How skinny is too skinny?

[mnp13]

Ruby is the opposite. Her spine sits low in her back muscles and even when conditioned you can't see it.

excuse me? She's conditioned now. Maybe not "ripped" but there isn't any extra on her.

[pitprincess]

wow I was thinking Meesha is under weight...because you can see her ribs and spine a bit...and she can eat too. I'm happy to know I'm not an awful mommy like I thought ..I even took her to the vet cause sshe wouldn't put on weight but they said she is healthy but they didsay she was a good weight either. A friends siad he thought she look good and "pits are supposed to be thin like that" I thought she was skinny but I guess she is ok

[mnp13]

how old is Meesha?

[pitprincess]

17 months now and weighs about between 40 and 45 pounds more on the liter side closer to 43 last time I weighed her.

[mnp13]

If her muscle tone is good, her coat is healthy and she is active, I'm sure she's fine.

[mnp13]

I took this picture of Riggs (in his new "stop Riggs' neck from looking like hamburger" collar thank you Noel!) yesterday.

He's about 46 pounds now. I didn't have a problem with him a couple pounds lighter, but the general consensus is that this is an excellent weight for him and I'm going to keep him at this size.

[cheekymunkee]

He looks great!

[SpiritFngrz]

awesome! how's the collar working out?

[Marinepits]

Riggs has some great looking muscle tone!

[Magnolia618]

He looks alot better, Michelle!

[mnp13]

awesome! how's the collar working out?

It looks like it will do the job I need it to do. We'll see in a week or so though. Nothing even comes close to touching his skin so it should completely heal soon!

[bahamutt99]

I just wanted to share my personal visual comparison. The first 2 pics are of Loki when she was conditioned. She looks impressive in the chasing-the-water pic, but I think I brought her down a bit too low. I am working her again to see if I can't get her into shape for the Nationals, albeit more gently than last time. She has good (not great, but good) muscle tone normally, and if I just take some of the chub off her, it will add definition. I'm not equipped to get her into really hardcore competition shape. Anyway...




This is how she looks with just regular exercise.



Versus her in her puppy-fat stage. I think she was around 6 months in this pic.

[Marinepits]

Loki is one beautiful dog, no matter what she weighs.

[Knomad]

Jeje

Both my pups are considerably fatter than these dogs

Maybe I do over feed them a little, but believe me they are SUPERBLY fit. There isnt an adult dog or pup around that can touch them in stamina and only two of the adults can outrun them, or Kaya at least.

Shes small, ribs are well covered in a nice layer of puppy fat, but her chest and buttocks are muscle laden and she can run like a rocket across the park. The only dogs that can touch her are both whip lean with legs taller than she is, and even then at the last run out shes less than a body length behind them...a month from now she will dominate even then. When you consider she can run back and forth like this for an hour and a half and still want more. Shes definately fit as hell. Moto also but as he has a slight shoulder grown problem in his cartilage hes a little slower and hasnt the same muscle as she does. Still hes also superbly fit from running.

They are both much more covered than the pics ive seen here but I consider them to be in perfect physical condition, in fact I consider them freaks of nature for six month old pups. never in my life have I seen two pups so fit and so able to charge around at pace for endless amounts of time and never tire.

I started them with the frissbee and ball in the park at three months at least 3 times a day, a minimum of 30 minutes running each session. Its for fun and good health nothing more, but after three months of this they are certainly astoundingly fit and powerful for pups.

Ill probably keep them a little plumper, not able to see the ribs clearly because I like the look of them more that way. If they are fit and well excercised it should be fine to have them with a little extra body fat right?.

[mnp13]

At 6 months, some puppy fat is not a bad thing.

If your dog already has shoulder problems at such a young age, you want to keep him lean. Any extra weight is extra stress on the joints.

With the amount of running and jumping you are describing you definately don't want them chubby. A blown ACL is not a good thing.

A conditioned Pit Bull is the equivilent of an Olympic sprinter. They should be nothing but muscle and bone. Not emaciated, but definately not "padded"

[Knomad]

At 6 months, some puppy fat is not a bad thing.

If your dog already has shoulder problems at such a young age, you want to keep him lean. Any extra weight is extra stress on the joints.

With the amount of running and jumping you are describing you definately don't want them chubby. A blown ACL is not a good thing.

A conditioned Pit Bull is the equivilent of an Olympic sprinter. They should be nothing but muscle and bone. Not emaciated, but definately not "padded"

OK. so many ill monitor it over the next few months and see how much puppy fat they shed. Im hoping with the addition of RAW to the diet it will keep them high in energy but eating less.

I just thought with the amount of running they do, they should run off any little excess though.

I can tell you how much they eat. Between them both 20 kg of kibble per month. I use one 20 kg bag per month of puppy kibble.

Moto the male weighs around 20kgs and Kaya 17-18kg.