overweight dogs?

[model 70]

not HUNTING dogs, just house dogs. they run all day in our big backyard but are still chunky dogs. they have plenty of muscle tone but just big around the hips and ribs. we feed them a bowl in the morning and a bowl around dinner time. any suggestions?

[DogYeller]

Cut out that bowl around dinner time.

[Swift]

And if yer feeding any people food scraps....STOP.

[fabsroman]

Yep to both posts above.

I used to give my dog 2 cups of food in the morning and 2 cups of food in the evening. Luckily for me, he would leave the food in the evening most of the time and I would end up throwing it away. I guess he knew he had to stay trim for hunting. Now, I feed him 2 cups in the morning and he seems to be fine. If we are going hunting, I don't feed him in the morning. I give him some treats while we are in the field and then feed him a little extra at night if he doesn't fall asleep as soon as we get home.

As far as the table scraps are concerned, he still gets some every now and then, but it doesn't seem to be hurting him.

I think you will be okay if you follow the advice in the previous posts.

When you say you feed them a "bowl" in the morning and a "bowl" in the evening, how much is a "bowl." I was dating a woman that gave her goldens just a bowl in the evening but it was between 4 and 5 cups of food. These bowls were overflowing.

Here is a pic of the fattest of the three dogs she had.

[fabsroman]

Here is the same dog a year later being fed less food and exercised regularly. He is the dog on the left. The dog to the right was a little overweight, but not as bad as the other one.

[fabsroman]

And here is one last picture with him shaved like he was in the first picture.

[losthwy]

Just feed them less.

[Lilred]

Ya know..when all else fails...read the directions honey.
On the back of most feed bags...I think they give a feed portion fer the weight of dog you have. Not only that...but dont feed em a high fat/high protein dog food. They dont need it.
They make some perty good dog foods fer overweight dogs too..

[BILLY D.]

i took nulles advice about the diamond dog food. fritz gets three cups a day, each morning, and since i got him from nulle he has gained 5#.

does he beg when i'm eating, you betcha, do i feed him scraps, yep. but not very much. he gets a lot of pleasure from just licking the plate clean, which i have named the "pre-wash cycle". when fritz get snacks they are only schnitzles.

like lilred says read the destructions. you'll have a healthier doggie buddie. i have seen some absolutely pathetic looking dogs here, labs that looked like dachshunds they were so fat. your not doing your dog any favors letting them get in that condition.

[fabsroman]

Yep, they do have special "diet" dog food for overweight dogs. I fed those two goldens Iams Weight Loss formula in the blue bag. I am sure most dog food manufacturers have some type of weight loss or weight maintenance food. Like Lilred said, don't feed them something that is high protein/high fat because they don't need it.

[Jabba]

There are different schools of thought there. When they take calories out of dog food, they take the fat and the protein and leave the carbs, which is NOT what (some people say) dogs need.

They say... feed them the good, high protein food, just less of it.

I am not advocating either school here... just trying to give a little balance to the advise in this thread.

Jabba

[Doc E]

Obesity = The intake of more calories than are expended.

Either feed less of a quality food and/or increase exercise.
Yup, it really is that simple.



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[fabsroman]

Hey Doc, how are you doing. I thought you were going to chime in on another thread that somebody posted, but that was a while ago.

How is the hunting season going for you? Goose season is starting tomorrow for me and I am going to give it a shot even though I haven't done any scouting.

[Doc E]

Fabs,
We do a huge amount of hunting from September 1 through the end of January, so I have very little time to cruise the internet, this time of year.

Grouse hunting was not real good this year. Had a long, cold wet spell, right during the hatch last Spring. We got about 1/3 as many grouse as a normal year. The wife and I both got our deer the 2nd day of the season (we like to get deer early, so that we can concentrate on bird hunting). Pheasant hunting has been adequate, Quail hunting has been phenomenal and Waterfowl has been the best in many years.
We lucked out this year and got a lease on a 1.5 acre WARM Water Spring fed pond this year. It never freezes And needless to say, it is a waterfowl magnet.

Got a lot of pics, but no time to post them right now.
Good Hunting to all and Happy Holidays.



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[fabsroman]

Doc,

I wish I had your trouble with time. Most of mine is spent working, but I did get out this morning and I will probably be going out again tomorrow afternoon after a bad snow storm finishes blowing through. A warm water fed pond is like a gold mine in the waterfowling world. I know guys that run aerators on their ponds during the winter to keep a hole open. Me, I just wish I owned a pond.