How Being Overweight Affects Dog Behavior & What We Can Do About It! 

15 is a good innings for a Lab any day of the week. Good for them (and you).

You're a brave man giving bread slices to a 15 yo Lab. Mine would sound like the Fourth of July if I did that. Any wheat + yeast combination and 🎉

I think you're "spot on" - balance the intake with the physical output. You can't consume a Farmer's Breakfast if you're not doing a Farmer's Daily Work!

Gotta protect those Cruciate ligaments as they get older. TPLO surgery is $7k and not very successful in seniors. Labs are too big for less expensive surgeries. I speak from experience, unfortunately.

If she’s in good shape and has a nice body composition, keep on doing what you are doing. The scale doesn’t really tell you what you need to know; how she looks and acts is what’s important.

She might weigh the same but be more fit, muscle weighs more than flab…lol, I know some very fab flab labs! ;) sounds like her life has taken a turn for the better!

Same with humans. If you're overweight swimming & cycling are the two best ways to lose a bit of flab that won't tax your overburdened joints too much. ...easier to teach a dog to swim than ride a bike though.

Same here with my girl, people keep asking if she is a full lab, I just say no she’s just in great shape!

sad truth

That's so sad. Food isn't love. Love is love.

If you feed 1 cup of kibble per meal, take 1/2 cup out and use it for training purposes.

With our previous black lab, we weighed his food each meal..just a simple set of electronic scales next to where the food and bowls were. We found that helped loads - he was a perfect weight and didn't fluctuate more than half a kilo ish. The training treats came out of that weighed food. (We're doing the same with our new fox red pup).

Sometimes it’s hardest to see the clarity of simple logic when bogged down. I appreciate your simple answers and will mix it between 1/2 cup feed, 1/2 cup work/train per meal. 👍🏻

I had this same exact challenge with my english lab. We were overfeeding her treats once we started portioning and counting how much we actually gave her. It was a bit of a wake up call. I did exactly as the other commenters. I had a set amount of calories and I fed less kibble to add in the treats or used kibble for her treat training instead. I only bring out the big gun high value treats for obedience training sessions but they were also accounted for in my feedings. So I would take out another 1/2 cup of kibble. I also went to a higher end weight management kibble to help me feel better about taking away so much food. So there is a high amount of nutrient per kibble. I'll eventually move do a non weight management one because weight management also has a lot of calories per kibble I also try to stick to treats that are basically one ingredient protein source. A lot of the multi ingredient treats from bigger stores have a lot of molasses and other fillers

I believe it's a 4th gen - 87' to 91'. Hopefully, Stonnie will chime in❤. He may have had a vid on it(?). I like these Broncos, as they were the last of the original Sport Utility Vehicles offered from "the big three".....

Wow….you’re being a little aggressive

@whomever - l agree with you. Grumpy and aggressive aren’t the same thing. Just ask any woman who’s been on a third date.

Why would that be difficult? Take the photos before or after you put the backpack on, or suck it up.

You are completely wrong. Movement is the key to long term health.

@@StonnieDennis Even with humans it's estimated that to lose weight, 85% is about the food that's consumed and 15% is exercise.

A human doesn't lose weight on diet, alone, so why would dogs? Lower impact exercises would be better than nothing. Swimming is a good low impact exercise, if your dog is in pain.

I think he's advocating to "hit it" from two different fronts - diet and exercise. But, he stressed to start the activity in a gradual, measured way. That's the way I interpreted it, fwiw.

@@TheWorkingAussie I haven't advocated that no movement is required. Not sure where you read that. However, it appears you aren't up-to-date with weight loss as it applies to humans when it comes to diet vs exercise. It's not impossible for you to catch up.

LOL…

that is so sad, this got NOTHING to do with love 😢 making your dog sick and shorten his life span is just cruel.

You could make the argument that real food is better than kibble. It's not the type of food as much as it is the amount and amount of exercise. What's also sad is people who overfed large breeds then brag about how big they are like it's a competition.

@@Ryan-um5xe Generally people who feed their dogs unhealthy foods are the same who don't give enough exercise

Yea everyone is so use to seeing fat labs that when they see my very fit and healthy lab they think something is wrong with him and they say he is small. And he isn’t small. He’s just very healthy and fit and people arent use to seeing that. Also, because he gets the best dog food and we care for him his fur is still soft at 5 years old. Most labs by the time they are 2-3 their fur is coarse from over eating and unhealthy habits. PEOPLE QUIT OVER FEEDING YOUR DOG! They are not happy when they are fat!