# Fat V?



## Hbomb

Hi everyone!

I have read posts on people who are concerned their Vs are too skinny, I think I have the opposite problem! The lady at our dog training class said that H looked like he was a bit overweight and suggested cutting down his food. I spoke to the vet who said he was fine and still growing and to keep going as I am so now I'm a bit confused!

I'll admit he does look a bit chunky for a V. He's half wire haired, not sure if that would make a difference but I heard they were a bit chunkier . I recently was away with work for a week so it was just H and the husband. Husband is not so disciplined about walking H, and H, being a lazy sod, will lie there all day till you drag him out! Anyway when he's out for a walk he is his usual bonkers self running everywhere.

Not sure whether to cut his food down or not though? I don't want to stop his growth but I don't want him to be fat either, I know how bad that is for dogs. I've put some pics up and it would be great if you could tell me what you think (sorry about quality of pics..dog not good at staying still for long!). He's currently getting royal canin neutered puppy food, when he hit 10m I cut it down as the label said. He's just over 10m and weighs just under 30kg (67lb).

Cheers!

Alice


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## Darcy1311

My Darcy is a real skinny girl ..16 kilos and 21 inches at the shoulder she is real small and shows off most of her ribs..she just runs and runs yet I give her more food than I should.But she is fit and very well, and most importantly she is happy and content.


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## redbirddog

To get that nice trim waist it takes exercise.

Chloe, our female has been on the "princess diet" for three years.

3/4 cup of high quality dry kibble
cup of cut up green beans
1/2 cup of white ground cooked turkey meat.

No treats. She looses that trim waist and looks like a long-legged dachshund with in a couple weeks if we vary the diet much.

http://www.dogster.com/dog-breeds/Dachshund

Picture attached was during Chloe's heavier sausage days. :-\

Two meals a day. 10:30 and 7:30. 1 hour minimum walk a day. 2 hour walks on weekends.

RBD


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## Darcy1311

redbirddog just like my Darcy, some people think she is a whippet......heaven help us all..although she is as quick as a whippet..


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## threefsh

I'd say H should definitely lose a few pounds. He looks like Cooper did the first few days we had him.  You should be able to see a well-defined waist from above. If the dog looks like a sausage from above it's time to slim down.  

Here is a great chart I found:

http://www.greencrossvet.com.au/News/?id=90

I wouldn't cut down on the food - just get his butt outside for more exercise! Cooper eats as much as he wants for breakfast and dinner and he is staying nice and slim because he goes on regular 4-5 mile hikes.


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## Hbomb

Thanks for the replies! I will have to send pics of the new and improved H!

The thing is I do walk him quite far. Don't measure it in miles all the time, but he gets 45mins in the morning (with 2 of his crazy spaniel pals..he spends most of that time sprinting, and he can outrun them!) and in the evening I take him out for about 1.25hrs (route says 6km: 4 miles- not sure if I believe that as it's quite an easy walk! And at the weekends he gets longer walks 6 or 7 miles. 

Also the trainer says I should just walk him for 5mins/month ie 50 mins per day. I do walk him quite a lot more than that but don't force him to run... every 15 mins or so he will do the 'figure 8 zoomies' but other than that he will just trot in front of me. 

I agree he does look a bit like a sausage though like threefsh said..that's why I posted that pic from above  I don't want to hurt his joints by overexercising though, I was wondering if I should do something more about his diet? :-[


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## threefsh

How much does he eat? Also, what is the fat/protein and calorie content of his kibble? What kind of treats does he get aside from his kibble?

50 minutes a day is nowhere near enough exercise for a Vizsla! ???

We also encourage the dogs to run by tossing toys and sticks for them on our off-leash walks.


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## AKGInspiration

Short answer... yes he is a bit on the fat side... pics are always harder to judge by than in person or video. But that shot from above really gave it away. I read he has wire in him... this does not mean the dogs should be "chunkier" but instead means they more often are heavier boned... thicker boned... there is a difference between thick boned and fat. I still look for many of the same body markers in a thick boned dog as I do one that is of a lighter build.

