HELP!! While we were at the e-vet Thursday we asked about Marley's weight. I had been telling DH that she was needing to lose some and I had already decreased the amount of food she eats. DH didn't believe me and wanted an opinion. We asked the vet if Marley was overweight and she quickly responded "Yes.". Ugh. She's not huge, but she needs to lose about 10 punds or so. She's a small lab, and should be around 65-67 lbs...and she's somewhere between 76-78lbs. So what do we do?! As I said, I've decreased the amount of food she eats...according to the vet she said we should feed what the bag says for the desired weight, is that right? So if we want her around 65, feed her the amount for that weight? We're also going to up her exercise, as we got a little lazy the last couple weeks with it being colder. We got ourselves a gym membership, but we know we still have to take her out. We started jogging with her last night, and I'm trying to get DH to get up in the mornings and jog with her then too..but he's impossible early in the morning! Any other ideas on how to help her lose some weight? And what do you do when you can't walk outside?? We usually get lots of snow later in the winter...so what do you do?! Any ideas or help would be great. We want to get her to the right size before she gets older and it continues. We're also not doing milkbones anymore per the vet. She said they're like a snickers for us (she got half of one in the morning and the other half at night). So now she gets ice and carrots :) Not nearly as exciting, but much healthier for her! Any other ideas would be great :)
TIA!!

What kind of food are you currently feeding her?

She eats the Eukanube Labrador Retriever...which...she just started. I still had her on large breed puppy (she'll be a year Friday), which I didn't know she could have gone off of sooner until I saw some threads on here, but had a whole bag to use. So the vet also said that getting her on the adult food will help some too. She did say it's a very good food, so that was nice to hear coming from the vet. Marley loves it so I can't imagine changing it.

I live in Alaska and we take our dogs out all year round rain sleet snow or sun.

In the winter when its snowy and icy be sure to get yourself some Yak Trax or something similar. If you get Yak Trax Pro you can continue to run outside all winter. Be sure have some reflective gear and dress for the weather ...hats and gloves...tho you should be cool when you start out because you'll be warming up.

I love x-country skiing at night and the dog does too and I'm assuming puppy will. I also enjoy snowing shoeing in the winter months and can take less traveled trails w/the dogs which means more off leash time

You can add fruits and vegies as fillers in the dog food if she's feeling shorted.

My 50 lb BCX gets 2 cups a day and my 7.5 month old lab puppy gets 4 cups a day these days. I recently cut him back as he was starting to get a bit broad now that he's not growing so fast. I'll add more in if I need to

Green beans are a great snack for dogs. Sadie use to weigh 96lbs. Yes, she was fat only we didn't see it. To make a story short when she tore her ACL we cut out all human food, edible bones, and milkbones. We changed her food from Eukanube weight control to Innova. We switched her snacks to Old Mother Hubbard low fat. We gave her the green beans as a snack with a OMH once in a while. She now weighs 83 lbs and can still lose more.
She walks everyday and swims in the summer. Good luck,be strict about it and she will lose.

My Baylee also eats Eukanuba Labrador Retriever Formula, she gets 1 1/2 cups in morning and 1 1/2 cups in the evening. She was on Eukanuba Adult and about a year ago I switched her to the Lab Ret Form. She lost weight just switching from the reg to the special for labs. I also started giving her carrots for snacks and green beans. If you give her ice cubes she looks at you as if your crazy! She was 92 pounds and is down to 84. We walk almost everyday, unless it's pouring rain. She loves the cold and the snow, but as I get older I don't love it so much!

Thanks for the tips! We will continue to walk in the snow as she loves it...it's just getting DH to do it too :) I think just switching her food and cutting out the milkbones will make a big difference! Marley has got green beans before and loved them...I need to remember that! Do you just feed them straight out of the can? She LOVES ice, so luckily that's an easy treat that won't add anything to her :) We just need to get ourselves back into a routine...I don't think it'll be too bad..I just want to make sure we get her where she needs to be! Any other ideas would be appreciated! Especially other healthy snacks that she could still have. She was getting peanut butter in her kong, but that's going to have to be cut back too...anything else that works good in the kong? I know I've read applesauce and yogurt...
Thanks again for all your help!!

I learned from this board that fat free vanilla yogart is good in kongs and get the low sodium green beans. I just put them in a plastic container in the frig.

Try this calculator to see that amount of kibble to feed.

http://www.mycockerspaniel.com/mer.htm#waltham

The food you are feeding, Eukanuba Labrador Retreiver has 350 k/cals per cup. To get her down to 65 lbs. I would start with approximately 1150 k/cals a day from the dog food. Which would be about 3 1/4 cups a day of the food you mentioned. You can even go down to 3 cups. Once you get her down to her desired weight, continue that amount and judge then if she needs more food to keep her 65 lbs. Also a lot depends on how active she is, so you have to take into consideration also.

