Is Your Dog a Healthy Weight?

Is your dog a healthy weight?  Although it can be different for each dog, keeping your dog's weight down can make a huge difference for their health and longevity. 

On average, overweight dogs live 2.5 years less than their slimmer counterparts - that's 2.5 years less time that you get to have your pup with you!  

And, keeping their weight down helps make sure that they stay healthy and mobile throughout their lives, so you can keep enjoying exercise together.  Being overweight increases dogs' chances of injury and diseases like arthritis, diabetes, kidney disease, and some cancers.  

The good news is, it's easy to help your dog lose weight.  You control what they eat, so you can make the necessary dietary changes and start seeing results within a few weeks.  Here are a few rules for feeding your dog's health:

1. NO people food.  Dog food might not appeal to us, but it has everything dogs need in a form that they can readily digest.  This is not true of people food, which has comparatively lots of salt and fat. Dogs also cannot digest dairy or raw fruits or vegetables.  People food is basically dog candy that will lead to weight gain and digestive issues.

2.  No free feeding.  If your dog is a picky eater or likes to eat some food and then come back later, limit their meal times!  Dogs should have 15-20 minutes to eat, and then you take the bowl away and give it back at their next meal.  Free feeding leads to weight gain in dogs, and reduces their motivation to work for food (this is an essential part of training or working with your dog, but it's also a healthy natural impulse that you should nurture in your dog).  

3.  Pay attention to treat calories.  If you're regularly giving your dog treats outside of meals, those calories can add up.  Instead, you can give your dog part or all of their meal throughout the day as treats - that's exactly what I do with board and train dogs to get them extra motivated to work with me.  It comes naturally to dogs to work for their food, and it's a super fulfilling and enriching dynamic for them. 

If you're doing all these things and your dog is still pudgy, make sure they're getting enough exercise and that you're not overfeeding them.  At times when my dog is exercising less and starts putting on weight, I just give him slightly less food at each meal - say just under a cup instead of his normal cup.  Follow the guidelines on your dog food bag and remember those ranges are for your dog's ideal weight, not the weight they are now.  

Remember that you are your dog's champion.  They need you to make decisions that are best for them and will help them live a long and comfortable life.