It is horrendous, makes you very angry, very upset and sometimes you could thump them for what they do to their dogs but as to whether we are a nation of animal lovers don't forget all the fantastic people who take on rescue dogs with all their baggage and give them loving homes and work hard to help them overcome their issues.

This is shocking, and I can't imagine what the kind of people who do this to their pets are thinking. If I had a choice between buying food for myself or food for my dog and cat, the animals would get the food, no question about it.

I can appreciate how you feel regarding the overweight people who starved their dog and I can understand how it somehow makes it even worse that they would do it.

However, please remember that saying nasty things about people who are overweight is hardly socially acceptable. Many people are overweight because of medical problems, not because they are "stuffing their own faces" as someone put it.

Sorry for the rant, but as a person who has tried every diet going in a vain attempt to lose excess weight gained as a result of a medical problem, this is something I feel very strongly about.

I don't think anyone meant to offend you. It was just an observation..one that I made too
By the way...my greyhound's called Guinness too!!! Will you post a picture? pleeeeeeaaaaaseeeee!!!!!!!

Man's inhumanity again. She's a lucky one too !

Well, they can't accuse me as I am fat myself. However, I would never, ever either starve my dogs or make them obese.

Don't worry, not hugely offended, but I thought I ought to make the point since the thread now has me paranoid that people are thinking "Look at that fat woman with the skinny dog" when I take Guinness out now. He's actually pretty spot on weight wise, but you know what none-doggy people are like about greyhounds, they always seem to think they need feeding up.

At the moment, I can't post a picture as I don't have a camera and my mobile is pre-historic so can't take pics. He looks like a fairly typical Head Honcho descendent though - black with some white markings.

For every genuine animal lover in this country there must be at least 5 cruel people. You only have to look at the overflowing rescue shelters - not just dogs but cats and horses and everything else in between - to see the scale of the problem and the horrors that we humans, who like to think we are the most intelligent and superior mammal on earth, subject these creatures to. We use them, abuse them and then cast them aside for someone else to sort out. I am ashamed to be human sometimes.

I didn't mean to offend you and I would never normally comment or judge someone negatively on their weight. I've had a weight problem all my life so I know it's not a cut and dried thing. But it just makes me so fumingly angry as you pretty much know that the odds of people like that having a genuine medical reason for obesity is non existent and you'd think them knowing how much they like food they would never deny an animal what it needs.

My cousin is the other way and both him and his dog are really fat. She's a staffie cross collie and she looks like a seal on stilts she's so rotund. It makes me really sad to see her. But he has a good heart as he took her on after his friend died and he loves her very much. His friend had a succession of dogs he overfed to the stage of them being ill. Coincidentally, he had an ex racing greyhound (stepdad and stepsister used to have a few that ran at Belle Vue, but when retired they were all placed with friends and family, bar two who lived their lives out at the training kennels). The poor girl was so fat she started having seizures. Thankfully she slimmed down a bit and lived to be about 12.

Don't feel self conscious! Most people don't even notice any more. I remember when I was in my teens and at 13 stone I felt like the biggest, fattest person walking about town. But now I'm in my 40s and the same weight (have been up to 4 stone heavier and 2 stone lighter in the meantime), I've noticed that almost everybody has caught up with me. Most people will be more interested in your greyhound and wanting to make a fuss of him than your size.

I know it may seem like that sometimes, but I don't think it's really like that at all. Bear in mind that for all the thousands of animals in rescue, there are millions in happy, loving homes. The actual percentage of animals ill treated or abandoned is pretty small compared to the general population.