| Yes, I'd like to see pictures too of that big girl.
My girl is "big" if you ask me and breeders who've seen her agree, but none claim she's 'fat'. She's 25-3/4" [or so] at the withers and weighs in at 103 lbs.. At 97 lbs. she had a visible spine! Is she fat? Nope, she's sleek and fast and stands upright on her rear legs, bounces like a cat and can spin on a dime. It often freaked me out how much she could do agility wise. I feed her 2 cups of Innova/Canidae mix, with 1 cup of cooked meat or canned fish, each day. Along with supplements like glucosamine/chondrotin, vit. a, vit. e, and a multi vitamin. She's probably healthier than everyone in the family except my other dog, a male who's 27" at withers, 113 lbs. and just right. Both have good tuck up, no fat rolls and lots of muscle. He's 19 months now and might fill out width wise. I want to keep him under 120# at maturity.
Recently, I saw a dog in a dog park who was far too fat, and the owners, a young couple in their early 30's, insisted that his lack of energy and inability to run [!] was due to his placid nature. Not so. He was so rotund, he looked like the Goodyear blimp from the top. These two insisted their "vet" said the dog was just "big". Again, they were delusional. He was the size of my bitch, and giant by comparison in girth. He was wheezing, had dropped pasterns and looked far older than 2.5 yrs of age. This poor rottie also had very long toe nails indicating a lack of exercise and basic grooming. The idiot owners were beaming with pride while the poor dog was ready to drop.
I think many owners lack the ability to judge how fat or slim their dogs might be if they're inexperienced. Hopefully, chuss can review other pictures and his own and gain a comparison.
Cathi M.  |