Wow! Quite the thread. I've read through and will skip all the silliness and back and forth and just say that I definitely agree that there are far too many overweight dogs and that it is indeed inexcusable. I don't have an opinion on overweight adult humans, not my monkeys, not my circus.
A dog, however, can't make the decision as to what it's health will be like so it's absolutely the owners fault if their dog is overweight. I'm fairly passionate about the subject especially with the Mastiff's because we are already working with a short lived breed so we should do all we can to give them a full, healthy life.
I am very proud of my dogs, they are my very best friends and definitely my family and I raise them accordingly. I exercise them daily and they love it. I feed them a quality kibble and add cooked meat to each meal which I've been told over and over is BAD for them, I disagree.
There are a couple things I have seen that I disagree with. Someone said obesity in dogs is not an epidemic and that is not true. Research the topic, speak to a few vets or simply flip through a bunch of pictures and you will see that it is very much an epidemic and it is only getting worse. Ruger (EM) is well over 200 pounds without a bit of fat on him. I was told in a Mastiff Facebook site the other day that there is no way he weighs that much because their dog was 215 pounds and way bigger. Their dog was "bigger" around (fat) however, Ruger was at least three inches taller, has a bigger bone structure, a thicker neck, a large mass of muscle and a much bigger head so it's all relative I suppose. I've also been told that because of his weight in numbers he must be overweight even though pictures show a very clearly healthy, muscular boy but they are stuck on the numbers. If you like you are more than welcome to look at the tons of pictures of both of mine that I have posted in my years here.
On the other hand, even though this thread does not address it, overly thin dogs are unhealthy as well. Magnum (GD) is a two year old healthy, muscular boy who weighs 180 pounds. He is thick but fit and has no fat on him. In the Great Dane community I don't see too many overweight dogs but the opposite..way too thin because "keeping them thin helps them live longer" some of these dogs you can easily see all of their ribs when they are standing still and there are a few that you can see spines and hip bones. Horrible! The look like overly tall malnourished Greyhounds.
In the end, if we decide to get a dog we should do whatever we can to give them healthy, happy lives.
Each dog is different and require different levels of food and exercise to remain healthy and happy and it is up to us to figure out what that is and supply it.
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