Rosemary

No, not mine, my SIL's. This is the reason Ilka spent two weeks in a boarding kennel. KoKo is 8 years old, and came from a BYB via a pet shop. My SIL didn't appreciate me telling her that the poor thing needs to lose at least 10 pounds. She gets a hotdog for breakfast every morning, and a package of Purina Moist'n Meaty plastic cr@p and table scraps for dinner.





In my opinion, the dog has the personality of a doorknob.

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Patches Mom

know what you mean my sister's Boston terrier weighs over 50# poor dog can't hardly breathe she feeds beneful.

ZeldaRules

Let me vent with you.

I can't find a very overweight photo of Chief after my boyfriend's family adopted him, but this is when he started getting obese in their care(just look at all that chest fat!):


This is Chief when I had him at a trim and fit 75 pounds:





He gained over 30 pounds because Sean's parents fed him out of "love". They overfed him to begin with and his mom always took him through the mcdonalds line for a hamburger, all. the. time. He also got all the scraps from anything they ate of course. They had him for 2 years and then I came into the picture and was of course appalled at the condition of the once handsome dog that was the equivalent of what Prime means to me.

I fought with Sean's mom for months over the issue. She once said that she would only listen to the advice if it was coming from a vet. Tried that, didn't work either. Sean didn't have any balls and wouldn't stand up to her..he just avoided it. I finally talked some confidence into him and then he had many fights with his mom over it.

Finally it clicked, they cut out all of that $hit and Chief has dropped a lot of that weight, however as an older dog now and due to all the sagginess(?) from the weight, he will never look like he did when I had him

flaminscotch

We have owned 2 wonderful Sheperds.

the worry about 2 much weight is that it is hard on their hips.
GSD dogs are meant to have a big chest and leaner back end.
Well bred dogs stand with a slight slope.

If your SIL loves this dog as much as they say, he needs to lose some weight.
I can promise the poor guy will have sore hips as he gets older.

BTW, GSD dogs are outstanding. My two have been perfect.
(as opposed to my wild crazy misbehaving Dobermans)

Rosemary

Poor KoKo is only an inch or two taller than my Leo, but she is about twice as wide. Leo weighed 51 pounds in mid-December. I think KoKo is closer to 80. For a comparasin, this is Leo.

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Lori Z

Personality of a doornob...*mean* Rosemary tsk tsk. Maybe if she wasn't so heavy she could bounce around a little. LOL. I see heavy dogs all the time, it makes me nuts. It really, really shortens their life and ruins drive and even fun. Ticks me off!!

River

Extra weight is even more of a concern if you have a dog, especially a BYB German Shepherd, that you know is prone to hip problems. GSDs are notorious for that, and I would not expect a BYB to care much about the hip health of the parents.

Although both those GSDs- the one in the OP's post and Chief- don't have that horrid exaggerated slope to them that a lot of GSDs do. Chief's a good looking dog! But still the extra weight is never good for a dog.

Rosemary

About all this dog does is follow my SIL around. If she can't find her, she'll run through the house looking for her. She couldn't care less about anyone else. The only thing I saw her do, besides follow my SIL, is chew on plastic pop bottles.

My SIL's excuse for KoKo being so big is that, when they moved, she lost the big yard she used to have. I'm thinking (but not saying out loud) "Well then..... have your lazy @ss kids put a leash on her and walk her. They're overweight, too. For that matter, quit your compulsive cleaning, and you take her for a walk."

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EmilyB

What kind of brushes does she use? My fat GSD wants to know......

Dave_L

I dont mind feeding Lexi table scraps every now and then but it's in very small quantities and she gets decent exercise to work it off.

I would never think of feeding her macdonalds hamburgers. I wont even feed those to myself.lol, Although I do give Lexi the occassional hotdog when I feel like buying some.

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Rosemary

I'm not talking about the occasional bite of hotdog or piece of people food. (Heck, I train Ilka with string cheese.) I mean, every day, the dog gets a hotdog in the morning, and a big pile of table scraps (fat from the meat, leftover mac & cheese, or the like) and a package of that Moist & Meaty plastic stuff each night. My SIL got kinda mad when, after she gave KoKo her "breakfast" the first morning we were there, I just said "I didn't see that", and walked out of the kitchen.

Then, instead of picking up her bowl if she doesn't eat it all at once (which she doesn't), they leave it sitting out all night and day, until the next night. Then, my SIL throws out the leftover food, scrubs the bowl (practically sterilizes it) and puts another pile of yuck in it. I would say that at least 95% of the dogs diet is table scraps and people food.

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lulu582

Tell your SIL that she is killing her dog with kindness. People think that I am a freak about my dogs weights, but I want to keep them around as long as possible and by keeping their weights in check, I am helping prevent other complications. I am able to do so and still feed all of mine scraps and good treats...you don't have to stop spoiling them, just do everything in moderation...that's what people don't seem to get!

I understand the frustrations with family members and their pets though...I struggle with some misinformed family members and their jerky pets on a weekly basis!


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

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Meldrew79

It's crazy what some peoples perception of a healthy dog is. We just had my mom and dad over this weekend and they mentioned several times how skinny Brandy is. Yes, she has lost some weight and we have cut back on her food. With everything going on with her knee though, she needs to be on the thinner side right now. The way they went on, you'd think we were starving her.

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Hank

You cant change those people.

My moms Yorkie, who should weigh 7lbs was at 12lbs last year. It took her needing surgery for patellar luxation and a torn ACL for my Mom to finally realize that she needed to lose some weight even though I had been nagging her for YEARS.

