# Overweight dogs.



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Mrs Eb is constantly weighing our dogs and alternately putting them on diets and then relaxing the diets when the have lost a few kilos.

She feeds them small treats four times each day at regular times and the dogs have become programmed to expect them. I have tried pointing out that regular treats and diets are not compatible but I'm always told that the treats are small and couldn't possibly hurt.

I saw this in our Vet's surgery the other day: http://lasvegaspetweightloss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/unhealthy-snacks.png

I 've shown it to Mrs Eb though I doubt it'll have any effect on the treat regime. Still it is informative.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

You saw videos of Shade Alan, as soon as he was unable to run anymore we halved his amount of food, he still had a bit of sausage treat after lunch and after the evening meal and his dry dog food as treats when out for a walk. He was also castrated and the vet was surprised to see him in such good shape even when he died at 12 1/2.
Tell MrsAlan sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Get into a new routine, or half the amount, they soon get accustomed to it and love you just the same.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

It's Pavlov's dogs in reverse. They signal, she feeds. All they need is a bell to ring.


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

And they could learn that too.

Daughter's Chug rings a bell when it needs out. :-D

Terry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I despair............................................ 

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

raynipper said:


> I despair............................................
> 
> Ray.


Why? Can't you reach the bell?


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Shadow is a bit overweight 

Not from treats

He has a breakfast and evening meal

Chicken and brown rice

Mostly he is fine

Sometimes not 

But he’s 10, with hardly any intestines

So maintaining close to 8 stone isn’t bad

Sandra


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Some would say it's a form of cruelty to overfeed an animal.

Maybe as we ourselves are tending as a species to be obese, we want to make out animals likewise.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Having worked in a vet surgery, and weighed many a dog, I know how difficult it is to get people to stop giving treats. With some it is best to get scientific and tell them how many calories there are etc. With others they respond more if you tell them about the layers of fat a vet has to wade through during an operation to get to the vital organs.


To many people, feeding their dogs is a way of expressing their love. The dog cannot understand "I love you" from the English language so they feed them food instead.


Some dogs do put on weight much more easily than others. Known in the horse world as "good doers".


One way round it is to stop feeding any food in a bowl. Just weigh it out and feed it as treats. There is a high profile dog trainer who does just that with his dogs.


The way I do it is by calculating the amount needed, with a mark on the measuring cup, and then at each meal time I will assess the amount of exercise the dog has had that day, calculate the treats she has had and then adjust accordingly the amount of food I give her by either tipping some back in the bag or adding a little extra. Remember dogs cannot measure! He/she will never know that you knocked a bit off


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Motley can measure > there is food in his bowl 24 hours a day, after play he will have a few mouthfulls mouths-full. We have never had a dog like him although Shade was similar, he would only eat when we had gone to bed and he was sure there was no more playing and nothing to be missed, Motley copied, they ate out of the same bowl.
We had to change feeding habits last year when Shade started having medicine twice a day and nothing containing pork, that's when I started cooking minced beef to put on the food to make him eat at certain times and Turkey joints for the after our meals treat.
Motley is a constant weight of twelve kg. He has now returned to his normal eating habits as and when he's hungry.:grin2:


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

*Dog treats*

Its not the amount you give them that counts, its how many times they take something from your fingers.

Here is an example of how we give dogs a treat by breaking the big treat into small pieces.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Looks like a few calories there Jan. He says lining up all those chocolate eggs.

Ray.


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