I have a feeling many of us are talking about different things - when I was a girl I was considered fat at some point around the 17 stone mark I became obese now if you are a few pounds over weight you are called obese and the word fat is considered offensive.

None of my dogs have ever been obese IMO the most they have carried is an extra couple of pounds getting that off of one was easy and she looks and feels better for it but the other is a food stealer and will kill his own food if we aren't careful (rabbits/rats/mice etc) he eats his own poo and anyone elses. Yes we could muzzle him (if we could keep one on him but he seems clever and can remove any muzzle in seconds). Yes we could shut him out when food is around, yes I could shout at people not to give him titbits but what sort of life is that for him or us ? We make sure he is less that he could be by controlling his meals and not giving titbits ourselves. But unless he becomes really obese I think we have to compromise and make his life as happy as it can be.

I personally dont think there is anything wrong with muzzling a dog so they dont eat on walks. When Jakes allergies first started up, I seriously considered one for him for when we went on road walks. If we walked by dropped food, he would pick it up and I wanted to prevent him getting any kind of reaction. He was on an elimination diet, so being stuck on one food for 6 weeks, made him a terrible scavenger, and a few times I had to take food off him (one time he got hold of chicken wings that were lying outside a takeaway!). Now, if he is on road walks he wears his dogmatic which gives me more control to keep him away from food. On our offlead walks, we never come across food... he isnt a big scavenger usually anyway.

You let strangers give your dogs titbits? No one gives food to my dog without my permission.

Teagan has been a few kilos overweight this year.
I couldn't exercise her, lived on my own, family not near by to exercise her for me.
Her food was cut down, no treats AT ALL, and she was still a bit over weight.
I managed to get her weight down (as I could exercise her again), then she had 2 operations, couldn't exercise for 2 months, so her weight has crept up again.
I can only get her on a few walks a week (we do a 2 mile circuit each time), so it's going to take a bit of time to get her weight down again. Her food has never been increased back up, and she is still on no treats (apart from a denta stick once a week)

i hate seeing overweight dogs. working at the kennels i see it all the time and it annoys me. we had a flatcoat in a few weeks ago, and when i saw her i thought she was a cross of some description. she was that fat she didnt even look like a flatcoat!!

i dont weigh my dogs, nor do i measure out how much food they get, i decide whether the ammount in their bowl looks enough. i can see by looking at them that theyre not overweight or underweight.

switching to raw i now have to be careful because daphni used to be very picky with her food, but now she always eats everything so her weight has gone up a bit but i dont see it as a bad thing.

a couple of pounds here and there isnt a big deal.. but i hate it when you seriously obese dogs who are struggling to walk and the owners dont seem to care. i hate it when people dont do anything about it because they cant be bothered.

See, Murphy could easily stand to lose a few kilos, he is just over the top of the 'healthy weight range' for his breed etc.

However, he is very fit, no joint or breathing difficulties etc. If I could make him 'diet' successfully without him scavenging everything in sight - as someone else said above: he will kill his own food if given half the chance -I would!

On the subject of food theif, a friend of mine has a x breed who was bad for this when younger, she didn't want to crate him when not supervising him and wasn't consitent enough with the corrective methods I advised.
But he never got fat because of the exercise he got.

He now lives outside (they got another dog and ran out of room in the home) with another dog. He seems no different weight wise than when he was stealing food and probably gets more exercise, living with another fit young dog now!
I think some dogs do have a metabolism that seems able to maintain them at a reasonable weight as long as they are getting roughly the right amount of food, others are very sensitive.

On the food thief subject in general, on walks its easily solved with a leave command and/or remote collar. When not supervised it can be tricky. I've had good succes with remote collars as positive punishment for it but you have to go through a period of consitentcy, many people don't!

Adam

We meet the same people almost everyday and some yes do feed my dogs I don't mind the old lady who used to have a dog but is now too old to have one, the one legged man who loves dogs but working can't commit to his own, the autistic lad who only speaks to the dogs and cannot face people ging them something small. They love my dogs and my dogs love them makes their lives happier and I would feel cruel stopping them.

Tacitly they have my permission - I would not have it in my heart to tell them to stop.

I'm lucky with my bitch as she seems to be able to maintain her weight even after she stole a weeks supply while I was out. She can now open the dog proof catch in less than a minute, though the lady who comes in to help as I am disabled can't master opening it at all. My dog I need to watch as when he has one of his funny tummies he loses weight very rapidly & then I sometimes overcompensate when he is better. Sad thing is I manage to keep my dogs just right even the old lad I had who was double his correct weight when I had him, but I'm still very overweight & keeping my diet right is much harder

Oh another excuse to Zap em, mine nick something on a walk they get less for tea, everything at home is put out of surfing reach and if they do get something its my fault not theirs.