Are we sure the yellow lab mentioned in the article was really a pure
yellow lab? Have we seen a photo that would suggest he's overweight?
People shorthand the breeds of their dogs for convenience sake all the
time. The woman owning the dog might not have felt like going into the
whole explanation about how, for example, "his mother was yellow with
floppy ears, and I think the father was ..." Or she could have gone
into all that, and the reporter shortened it. Perhaps this is a fit,
healthy, big yellow dog who weighs 120 pounds because he's part yellow
and part something bigger.


--Lia

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Janet Boss wrote:
BYB dogs are often oversized.

Yes! And a lot of people see oversized as a good thing.
But still, it's really common for people not to recognize a
fat dog as fat (especially if it's theirs). An extreme case
is that Rottweiler that was on fat dog night on AP; the
owner thought he was beautiful but he was so fat he was
immobilized.

With all these people running around saying that their dog
is at an ideal weight you wouldn't expect to see so many fat
dogs in the world, but there you are.


My own dogs saw their vet just over a month ago, and it was he who said both
the dogs were at their ideal weight, not me. He said Gracie, at 72 1/2
pounds was perfect, as was Merlin at just under 80 pounds.

As for Coda, my son in laws dog, sil is a physical fitness person. He
jogged with Coda a minimum of three times a day, even coming home at lunch
time to get Coda for a jog. They did their jogs morning, noon, and night,
in addition to taking him to the park and such. He was a huge dog. I still
remember the first time I saw him, sitting in the back of sil's jeep. Coda
never had to be onleash. He obeyed sil completely without being leashed.
He was a good boy, after meeting him I loved him immediately. I first met
him when my daugher began dating sil, so he was always included in our
family gatherings, as were all the dogs involved in our family. So I did
get to see a lot of him, his behaviors, his habits, etc. And when he died,
it took three or four big guys to carry him out to our SUV.

As for his breeding, all I know is Coda was purchased from a local breeder.
It was before we met sil.

td

(Melinda Shore) wrote in news:ffneob$q5f$1
@panix2.panix.com:

An extreme case is that Rottweiler that was on fat dog night on
AP; the owner thought he was beautiful but he was so fat he was
immobilized.

I've done a good bit of pet sitting over the years. In nearly every
case, the owners have fretted over their cat's or dog's weight
because the poor little popkins just aren't thriving. And, in every
one of those cases, the animal has been overweight. Sometimes
grossly so.

In fact, I just had a cat sitting job last weekend in which the
owners have the cats on two different prescription dry foods--free
fed, so I don't know which food goes to which animal, and neither do
the cats. They also give them two different wet foods, one
prescription and one crap-in-a-can. They are actively trying to put
weight on a cat that is already, in my opinion, F-A-T.

In a conversation with a coworker who also sits for these cats, she
expressed concern over how the F-A-T cat is thin and poorly. I
boggled, and said I thought the cat was pretty damned solid, and
while she may have IBD, it's not affecting her weight in any negative
way.

WTF?! Really, can someone explain this to me, because I just don't
understand it.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

In article ,
Janet Boss wrote:
I didn't see the show, but I see so many of them every day.

It was unbelievable. It's common for people with fat dogs
to say that their dogs are at a good weight, but this dog
was, if I'm recalling correctly, in the neighborhood of
200lbs. It had trouble breathing and it couldn't even lie
down normally, and its owner thought the dog was at a
"perfect" weight. The owner was one of those "food is love"
people.

I'm picky
about weight on dogs. I comment on a dog's condition to my students,
since my hands are on the dog, I feel and see the weight. Some people
take it very personally, even though I'm pretty gentle about the extra
pounds.

Good for you. Although, back when Greta was having so many
health problems and before I became attentive about
conditioning, we started seeing a new vet and on the second
visit she said, flat out, "That dog is too fat." I was
really grateful. Blunt is okay.

If a dog is fat it's the owner's fault, period. You are not
doing the dog any disservice or loving it any less by taking
a look at it and asking "what can I be doing better for my
dog?"