She finally switched her to a good food, she is down to 9.5lbs but she will never get down to her goal weight because my mom is still over feeding and too many treats.
Even after $3k and recovery she still cant stop over feeding her "out of love"
Even after seeing her dog go from a blob that can hardly walk to a running crazy dog.

And then has the nerve to say my dog is too skinny

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Sam1491

I spent two years trying to get my friends parents to understand their lab while in technically good weight needed to loose more. He had one acl surgery so skinnier is better, especially since he is a byb heavy boned boy. They didn't get it and kept giving him all these treats without cutting back food and now he had the other knee done....he does look good at 80lbs but with two fake knees 73-75 would make a big difference in his obvious stiffness.

I have so many stories so similar, after awhile you learn who's worth the fight and who isn't because sometimes you just can't fix stupid

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"The Red Devil Diva" & Her Shamelessly Obedient Human

RedFawnRising

Yeah, I've seen so many dullard Dobermans who have no spark, no life, no sign of drive at all.

It's because their bodies and brains are sick from obesity.

Lighten 'em up, get 'em fit, and they are entirely different dogs.

I absolutely know I've caused some tension with rescue friends who way, way, way overfeed their dogs (and other species).

It makes me feel so bad, but I hate it worse that their animals are not feeling their best and will not likely live as long, or be as healthy in their later years. I just can't entirely keep my mouth shut. I feel like there has got to be some way to reach some of these owners.

I've had comments flung at me about my "skinny-ass dogs" and I just look at my kids flying over the ridgelines, bursting thru the woods, and zooming in the sheer joy of running thru the meadows...and I smile and shake my head and go on.

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bean

It will only get harder as the poor thing gets older - on all of them.

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Erica

RedFawnRising

And on the helpless witnesses.

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Jazi

I'm of the opinion that a little fat is beneficial- as a store for when trouble hits and they need something to fall back on. I lurk forums where everyone keeps their dogs well conditioned and their dogs look FANTASTIC... but then someone swallows something they shouldn't have and they drop ALL of that muscle and suddenly look like they've been starving for months. Seriously, I saw a well conditioned dog lose about 15# over a few days' pain from a cracked tooth and he just looked terrible once the problem was taken care of. He's back to looking fabulous, of course, but I don't like that huge swing caused by losing muscles from stress.

That said, holy moly that GSD is F.A.T. She seriously needs some better food choices and a lot more exercise. Good luck getting through to people like that, Rose. My one sister is the same with Titan... a dog the height of Skoll (who is 95#) weighing 120# and he looks like a barrel from the top. Of course, he's freefed Alpo and he gets two full bowls of it a day.

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ZeldaRules

Switching species here..

This is actually something I worry about regarding myself. I pretty much have no fat in reserve and have a very high metabolism. I have been the same weight since high school 9 years ago. Always in the 105-110lb range. I do not want to be one of those people dying from something that causes them to lose a lot of weight, or just have a really bad illness and drop weight...that would take away half of my fight right there just to my body not being able to handle the rapid weight loss!

Jazi

Actually- that's exactly why I think a little fat reserve is beneficial. I am tall (5'10'') and rather thin, but until last year I was a very muscular 174# (legs, back, and tummy!). I've always been thin with a high metabolism and low fat reserve but due to some personal reasons I wanted to put on some muscle too. I've been sick with some mystery since April and while the doctors have been trying to figure it out, I've plummetted to 135#, lost all my muscle, and I look like a bag of bones. I'm still eating just as much and the same foods, but the stress from whatever this thing is just makes my weight drop. I'm still dropping, lost 10# this week (was previously holding steady at 145#), and that's a rather alarming realization that all of the weight I had previously was all muscle which is gone.

Soooo now while I like my animals to be thin, I do think allowing them to have a fat reserve is ideal for times of trouble. No need to have my animals look as terrible as I do

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RedFawnRising

Jazi, most of the gaunt appearance you suddenly see in an acutely ill fit animal is dehydration.

The very fact they put condition back on so quickly should tell ya they aren't really wasting muscle so quickly. You'd see bad spikes in their bloodwork, in that case, too.

In the case of a protracted illness or chronic pain, that sort of thing, of course any species can lose weight to the point of wasting actual muscle tissue, but I doubt that's what you've been seeing in the cases you mention

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Asmit

I agree with this! 'My' 18mo girl has dropped a lot of weight this past month or so due to a variety of things (damn girl never stops moving). She is gaining back now, but you can easily see that she still has all of the muscle mass. She just no longer has the fat deposits over it. Granted she is about 10lbs underweight and a very petite girl, but you can easily see her actual muscle, and that has not waster. You (as in animals) can not lose muscle as fast as fat. Muscle is lost more gradually.

Jazi

Certainly possible, RFR. You know more about the official health business than I do, I can only repeat what I see. Still, scares me something terrible to see a well cared for, well conditioned, well fed animal suddenly go from OMGMUSCLES to well, what almost looks like some of the sadder rescue cases we see here, in so short a time. I've had dogs that lose weight when they're not feeling so hot, but not ones that had that drastic of a switch. Can't tell ya about the doggy bloodwork, since many of them are people I don't know well I've only seen before/after photos in forum posts.

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thea2003

It's so funny, for people who arent used to the slim and sleek breeds like dobermans.
With Sully who his family met him the first time, they said oh, it looks like he needs to lose some weight(and at the homevisit, the person told them their dog was a touch overweight lol).
I said, oh no, he's actually at a really good weight for him and he will fill out as he matures.
Then I got his brother yesterday, the person picking him up said "he needs to gain A LOT of weight" again, I look at him and say actually, he's not too bad, maybe a touch, but he is pretty good. People don't like hearing that lol. Ares definitely needs some more conditioning, he doesn't have a lot of muscle tone, but that will come.
Fat dogs drive me insane.

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