I see now I took from the other thread the 'lean' issue and the lecture of obesity but then on reading the other thread, the dog wasn't even off his food totally and was its normal self otherwise and you clearly stated a vet visit might be in order. I will be quiet now I have confused the issue even more

Yes I can see how easy it is to overfeed, mine are a little bigger than yours but I still look in their bowl and think how little is in there
also us humans just seem to like feeding dogs - I often see when mine go over to a friend to say 'hello' and that person instead of greeting them hold their hands out and say 'sorry I havent got anything for you today' they just wanted a wee fuss, not food
Yes my friends went to the vet to ask if their dog was overweight - he weighs the dogs then looks at the chart for 'border collie' and says he is overweight - never looked at the fact the dog is very tall and when you put your hands on him you can feel his hips and spine - deff not fat

I always go by feel rather than charts (I have crossbreeds anyway) how it was explained to me is simple
Make a fist, your dogs spine should feel like your knuckles
Flat hand - your dogs ribs should feel like the tops of your fingers
Also take into account the whole picture - Mia has more muscle so you cant feel her hips so well, ben can be quite padded on the ribs but spine and hips feel fine

i always get told jake is too skinny he is nice and lean, and i even doubled checked with the vet and she said his weight was perfect. since being on his elimination diet for his allergies, his weight has dropped so i can understand more now why people may say he is skinny, but definitely not before (some people who know him have visibally noticed his drop in weight). he has gone from 25kg to 21kg so i am trying to put weight on him to get him back to the 25kg, which wouldnt make him the slightest bit overweight. i think a lot of it is peoples perceptions of what a good weight is.

oh thats a bit dramatic

Happily, most people on Forums realise that among the Golden Nuggets of wit and wisdom, you get the occasional piece of cr*p advice and it is always useful to apply a bit of intelligence before acting on it.
I doubt Labman has personal experience of dogs not eating well, as he has Labradors.

I had a quick look on-line but couldn't see anything related to canine BMI.

It is no wonder so many dog owners have little idea of the proper way to evaluate a dog with such ignorance in a vet.

Yeah, instead trust the word of somebody that doesn't bother to read things.

Mine are crosses, but Honey is the same cross as Nippy's Mo, Honey is a inch taller, and weighs about 7kg more (Honey weighing 26kg, and Mo if I remember right weighing 19kg), there is also a Lurcher who is 24in tts (same as Honey) who weighs 19kg, all of these dogs are a good weight for them, just because we have an idea what a dog should look like, what size and weight it should 'ideally' weigh, a dog doesn't know this, it would be saying like saying that ok your parents weigh this and are this tall, so your meant to weigh this and be this tall, it doesn't always work like that, each one is a individual.

Also as a aside both my dogs get fed way more then on the packet, and both the dogs are the same size and weight, but Diesel has to be fed more then Honey. The guidlines on the packet are just that guidlines, some dogs they are spot on, some they are not, but its up to the owner to make sure that they are feeding what their dog needs, whether it be more or less then on the pocket.

Exactly, starting points.

When my rabbits went if for rabbit awareness week they were measured up agaisnt a pet size-o-meter, I have also heard of a chart that is used to measure animals that I was taught at college, but can't find it, but I did find the size-o-meter for cats, dogs and rabbits here.

http://www.pfma.org.uk/pet-care-prof...ze-o-meter.htm