HELP!! I have turned my dog into a chubba.

[mnp13]

canned and frozen veggies are fine. I would be more careful with the fruit because fruit has natural sugars which can cause tooth decay. I suppose other things can cause tooth decay as well, but sugar is still sugar...

Just be happy you noticed it now, instead of in a month. Like I said, most of us have done the exact same thing.

[Malli]

remember, it'll probably take a couple months to get the weight off, its much more difficult to have them lose then gain.
She doesn't look THAT bad! No stress.

[pitbullmamaliz]

I don't know if I'd do dried fruit. Fresh fruit as an occasional snack, yes, but dried fruit, like Michelle said, has a lot of sugars. On Weight Watchers (totally related to dogs!) real fruit is zero points, but dried fruit has a lot of points because of the sugars.

Just watch he sodium intake with the canned veggies - maybe drain and rinse them and then dump them into a Tupperware that you can grab from for each meal.

[pitbullmamaliz]

Oooh! And did I ever post pics of Inara the winter I let her get so fat? She should weigh 46 lbs, and she was up to like 59. It was terrible!

[iluvk9]

Wow. If you think Kinzyl is fat, I will not be posting photos of Darlene.

[TheRedQueen]

Yup...just like Michelle said...you're just plain overfeeding her.

The feedings on the bag are indeed recomendations, and I've always found them a bit high...(they can sell more food if you feed more of course).

Even so...if she was eating a certain amount, but getting more exercise at one point...it might have been an okay amount at that point, but if the dog changes activity level, then you need to change the food amounts. Simple as that. (we should do the same thing...but it's much easier with dogs! ). Rip and Xander were not as active for a while due to old age and injury...so I cut them back, now they're at a good weight and doing more exercise...I've upped their food again. It shouldn't stay the same unless the dog continues have the same amount of activity (my Inara eats 2 cups, no matter what...Score gets less in the winter because we *do* less in the winter, etc)

Get in the habit of feeling her ribs every so often...so she doesn't blow up suddenly. keep an eye and a hand on her weight.

Another idea is to get a kibble-dispensing toy for her dinner...or have her work for it, so she's not just eating it out of her bowl. A tug-a-jug, a Kibble-nibble, a Kong Wobbler...these all dispense kibble for dogs. Mine love eating out of theirs...full and tired dogs!

[amalie79]

We fill a large kong with about 1/4 c of their dinner kibble, maybe a couple of tablespoons of fat free yogurt and a couple teaspoons of peanut butter and freeze. They still get the flavor with a lot less fat. I'm going to buy a yogurt maker to cut that cost down too.

River needs occupying if we can't be staring lovingly into her eyes ( no she's not spoiled at all, why? ). We use the wobbler with part of her supper sometimes. My new 2 favorite time consuming toys though are premier's waggle and starmark's fun ball. Both can be stuffed with treats and the waggle has teeth that you can firm to suit how easy you want the game to be. I use dogswell jerkys in them. It smells great but is nice and stiff so it can't be licked out or crushed into crumbs. Lasts quite a while.

I've also started using their kibble for training treats, at least in the house.

Robin and River eat Nature's Variety Instinct. Robin is 40 lbs and River is almost 70 ( should be more like 60) but they eat the same amount of food and Robin can't seem to gain any weight at all. If I went by the recommendations, River would be even fatter and Robin would be wasting away. Go figure

[hugapitbull]

Canned veggies are fine. When possible I get the 'no salt added'.

[madremissy]

Erin has hit the nail on the head. I don't adjust her food to her activity level.
I should still cut down even though I am going to try to get her to this little park I found right? Cut down the food until she gets to the weight I want and then adjust per activity level.

Holy Cow Liz, Inara must have been huge at 59lbs.

[madremissy]

Forgot to add, we do have tug a jug. She just goes nuts with it. So I have to let her do that before Travis goes to bed and I study. She makes so much noise with it.

[pitbullmamaliz]

Holy Cow Liz, Inara must have been huge at 59lbs.

Ahem. She was definitely fuller-figured and waistless! Michelle and Demo teased me mercilessly when I went to visit them with a fat Inara.

[Hoyden]

Don't feel bad. Birdie is very round. I've taken to calling her an orca. She is on a strict diet now, but it's 4x as hard to get the weight off as it is to pack it on.