I got back from Fairbanks last night. On Monday morning I
was extremely privileged to be able to go out to Salcha and
visit Arleigh Reynolds's kennel, talk with him, visit his
dogs, and watch him hook up (he invited me to go along on a
training run but I was underdressed and the temperature was
-5F). He's one of the top veterinary nutrition researchers
on the planet and is working to produce the fastest
sleddogs, as well, and while I suppose it should go without
saying that his dogs were in spectacular condition, WOW,
THOSE DOGS WERE IN SPECTACULAR CONDITION.

--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
. ..
Are we sure the yellow lab mentioned in the article was really a pure
yellow lab? Have we seen a photo that would suggest he's overweight?
People shorthand the breeds of their dogs for convenience sake all the
time. The woman owning the dog might not have felt like going into the
whole explanation about how, for example, "his mother was yellow with
floppy ears, and I think the father was ..." Or she could have gone
into all that, and the reporter shortened it. Perhaps this is a fit,
healthy, big yellow dog who weighs 120 pounds because he's part yellow
and part something bigger.


--Lia

Excellent point Lia, after all, this attack happened when the owner was 'out
jogging with her dog'.


td

In article ,
tiny dancer wrote:
My own dogs saw their vet just over a month ago, and it was he who said both
the dogs were at their ideal weight, not me. He said Gracie, at 72 1/2
pounds was perfect, as was Merlin at just under 80 pounds.

If a pet animal vet says your dog is "ideal," it's almost
certainly too fat. It's a real problem. Fortunately it
looks like dog obesity is starting to get some more
attention and maybe vets will start getting better about
recognizing fat dogs.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

In article ,
(Melinda Shore) wrote:

He's one of the top veterinary nutrition researchers
on the planet and is working to produce the fastest
sleddogs, as well, and while I suppose it should go without
saying that his dogs were in spectacular condition, WOW,
THOSE DOGS WERE IN SPECTACULAR CONDITION.

I bet! My dogs would benefit from more exercise, no doubt about it, but
they're still in decent shape (not as much exercise means don't feed
them too much!). We planned on field training today but it's RAINING!
I can't complain about rain, although I barely remember what it is.

I am always impressed with dogs in spectacular condition - it takes a
dedicated owner and I'm in awe at that, and the beauty of the dog(s).

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Rocky wrote in
:

Someone wrote into the one of the epilepsy lists about her 105
pound lab. I agree that often size/weight gets exaggerated, but
a specific number like 105 makes me think that that one was true.

Yeah, I'd tend to think that's an accurate weight. It's hard to
tell, and I do factor in my knowledge of the person when trying to
decide if they have a crazy big and/or fat dog, and whether they're
just inflating the dog's size for some weird ego boost.

FWIW, the same coworker had an Elkhound that was descended from, and
I quote, "The dog who won Westminister." (No, that's not a typo.) As
far as I can tell, no Elkhound has "won Westminster," though Diddy
would surely know off the top of her head if it's ever happened.

Either this woman makes **** up, or she is gullible, and believed
what some BYB told her.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)

In article ,
Shelly wrote:
FWIW, the same coworker had an Elkhound that was descended from, and
I quote, "The dog who won Westminister." (No, that's not a typo.) As
far as I can tell, no Elkhound has "won Westminster," though Diddy
would surely know off the top of her head if it's ever happened.

It actually wouldn't be that surprising if the dog were
descended from a breed or possibly even group winner, though
(has an Elkhound ever won group?). Popular sire syndrome,
etc.

I believe that Monadnock's Pando was the only Siberian to
ever win Westminster and they bred the crap out of him
(Demidoff said he had such a great temperament she
particularly wanted to pass that along, although she did
regret overusing him). Dog's lives are unfortunately short,
but on the other hand you can get a bunch of generations in
a hurry, so when Pando went to his last veteran's class at
the national specialty at the age of 12 100 of the 102 dogs
being shown that weekend were directly descended from him.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"tiny dancer" wrote in
:

My own dogs saw their vet just over a month ago, and it was he who
said both the dogs were at their ideal weight, not me. He said
Gracie, at 72 1/2 pounds was perfect, as was Merlin at just under
80 pounds.

As the one of our past trolls was wont to point out (ad vomitum),
just about every vet I've been to with Harriet--and it's been
several, as we've shopped around for one we like--has told me she's
underweight. I'm not convinced that most vets have any idea what a
fit dog of an appropriate weight looks like.

--
Shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net (the Mother Ship)
http://esther.cat-sidh.net (Letters to Esther)