Does this pup look overweight??

andreac

bmw535d wrote: »

he gets a good 2 mile walk/run to the beach every Saturday.

he's about 5 now id say. i must start him breeding hes a very good pedigree his grandmother even won some lab of the year competition on england.

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr17/declan-mc/Image033.jpg?t=1273361612

Unless hes been health tested and is an excellent example of his breed then theres no need to breed from him.Labs are so common and more than enough being bred from at the moment.
Breeding is best left to the experts and with dogs thats are 100% healthy and tested for conditions that the breed suffer from. So unless these are done please dont breed from him.

bmw535d

andreac wrote: »

Unless hes been health tested and is an excellent example of his breed then theres no need to breed from him.Labs are so common and more than enough being bred from at the moment.
Breeding is best left to the experts and with dogs thats are 100% healthy and tested for conditions that the breed suffer from. So unless these are done please dont breed from him.

well he gets the usual check up every year and nothing ever came up and if i am going to breed him i will be giving him to an expert to handle the whole thing.

i was offered 300 to breed him or a choice of a pup, i think ill take the pup

andreac

Shazanne wrote: »

This whole food thing is very confusing! Do any of the better brands of dry food do a variety of flavours to prevent the dog from becoming bored? I have terrible problems getting my terrier to eat just dried food all the time, she will eat it with a little wet food mixer tho, but I reckon if I could offer her a couple of different flavours it might be more tempting for her.

Its not good to keep changing foods as it upsets the stomach and can give them the runs. Just stick to one food as its better for the dog.

Your dog will only eat with the wet food because its clever and knows it will get it if it doesnt eat the dry food on its on. Trust me, a dog will not go hungry so if you offer the food for a few days without the wet food and font give in, it will eat the food. It could be fussy for a few days but when it realises thats all its getting it will eat.

I have a dog that got a bit fussy,(all my fault) so i fed him without the nice bits added, and for 3 days he turned his nose up at his dinner. After 3 days he realised he wasnt getting anything else and started to eat his dinner again, without the nice things added to it.

andreac

bmw535d wrote: »

well he gets the usual check up every year and nothing ever came up and if i am going to breed him i will be giving him to an expert to handle the whole thing.

i was offered 300 to breed him or a choice of a pup, i think ill take the pup

A yearly check up is not enough. Each breed would have to be tested for relevent conditions, with labs they need to be hip scored and im sure there are other things too to be tested for which arent done in a basic check up.

These include things like heart checks, hip and elbow scoring and so on. If you research the breed problems online and find out what they should be health checked for, you will see what needs to be done. A once over from the vet wouldnt cover any of these things.

Jules

bmw, he is definately a stunner! But i would get him hip scored before breeding. We are seeing far too many <12 month old lads with Hip Dysplasia. Is is very upsetting. And he might not be showing signs of it now but later and it will more than likely be passed onto any pups he sires!

bmw535d

what exactly is a hip score..sorry for sounding retarded but this is my first dog and i don't know very much about them.infact i didn't even buy him he was giving to me by to elderly woman who couldn't handle him when he grew to such a size,

he is five years old now(human year) and i haven't seen any problems yet.

he once got a cut on the tip of his tail we took him to the vet and she gave him antibiotics for a calf lol.

Jules

His scoring it to check for hip problems. Basically it's an xray to make sure there is no arthritis and see that the top of the femur sits nicely into the pelvis! Generally you will see it early on if it's bad. Lameness, wide stance on the back legs, difficulty in getting up, slow etc. But could have very slight HD and it wouldn't cause a problem, but would pass onto the pups!

bmw535d

Jules wrote: »

His scoring it to check for hip problems. Basically it's an xray to make sure there is no arthritis and see that the top of the femur sits nicely into the pelvis! Generally you will see it early on if it's bad. Lameness, wide stance on the back legs, difficulty in getting up, slow etc. But could have very slight HD and it wouldn't cause a problem, but would pass onto the pups!

a well there is def no problems like that yet anyway as it takes him 0.5 micro seconds to get up and he can run like the wind etc.ill get it done anyway just to be sure

there really is no better dog than a lab imo

andreac

bmw535d wrote: »

a well there is def no problems like that yet anyway as it takes him 0.5 micro seconds to get up and he can run like the wind etc.ill get it done anyway just to be sure

there really is no better dog than a lab imo

A dog could look and behave perfectly healthy but have a really bad hip score so its essential that his hips are scored before breeding as he could pass on his hip problems to his pups if he has a bad score.

Just because he seems ok now doesnt necessarily mean that he wont develop problems later in life so its an absol must to get him hip scored as the breed is prone to hip problems.

Ado86

There is no ideal weight for any breed of dog. It obviously depends on their breed and build but body condition scoring is a much better method of characterising if animal is over or under weight.
Should aim for a body condition score of 3.

tk123

Shazanne wrote: »

This whole food thing is very confusing! Do any of the better brands of dry food do a variety of flavours to prevent the dog from becoming bored? I have terrible problems getting my terrier to eat just dried food all the time, she will eat it with a little wet food mixer tho, but I reckon if I could offer her a couple of different flavours it might be more tempting for her.

I find it really confusing too because everyone has a different opinion and even different vets will tell you different things! I went for burns because it only has a few ingrediants and and he seemed to be doing well on it. It comes in a few different flavours too..

tk123

tk123 wrote: »

I'm going to ask them about this at his follow up - we live beside the park but he won't go in the river!! It's a bit shallow so not sure it'd help him anyways.
The worst thing is randomers who don't even know him coming up in the park telling you there's something wrong with him - as if we weren't worried about him enough!

Looks like I spoke to soon - he went for a paddle today after some coaxing and watching his friend swimming!

Blueprint

It can take a while, it took me nearly two years to persuade my guy that he would not drown if all 4 paws weren't touching bottom at all times. He's an unstoppable swimmer since last June!

mymo

tk123, people said my dog was fat even after the vet had advised me he was quite underweight, and to feed him up a bit. He was very hairy(shaved now) and looked big.(has put it on now he's stopped growing)
You'll know yourself by the feel of him(the guide posted by ado86 is great), I knew my fella was thin but wasn't too worried as he had all the food he could eat(just didn't want it) and was very lively.
Some dogs eat more in winter and will get a little heavier, but as it heats up they eat less and thin out a bit.
Hope he keeps up the splashing, my fella will be two the end of june and still won't even dip a toe in, while the little one walks into the river and lies down in it to cool off(but won't swim).:rolleyes:

Shazanne

Blueprint wrote: »

It can take a while, it took me nearly two years to persuade my guy that he would not drown if all 4 paws weren't touching bottom at all times. He's an unstoppable swimmer since last June!

Got a real smile out of that! Animal lovers have such a way with words!!:D