Keys to proper weight:

*There should be a clear defined waist when viewed from above, it should tuck in from the end of the rib cage as it goes into the rear.

* There should be a nice high tuck (especially in a vizsla) sometimes this means you also have to look up from underneath not just the side to see what it going on behind that bit of skin running from thigh to waist.

* You should be able to see a hint of an individual rib when the dog is moving, bending, sniffing or running. Possibly not while standing still stacked, but def. when they bend at least. This is one of the best indicators for most breeds

Sometimes in order to see these three things you will end up with a dog showing a bit of hip or backbones. If I waited till Luna's backbones were covered she would be fat fat... just how she is built.

I find many vets don't get to see truly fit Vizslas so they often give a more padded opinion. And not to say they are all like this, but gotta keep in mind a fat dog is going to make them more money. And hey it's a touchy subject so some feel they can't give their honest opinion.

When dogs come into the kennel for training and are carrying a lot of extra weight we reduce the former kibble amount by at least 1/3 and feed some canned/rinsed green beans. Once we get down to the target weight we figure out how much they should get from then on to maintain. But just cutting food back as RBD said won't trim them down all over... must get exercise too.

I would take him off the puppy food too, I usually take mine off puppy food once they hit 6 months... it tends to lead towards overgrowth and fat dogs. If you take a look at many of the high end kibbles most of them are dropping the puppy formulas and instead making all life stage ones. So to me that means "puppy" food is not all that important. Just a thought.

Much easier to feed your dog less overall than to have it go through having to have it's amount reduced to drop weight over and over again. Good luck, I know it's hard to get weight off. I don't feed Luna the same amount every week, or sometimes even every day. It depends on what she did that day.

Here is Luna at show weight which is about 2 lbs heavier than living weight... still very fit and defined... and the other pic is her looking rather buff while running in the field. More typical of her living weight.


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## AKGInspiration

One other thing that most probably don't know... I understand your concerns about running your boy too hard. And doing too much exercise at one go...
If he does have Wire in him it is said that their joints need a lot of down time to properly grow and develop.
I know a breeder over in the UK that seriously limits strenuous exercise in their wires till they hit a year old I think. So if they are running with the big/older dogs they only let the pups run for about 15 minutes so as not to tax their growing bodies. I found it very interesting when compared to free run for smooths. Makes sense though as the wires are bred to be of more substantial bone and body than the smooths. Plus it is said that the wires don't need as much physical exercise to be content as the smooths. 
Just wanted to bring that to light, sounds like you are putting a good chunk of time and exercise in for your boy... cutting back food especially on the days he is not out and about as much will help get weight off. I would still take him off puppy though, no need growing the bones faster than normal. 
If it weren't for all the hair wet beards on the wires I probably would have one.


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## Hbomb

threefsh, the food he is getting is about 30% protein and 13% fat :-\ I agree 50 mins per day of exercise is nowhere near enough, we try and do at least double that! Treats: unfortunately my husband and his dad have been spoiling him rotten while I've been away! I caught husband feeding him cheese the other day and was not happy. I give him tiny pieces of chopped sausage when he's out for a walk/training. He also loves those rawhide chew things but I'm going to cut back on them. I am fairly immune to the 'i'm hungry' face (see attached photo  )

AKG, thanks for the advice and great pics of luna, she is beautiful 
Think I'm going to change him to adult food, like you said, the puppy stuff has a high fat content. You are right that he does not seem to need that much exercise to be happy: he will happily lie around till 2 or 3pm if you let him!!

His hairy beard never really happened--he has one or two fluffy bits on his chin that look very like teenage bum-fluff : 

I'm a bit on the fat side as well at the moment--me and H can tone up together!!


