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

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.

I think that's very much the case tbh. As much as you can comment on your own experiences, it doesn't automatically make every one else's relevant to yours. When you can't exercise a dog very much and it steals food to the point where it eats more than it needs to then it's never going to lose weight. Aside from chaining the dog up, keeping it in a crate or muzzling it when out on the small walks it gets then you just have to make the best of a bad job. Woody was never obese, but he was heavier than I would've liked him to be. That said he certainly didn't suffer and made it to the age of 12. Considering he had quite bad arthritis from the age of 7 I'd say we were successful keeping his weight within healthy limits.

Yes I did persevere but tbh it mostly felt like we were hitting our heads against a brick wall and that was with a dog that's a natural athlete, I can only imagine how difficult it can be with a dog that is either too ill, old, infirm or just plain lazy. The other thing is Rio was really young she was only about 2 which was the driving force for me, if she was struggling to shift the pounds when young and athletic and getting hours of running and jumping every day I was more than a tad concerned what it would be like when she got older and perhaps more sedentary, although Rio being sedentary is very difficult to imagine

Where do dogs find so much food on walks? (I'm serious, I'm really just wondering that because Iv never seen that much food for them on walks that couldnt be compensated for at meal times, maybe depends on area n other stuff?)

I have a relative that has a dog prone to weight gain since getting spayed and also 'scavenges' on walks but has never become so overweight that she would be obese (which is probably why she is only just getting stiff at 15) Her owner is strict on walks and watches her food carefully and does not leave food out where she can get it and it seems to work.

We had a spaniel that LOVED food. Any type, place etc but we just watched his food and exercise and never left food out so he didnt get fat, also plenty play.....

My lot don't look for or find food while out on walks, they're far to busy charging around like a bunch of looneys. Also I wouldn't be happy with them eating anything they found and would muzzle them if necessary. On the other hand my Staffie could and would eat all day long and never gain and ounce

Where do dogs find so much food on walks? (I'm serious, I'm really just wondering that because Iv never seen that much food for them on walks that couldnt be compensated for at meal times, maybe depends on area n other stuff?)

I have a relative that has a dog prone to weight gain since getting spayed and also 'scavenges' on walks but has never become so overweight that she would be obese (which is probably why she is only just getting stiff at 15) Her owner is strict on walks and watches her food carefully and does not leave food out where she can get it and it seems to work.

We had a spaniel that LOVED food. Any type, place etc but we just watched his food and exercise and never left food out so he didnt get fat, also plenty play.....

Forgive me for quoting you again, but, and this is an honest "but", as it's something I see regularly posted and can't understand; if you have a dog that steals food, how does it continue to do it time after time? Surely you learn and either keep food out of it's reach, or in a lockable container, or keep the dog out of that room, etc? I know they can steal food when out on a walk, and I used to regularly bump into a lady who had to muzzle one of her English Setters as it used to make itself ill eating all sorts of rubbish. When mine were house dogs, I never left anything on the sides or within reach that I knew they could get to, as I knew they would eat it or just chew it if it wasn't edible. So it always, genuinely puzzles me, when I see posts about persistent food thiefs??