I hate seeing overweight dogs... and there are a lot! and not just slightly overweight ones, but extremely overweight ones! I get the opposite with Jake, people are always telling me he is too skinny... i think he is the perfect weight, as does the vet! I would rather he be slight underweight, than slightly overweight.

I do think in some circumstances though, that weight isnt that much of a big deal. A friend of mine has a SBT who is about 12 years old (i think, cant rememer exactly but he is about 12) and he has arthritis, and although he is on medication, he doesnt want to go for walks anymore. He whines and cries when they go to take him out, so they just dont now but always give him the chance to go when they take out their other SBT (who is a perfect weight). He is already getting very little food, and is still overweight (nothing major though) and the vet was telling them to cut down his food even more. Now, i just dont agree with that tbh and neither does my friend. He is old, and has had lots of health problems over the last few years, and he had a mystery illness about 6 months ago and they didnt expect him to pull through. I think dogs reach a stage when they should be allowed just enjoy the time they have left, and not be dragged out for walks and/or have their food intake dramatically cut down...

Then, i have another friend whose BCx is huge after going on steroids... she was about 2 when she went on them, and the weight piled on... i understand it can be more difficult to control the weight... but they did nothing. they just kept exercise and food the same as before, and just seemed to accept that that is a side effect of steroids... i dont agree with that.

I wouldnt mind.
Flint has put a bit of weight on recently but he looks better for it, hes in now way fat or overweight, infact my vet said they would reccomend he weighs between 20 and 25kg, he is about 21-22kg so is at the bottom end of the scale through his teenage stage he was about 18kg and looked too thin IMO, he looks good now.

Simba is going thro his gangly stage, hes 8months so does look very skinny at times, but he eats well and excersizes well so im not at all worried.

Id much rather a slightly skinny dog than a dog that cant hardly walk

I think there's an ideal range, where a dog will look as though it's got the right covering, but unfortunately a lot of pet dogs are very obese, and owners are pretty ignorant of the fact. People always assume you can't keep the weight off some breeds, Labradors are subject to this myth, and yet I've not had problems keeping my two the right weight, nor putting weight on, or taking it off the rescue dogs I've had in the past.

When Indie ruptured her cruciate, and had to go see a specialist, we were chatting about weight and he was incredibly happy with her at 28kgs for her size, and yet so many people with dogs that have been injured seem oblivious to the fact that extra weight will hamper their recovery and possibly be detrimental to their other joints that are taking the extra load. I recently had my two in for their boosters, and I deem Indie to be slightly on the porky side at 30kgs, and yet both the vet and receptionist were trying to persuade me otherwise. I'll just keep an eye on her and try and cut her rations a bit to make sure she doesn't become overweight, but I'm not too worried with winter coming, she'll soon be burning extra to keep warm.

What annoys me most about Labs, is showing, and people who put weight on to show their dogs. I know it doesn't happen with all those who show Labs, but it most certainly does happen and it just can't be good for them to have weight stacked on, particularly the youngsters. But if it's rewarded, and it must be by some judges, otherwise people wouldn't be doing it, then it is just going to carry on.

People also seem to assume a dog just needs a lot of food. I can't even remember how many people have said 'he must take some feeding'

I'm not sure how that came about?
(or do people just compare to a toy size dogs feeding... )

I'd have to agree with this - it's not always as easy as some people make out. Woody was a terrible scavenger and as his arthritis got worse his exercise decreased. We fed him less, but when he was out and even in the house, he just stole/scavenged food to make up the difference!

He was never obese, but I was never 100% happy with his weight. We kept him as light as we could (think he was about 31kg when he ideally should've been 28kg) and it helped him last until he was 12, but my God ever day was a struggle! It's just so very hard when they get older - exercise gets less and less with arthiritis, but with food being their first love (and often their only enjoyment once exercising becomes difficult) it's a daily battle to avoid giving in to sad eyes.

That's great, but just because you've had no problems with your Lab's eating habits does not automatically make it a myth. It is an excuse used a lot by some owners, admittedly, but from experience I know how hard it can be to keep a dog slim when it's so good at eating on the sly!

We often get that comment about Ollie and I am always replying no he doesn't and shouldn't and we are constantly fighting too keep the weight off him and he is on a constant diet. They look at me as if I am from another planet especially when I tell them his weight affects his joints.

I think people see big dog big food bills.

Oh believe me, Indie would be a coffee table if she could, but it is about controlling what she eats. I feed by eye a lot of the time, as I raw feed, and I have never had to resort to putting her on a diet. The only time she's ever looked slightly too heavy for my liking, was after six months crate rest, when she weighed 33kgs, and I slowly cut her back down to under 30kgs, which I am much more happy with for her.

Definitely some dogs are very sly, and mine have been known to steal food, they're certainly not angels, well, nearly. But if they have had something they shouldn't, then I don't give them their tea, etc. If I use food as a reward for training, they get less in their dish.

My last oldie, Chloe, was overweight and very much underexercised when I got her. Her claws were overgrown as she just hadn't been walked, and yet she was like a little barrell on legs. For her own good she had to lose weight, so she just had much smaller portions than either of the other two. She came to me rescued from a pound as her owners had handed her in to be pts, claiming she was a stray, she was apparently 17 years old, but I thought she looked younger. She lasted a good 18 months, and was so much happier with less weight on her, much more spritely. All I did was cut her portions down and give her gentle exercise.

I don't understand it, and maybe I have to experience it before I can see it for my own eyes, that dogs have such difficulty loosing weight. It's not rocket science, as one good friend of mine always says (and she's a right skinny minny) one hole's bigger than the other

people that say 'they have dieted their dogs' and the dogs either put on weight or do not loose weight...are kidding themselves and cheating their dogs

Are they really? well I was neither kidding myself or cheating Rio but nor was I willing to reduce her food intake to about a quarter of what she should have had and what the others were getting and leave the poor cow in a permanant state of hunger. She can and will run all day long, full of energy and highly athletic and yet still the extra Kgs refused to budge and we persisted for over a year and watched what she ate like a hawk. Yet once we swapped her onto fish4dogs not only did she drop the weight rather quickly she also went back to being able to eat the right amount for her. No kidding ourselves and no cheating her, just wanting what was best for her. These days she's raw fed and eating like a horse and still keeping the weight off.

But trouble, the difference is you still kept an eye on it, tried other diets etc, some people just seem to go 'oh, well they cant lose weight' and leave it there. Which isn't really enough IMO.

Funny you should say, my dobe is on raw and if anything a little lean but often get comments on how toned and fit looking he is.