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## adrino

Hi Hbomb, I wouldn't say he's fat but surely could drop a few kilos. 
Just wanted to tell you that we have switched Elza at around 7,5 months old to adult. She's been doing fine on it except that I actually had to up her food recently since she lost some weight. She gets 2 hours off leash walk and we do a lot of _throw the ball I'll bring it back_ game and she runs around with other dogs too. She's almost 11 months old and she does need this much exercise to be happy. I understand that yours more laid back but you won't do any damage to him with a bit more run around. We will not run or cycle with Elza until she's fully grown but we don't limit her outside on walks. 
If we don't meet with anyone in the park she runs less but I try to play fetch with her more on those days. 

I suggest to not give him treats unless for training purposes. Those are extra calories which you have to add to his daily intake. Reduce the main meal if you want to give the treats. Also make your family aware that its not healthy for him to put weight on and it shortens his age and could give him health issues for life. This is of course extreme but at his age it's just the beginning.


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## hotmischief

Hbomb,

Hi I have a 9 month old wirehaired boy who is 26Kg and quite lean - you can see his ribs when he is on the move. Your boy does look a little broad in the beam. I am not going into the feeding issues as I feed raw and that is entirely different quantities to kibble. I would start by cutting out the treats and if you don't see any improvement start cutting his feed down. Also have a read of the post about the dangers of feeding rawhide chews - they are very dangerous. It was posted two days ago by RBD.

That is an interesting point about the exercise as my breeder warned me about not exercising too much as he grows. I also knew about this from all the Gr Danes pups I have had. However, I take the attitude that I know when my dog is tired. From about 5 months he started getting 40 minutes with our Dane and now he gets 2 lots of 40 minutes most days. If he is very tired at night I might leave out the next mornings walk, which doesn't seem to worry him. I really don't think you can generalise, all dogs are individuals and as such you have to find what food and exercise suits yours.


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## SteelCityDozer

I thinking are fairly fit and here's what they look like. Little one is penny (5.5 mos) big is Dozer (2 yo).


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## datacan

:-[ RBD, quickly photoshop that picture... Hurts my eyes


Wild guess... I think Hbomb's V... Is on human food as well as kibble. 
I would not feed higher protein than 23% and 16% fat once a day. The cheaper dog foods contain more of the secret ingredient - cellulose (fancy labeled as rice, potato, etc.) 

In addition I would implement an exercise regime that includes mild running. 

So, once the dog has been neutered/spayed diet and exercise play a bigger role and cellulose (labeled as rice, potato, corn) filler found in cheap dog foods is not such a bad thing... Think Iams.. I use Iams dog food as filler as well to increase Sam's stool volume and hardness


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## Crazy Kian

Maybe this will help.


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## mswhipple

Thanks for posting that graphic, Crazy Kian! 

Note that at an ideal weight, the dogs ribs should be palpable (that is, they can be felt), but not visible.


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## luv2laugh

I've learned so much from this thread! A lot of great informational posts and although I'm looking at these pictures and the weights of the dog (as for the reason of the post), what a cute bunch of v's!


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## threefsh

I wanted to post a picture of Cooper right after we first got him & a picture of him today for comparison. He is fed twice a day as much as he wants to eat, but he does regular walks/hikes. After 3 weeks he is looking like a Vizsla & not a lab!


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## Darcy1311

I just wish it was earier to get fat off my belly ...as it is to keep Darcy nice and trim..


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## datacan

Darcy1311 said:


> I just wish it was earier to get fat off my belly ...as it is to keep Darcy nice and trim..


Solution: ask Darcy to take you for daily walks... I lost 17 lbs walking Sam... Oops Sam walked me most of the time.


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## Hbomb

Hi everyone! Thought I would post with an update on H's weight, he's lost a few pounds and grown an inch or so and he looks quite a lot less like a sausage dog now 

1st pic is before, (September) and 2nd one is after (last weekend!)


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## adrino

H looks great now! 8) 
What a giant! But a handsome one! ;D


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## luv2laugh

He is so handsome! I was never an expert, but there is a marked difference between photo1 and 2. He looks great!


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## threefsh

Wow! He looks so svelte now. What a handsome boy.


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