When we cut her food intake, she raided the cupboards and ate an entire sleeve of oreos and 48 oz box of Capt. Crunchberries. (we shop at BJ's in bulk b/c I hate grocery shopping - she got into BIG size stuffs.) We have METAL safety locks now.

I gave up on the plastic treat dispensers when Birdie started chucking them off the second story deck onto the pavers below to break them. Damn dog was acting like a crow. I tried the low fat and "fat free" peanut butter and she acted like I was trying to poison her. She puts things she objects to eating in places like your bed, your chair or spot on the couch, in your purse, the shower, work bag or shoes.

Make sure no one else is sneaking food. SOME PEOPLE (uh um. Mark & Gremlin) were feeding Birdie extras. Cookies, hot wings (sans the bones), salt & vinegar chips, keilbasa, hot dogs etc. Anything they were eating away from the table, they were sneaking her some.

We also found that Gremlin was feeding portions of her dinner to Birdie. We were finding peas all around the house and finally figured out Gremlin fed them to the dog and she just walked away with a mouth full of food and dumped it somewhere.

I know what you mean by being driven nuts by a dog while studying, that happens when I am working and I've almost sewed a finger with a leather needle the size of a shish-ka-bob skewer.

I started saving the boxes my supplies and hardware came in. I stopped feeding her breakfast kibble and used the teeny tiny biscuits of equal calorie value so i could hide them around the room so she can sniff them out. I hide one in an easy spot, then put the others in places like under a box with a dictionary on it, in a clothes basket, under her blankets & toys, under a plastic keg cup with a brick on it inside of a milk crate etc...

If you have a FAST remote control car and an operator with lightning quick reflexes, that is a good way to exercise the dog too. I zip tied a piece of rabbit fur to a battle bot that the kid down the street made and we had hours of entertainment wearing out the dog.

[dlynne1123]

Yeah, if worst comes to worst, just shave a little off the dinner and breakfast and keep up with the kong ritual. Calories are calories so if she gets more in the treat form, take about 10% from her daily ration in food. Or mix her food with her kongs, either way, sounds like cutting back about 10% daily ration is where to start. Also, try the same brand food but a reduced calorie. Most types come with old dog, fat dog, or inactive dog diets with less calories.

STart there and weigh her regularly to keep on top of it. If she gets so much a day, have a cup filled with her daily allowance and when its empty more more cookie pushers! Its teh community cup at my house, b/c everyone likes to treat when they visit or go pee with the dogs.

Also, if shes not losing and you're trying, you may want to look into a thyroid test. Its usually the culprit to weight gain, despite dieting. ANd less activity.

Good luck!

[airwalk]

As you know I fight Scooters weight on a constant basis....so my first suggestion...you are working on it, don't stress about it. The more you stress the more you second guess you're every move.

[madremissy]

We started her new program today.

1 1/2 cups of dry. Made up 2 kongs with low fat yogurt and vegies. We went and walked a mile at the new little out of the way place I found. I have Travis on the program that he is not to give them any treats other than ice cubes.

Next week I am going to run her up to the vet and weigh her.

[mnp13]

I have Travis on the program that he is not to give them any treats other than ice cubes.

He's going to be harder to train than the dog.

[furever_pit]

Already a lot of good advice on this thread.

Dylan was a chubby puppy when I was in college and was feeding him Pedigree. It took a little while to shave the pounds off of him but it wasn't that bad. Cutting back on food and increasing exercise is the name of the game.

Will Kinzyl play with a flirtpole? What about pulling some drag weights?

[madremissy]

Will Kinzyl play with a flirtpole? What about pulling some drag weights?

She is the pickiest dog I have ever seen about her play. I have tried so many things. She didn't like the flirt pole, sping pole, fetch. I have tried the clicker training for that (ask Sarah) and it didn't work. If I throw a ball she thinks she has to lay down and chew it to peices. I think if I put some drag weights on her she would not move. Oh, how I miss my Gotty he loved that stuff.

She will play in the bubbles (when she is in the mood). Her most favorite thing is to walk. It has just been a battle to find a place to take her.
She and Sammy play everynight for about 30 minutes but I know that is not full exercise.