, and still not seeing much improvement, I'd be looking for a different food with fewer fillers. Purina Pro Plan, from what I can deduce, seems to be made up primarily of chicken and corn, in various forms. Maybe look for something with more meat and less (preferrably) no corn. I've also done the green bean trick with my oldest dog, who has trouble keeping his weight down.

[Debbie Meier]

What treats are you feeding? Check the nutritional information to see how they compare to your dog food, it might be that a few treats is like feeding her one or two times her normal dog food amount and discontinuing the treats will do the trick over time. Are you with the vet school? Do you get the dog food discounts? If so, it would be a good time to switch her over to something like EVO. Also, remeasure the amount of food you are giving her, are you giving her 1 cup by volume or 8 oz. by weight, the food we feed, Native, 1 cup by volume is only 4oz by weight so if I was to feed 8 oz I would be way over feeding, also, one cup heaping is over 1 1/4 cup, so check to see if your measuring cup is based on 1 cup level or 1 cup to a line just below the rim. That little extra can really add up when your trying to reduce intake. I wouldn't be afraid to drop her to 1/2 ration for awhile, 1/2 ration might just be discontiuing the treats combined with the reduction you already made in the dog food. Another note, base on the dog food bag recommendation, are you following it? Are you feeding based on where her weight should be or where her weight is, that alone can overfeed a overweight dog.

 

As far as excercise, when our dogs are heavy they tend to not want to move around much, take the weight off by dieting and they tend to excercise themselves more. When Sissy was over working at Johnny's, daily cow/calf work, he dumped the food to her, she blew up like a balloon even though she was out working all day. We called her our little seal, she is a gray cattle dog and was so fat that she would slide under the gates in the snow like a little seal. I cut her food way back when she got home, and the weight melted right back off. When she first arrived back home she pretty much slept day and night in her run, now that her weight is back to normal she is bouncing around all the time. I don't know that you could give her enough excercise to get the weight down, when I think about how much excercise Jake gets when he is out working I can't compare it to just running or playing fetch, he is utilizing so much more with the quick reactions and the intensity that he operates under, but in his case he is doing one of three things, working, walking along behind me or sleeping, even if he goes off to play with Dottie he does it in a worklike style.

 

I just took quite a bit of weight of Bea, when she got here you could not feel back bone, ribs and her head and legs looked small to her body, I cut her back 1/2 of what everyone else gets no treats and no extra work, she was too heavy to do much work. Now she is down a little below where I want her to maintain so I just started bringing her up to a full ration, to see if she will put on a touch, if she puts it on quick I will back her down a little and probably maintain her at that amount. She too is bounding with energy now that her weight is down a touch below perfect compared to how she moved when she was overweight. BTW, it takes time for the weight to melt off, with Sissy it was over 3 months, Bea has been on her diet since she arrived here at the end of July so just over 2 months. Reduce her food and don't go overboard checking her condition for a month or so, or have your instructor check her in a month to see if she can tell the difference, since she does not see her all the time she would be a better judge.

 

Deb

 

 

Just wanted to add: I keep a dietary scale in the cabinet, every few bags I reweigh the amount of food that my measuring cup holds, more often then not I find that I am overfeeding by scooping out more then I should.

[Bo Peep]

Usher and Bliss are on Dog Lovers Gold. Usher is at 47 pounds, yet very lean, Bliss at 49 pounds is chunky. Depends on how they use their muscles, I guess. Both of mine are basically couch potatoes except Ush, who loves to run, run, run. Bliss is a sleepy head- she gets along very well with my mother. Bliss gets 1/2 the amount of food that Usher gets. It just how it goes. They both maintain their weight on that and the vet seems to think that they are doing well. I, personally, haven't felt MY ribs for many years. But go figure- Most people here take better care of their dogs than themselves.

[BCjetta]

Here is a top view of my BC. Her weight is ideal according to both me and the vet I work for. She's 19 inches and 34lbs.

 

Here's a side view of her, you can sort of see the abdominal tuck but her fur hangs down a bit and hides it

 

Ok, took forever to find this one, but here is a really good pic of how much of a tuck she has when the fur is not hiding it. I'd chopped it all short along her belly, maybe 1/4 inch long so the fur outline really follows her body there.

[MaggieDog]

Reminder that we have a few threads on ideal weights and visuals of them.

 

What a Healthy BC Looks Like 1

 

Healthy BC 2

[MaryP]

Honestly, photos are not, IMO, a good way to judge a dog's weight. That has to be done by feel. There are other factors that influence a dog's body shape other than the percentage of body fat. For example, this is a foster dog that I had a couple of years ago. His body shape looks very similar to Hannah's above. But, he was most definitely NOT at his ideal body weight. He was extremely underweight. He and several other dogs from where he was rescued were not being fed and they were all slowly starving. If you ran your hand over his body, you would feel every single bone and joint. We were feeding him 5-6 cups a day at first to help him put some weight on.

 

 

Here's another (not very good) picture of him from the side. Just looking at the picture, you probably wouldn't consider him to be severely underweight. But, actually laying your hands on him would tell you right away that he was nothing but skin and bones.

 

 

Here is that same dog about four months later and nearly 10 pounds heavier. Here he is at his ideal weight. But, you wouldn't necessarily know that from looking at the photo (looks similar to the one above). However, he no longer felt like skin and bones when you ran your hand over him. He also didn't smell or look like an unhealthy dog in person anymore. So, don't use photos as your guide. Use your finger tips to determine if your dog is overweight or not.

 

[kylebrk]

My 7 month old puppy Woody has the same butt curl. I call him Fuzzy Wuzzy because his hair is so fluffy. The only curly spot is right over is butt. Its worst when he's just been bathed and its really clean and slightly damp. I need to take a picture of it, incase it ever goes away.

 

What is the "normal" weight for BC's?

 

 

BC's jump all over the board as far as size is concerned. From what I can tell, they truly range from 25-50 lbs. You really need to look at your pups parents to see what he should look like full grown.

[Katelynn & Gang]

My Dice is 21 at the withers. At 45 pounds, she is a bit fat. Shes best at around 38 pounds.

 

Katelynn