A couple of months ago I wrote a post about a dog named Murphy.
To date I haven’t seen Murphy or either one of her parents at obedience class.
This morning though, I stopped by The Mellow Mutt to drop off a crate I had borrowed from Sara, for our Paws To The Rescue run, and there behind the gate sat poor Murphy, panting.
Yes, Murphy was panting just sitting there. I think she’s gotten even bigger since the last time I saw her.
Sue said, “It makes me sad to look at her.” I agree.
Then Sue said, “She’s also got some disposition issues.”
No doubt she does.
I’m carrying a few extra pounds myself and I know how cranky and unhappy I feel.
Once upon a time I had a philosophy about Sampson, that it was ok if he was a little over-weight as long as he was happy.
Naturally that attitude has changed.
Why you ask?
Besides the obvious health reasons of less stress on his heart and less stress on his bones, it’s really the change I’ve seen in him.
Since Sampson’s lost weight, I’ve seen how much happier he really is. How he enjoys the simple things, like running as fast as his legs will carry him up the hill to the field, or play bowing before jumping up and wrestling with Delilah on the bed.
The last time I discussed Murphy’s weight with her, Murphy’s mom (K) said, “How can you deny your dog treats, when they look at you and you know they want a treat?”
I explained that Sampson and Delilah get treats, they just get a low-calorie treat like carrots. Heck, I will reward my dog for a good down, with a pea.
Oh. Yes. I. Would.
Somewhere in all of my rambling blog posts I wrote how I would love to take people’s dogs home with me, feed them a good quality food, work them for three weeks and then have the person join us for the last week so they could 1) see the improvement in their dog(s) 2) learn how to train their dogs.
But that was back when I thought I wanted to be a dog trainer. 🙂
Still I have one really well-behaved and one reasonably (most of the time) behaved dog, they have both lost a lot of weight in the last two years, look and feel great. We are constantly getting compliments regarding Delilah’s coat.
Why wouldn’t someone want their dog to look and feel great?
Our vet has said we have given Sampson and Delilah a couple of extra years to their lives, which makes me extremely happy.
So how do I impart this knowledge to someone with an over-weight dog, who is probably rushing full speed down the road to bad health? Who probably doesn’t want to hear it?
And how, pray tell does their vet not say something to them about this poor dog’s weight?
Jodi, what I often do in this situation is gift someone with a bag of my treats, usually my lean and green treats. These dehydrated green beans with just a bit of dried ground chicken are low-cal and most dogs love them. People tend to think their dogs won’t like healthy snacks though I find that many love them as good, if not better than the junk. I have found a few times that offering up a gift with a message is better received than a lecture.
K9 Kamp is coming, maybe you could invite her to join in – you know, to enter to win all the prizes ;0)
But at the end of the day, I find too many people
there are so many overweight dogs here it just makes me sad – problem is their owners are often also overweight, and when I see that I realise there is no hope because they won’t look after themselves properly, so what chance does their dog have>?
I did a home visit with a gal that was interested in adopting one of my rescues. She has a 2 year old Labradoodle ~ pretty dog but quite overweight. I commented on his being overweight and she insisted that he isn’t. I pointed out that I couldn’t even feel any ribs when I was TRYING to. She insisted that he was not overweight and that, in fact, her veterinarian said that the dog was in good shape. I decided not to place the dog in this home…
This is really one of my biggest pet peeves…. simply because it truly is a human made problem, even when medically related health issues are involved it is our responsibility to take our dogs in to see if they are healthy while trying to keep a good weight. If we don’t bother to check that is on us. Anyway, I hate seeing overweight dogs but what is even more sad is what AKC has contributed to this problem. Every time I was showing Luna, and saw labs in the next ring I just got sad/mad. It is soooooo crazy how heavy and fat they have made “show/english labs” And usually whatever is in the ring, filters its way down into non show breeders too… thus the norm becomes really fat labs being called “english” labs or show labs. This is one of the breeds I feel has been most changed in recent years, thankfully the Vizslas have not gotten too huge.
