If Your Dog Is Overweight, It's Your Fault!

Pacer has the metabolism
 of a young elite athlete!

Is your dog fat or overweight?  Then you have probably been feeding it too much, giving it too many treats and not exercising it enough.  Its so sad when I see very overweight dogs because its so easy to prevent.  I recently took Lilly to the vet for vaccines and when they weighed her I compared it to the last weigh in which was 4 months prior.  She had gained 6lbs in 4 months!  That is like a human my size putting on about 30lbs!  She was getting less exercise because of the summer but I hadn't changed the amount of food I was giving her.  I quickly put a plan in place to help her lose the weight.  I began to get back on track with our walks and she is getting less food and very few treats.  When it cools down a bit and we can run more often I can start feeding her more.  The lesson here is that the weight can creep up so fast you wont even notice.  It's so easy to gain it and so hard to lose it for both dogs and humans. 

Don't just assume each of your dogs can eat the same amount either.  Both my dogs are about the same size and get the same amount of activity.  Pacer is a youngster who is a lean machine and I feed her quite a bit more than I can feed Lilly who is the same size and gets the same activity.  If I fed Lilly the same amount as Pacer she would balloon up and be huge!  Unfortunately  for Lilly she's middle aged and she is not naturally a lean dog.  Daily exercise is a must for all dogs and humans!  Its good for you and your pup so just get out and do it.  I have to be to work at 5am so I get up at 3am so I can walk my dogs before I go to work.  Sure I would like that extra hour of sleep but its important for us to get our exercise. If your dog has excess weight it will shorten their life and we don't get to be with them long enough as it is so keeping them healthy and fit is important. 

Good snacks like vegetables are low calorie and a lot of dogs like them.  Lilly didn't much like her celery but she does love stuff like cucumbers, watermelon, carrots and broccoli.  
Keeping them active is important and in the summer swimming is always a good alternative to running or walking.  Pacer loves the water but Lilly prefers land and unfortunately Lilly is the one that needs to keep an eye on her figure.  

Lilly has the metabolism of a middle aged female:(