I get together with Vizsla owners often and I can’t help but hurt when I see their dogs are fat too. I have a theory about this though, I figure since a Vizsla’s build is on the more athletic/lean/sleek side even a fat vizsla still looks “skinny/fit” to the average person. Instead of going off of what heavy is for the individual breed they end up comparing to every other breed etc.
When dogs come into our kennel, we don’t hold back when it comes to commenting on weight. This is one thing none of us can stand, and we have a whole pack of 8 dogs to show them what fit dogs look like among 3 different breeds. There really is no excuse. I would say upwards of 60% of the dogs that come into our kennel are fat if not obese… we do what we can while they are here with us, but it comes down to the owner. At least we feel a bit better about doing our part to make their dog healthy.
Anyway I will get off my soapbox, I am with you on this one. And it is plain wrong how some vets won’t say a dog is fat whether it is because it is a sensitive topic or worse because they may end up making more money off your fat dog in the long run.
Anna
http://www.akginspiration.com
THIS is a very hard issue.
It’s definitely frustrating seeing the ridiculously overweight dogs at the dog park trying to keep up and enjoy themselves, but struggling. Just like people, dogs’ joints take a pounding when they are overweight, but it’s hard to look at your own dog and see that he’s been putting on pounds slowly (or quickly) over the years.
I’ve found that I have to ask the vet about Gwynn’s weight to get any feedback. That might be because he is at a good weight, according to them, but it could also be because it’s probably very difficult to convince a pet owner to give their dog a healthier diet and more exercise. For one thing, it requires quite a bit of effort on the part of the owner to ensure that pooch gets that bit of extra running around time.
I think you’ve got a great example of just how good it is to keep your dog fit – you’ve seen Sampson in both versions, and you’ve seen the huge difference it’s made to his enjoyment at life. Unfortunately, it sounds like Murphy’s owners aren’t willing to get her trained, so it seems unlikely that they’ll be willing to put in the effort to get her exercised more and get her healthier.
I think it is difficult to tell someone else their dog is over weight. Of course we get the opposite and are told our dogs are too thin when they are just in field condition. But on the whole, I don’t think it is really up to me to decide for someone else whether their dog is the correct weight or not.
I really cannot imagine that the vet would not be saying anything. We were told when Chase was getting near the top of where he should be and told to have him drop some weight which he did. Our old dog was the same with the vet informing us before she got overweight. I think it is like the owners who are overweight and deny to them selves that they are. There is nothing worse than seeing a dog waddling along.
I feel sad when I see overweight dogs too, and when I think that even dogs are falling victim to formerly “human” diseases of affluence like diabetes. So preventable!
Talking about weight is always a touchy subject whether it’s about a dog or a person. A couple chunky. I don’t want her to get heavy, so we cut down on the treats, and she looks better. When she looks at mmonths ago, a man at the dog park said that our Lila was putting on a few pounds, and that you have to be really careful with black labs because they put on weight easily. I took it to heart, and I listened, and I think Lila looks better – she was only starting to get a little bit e with her sad eyes and she wants a treat, I have been giving her carrots now, and she likes them. At first she would fling them across the room, but now she is eating them. I will have to give her peas sometimes too! Glad I learned about feeding dogs carrots from you, Jodi! I feel bad for Murphy. 🙁
Jodi, you’re last thought is really the puzzle here. While it might be hard for you or I to suggest to someone that their dog needs to lose weight, the dog’s vet should be saying something to them.
Nothing wrong with carrots and peas. 🙂 My Toby loves them and you would think I was giving him steak. The girls would much rather have actual steak, however, so give them tiny pieces of meat, (like the size of those peas), and it doesn’t really pack on the pounds.
Just like with us humans, what dog owners need to watch are those pesky carbs, and most commercial bones and treats are just packed with ’em.
As your vet says, your care and approach to diet has given Sampson and Delilah a couple of extra years to their lives – that’s a couple of more years of joy.
It’s child [I mean puppy] abuse!