Why would you not walk in the winter? Other than a few days of storms? Rain or shine we head outside for a walk, it just means you have to build a wardrobe that keeps you comfortalbe outside.

Running on leahs is good exercise but do abit of research - I notice your pup is just 1 year old, so if you are doing short runs that might be ok, but generally it is recommend to not do forced exercise until the dog has matured (18+ months) physically.

Take a look at the calorie count on what you have been feeding (puppy food) and what you are changing to, that alone may help. Or look at a food with fewer cals per cup, but still nutrient rich (i.e don't switch to a super low fat "weight-loss" diet as it is usually nutrient rich)

Generally you go with feed less, exercise more. Add 15 minutes of exercise adn try to fit in some games of fetch or playing iwth other dogs - that really does wonder. 15 minutes of playing with another dog can be better than a 45 minute walk (in some ways!)

Cold, rain, snow should not be a deterent unless there are weather warnings. It is the unfotunately reality of having active dogs (or one that needs more exercise to loose weight!) - you gotta get out there even if it isn't nice! Unless there is a major frost bite warning or the sidewalks are pure ice I head outside, and it gets freaken COLD here! ANd yes we gets lots of snow - i still go out there.

I took 8lbs off Holly when she was a puppy.

I used this recipe:

5 cups dry food
1 can green beans unsalted
1 can carrots unsalted
1/4 c food supplement (missing link)
1 tbsp tomato paste

Mix all together (use water from the veggies to wet the food)

Store in an air tight container and use 1/4 of the mix for each meal. It really worked and she got plenty of quantity to eat, but much less calories. She lost 8 lbs in 3 months (although she was still growing so some might have just been growth).

I just mix in green beans (unsalted) with the food and add some water. My dogs only get 2 level cups of food a day. And I leave them kongs during the day with a smear (small smear) of peanut butter way at the end of the kong. It probably burns more calories to try to get to it, than the little bit of peanut butter I put in there :) And ocassionally a milk bone, but not a lot.

I switched them to grain free - taste of the wild - a couple of months ago. both are very shiny and looking good, although I have to get them weighed soon to see if there was any effect. I weighed them both before I started them on it

Why would you not walk in the winter?


For me, it's because it's dark and I don't live in a great neighborhood. I have to walk at lunch time but that doesn't allow for as long of a walk as I'd like - during the week that is. Weekends are fine for a long walk.

Its dark here in AK too and out we go.

Use reflective gear - illumnix (sp) hats are awesome. Ruffwear leashes and collars have reflective threads woven in. Our humane society sells these lighted collars and I think I've seen them in the cabelas catelog. They're most awesome for keeping track of your off leash dog in low light conditions. I've seen quite a few folks using the LED red blinky light htat attaches to the dogs collar. It certainly got my attention as a driver.

I take a head lamp often but prefer to leave it off mostly. My eyes seem to adjust pretty well after a few -but of course the very best is full moon x-country skiing on a clear night :) Now that makes me look forward to winter :)

Molly is active and her "best" weight is about 57#. In the summer she swims nearly every day - on weekends multiple times a day and she ended up at nearly 1 1/4 cups of kibble twice a day @ approx 500 calories per cup. Now, she's back to 3/4 cup twice a day (innova red meat) - that's less than 1000 calories per day (plus she gets some zuke treats and a tablespoon of canned on each meal as a topper) My 3 play alot and Molly is always one of the two in the mix so even in the winter she gets plenty of exercise - just not over the top like summer. Ava (70#) my couch potato gets 3/4 cup twice a day of CN Chicken & Rice - Belle (92#) also gets only 1 cup twice a day of the CN Chicken & Rice. If you ask me 3.5 cups is alot to feed a dog that needs to lose weight.

I meant to but forgot

I use a handful of frozen green beans -love the big bag of organic from costco. Since my kids won't eat them unless they come out of the can its a good things the dogs love em. They're good for soups and stews too tho (sneaky mom)

It's not seeing in the dark that is my worry. Seriously - this is NOT a neighborhood you want to wander around in the dark in, even with a dog. There are a lot of gang looking types & meth heads that roam the streets at night.

When I've needed to take weight off of my guys (thankfully they've been pretty stable lately) I start by decreasing the total amount of food by 1/4 cup per day, which usually shows results (not goal, but progress) within a week. I also, since they are pretty much on permanent diets these days mix in 1/2 can of green beans with their dinner every day. This is for the adult dogs, not the puppy.

ETA the adult dogs get the Royal Canin Labrador formula which I think from the brief glance I gave the bags at Petsmart one day fairly comparable.

Scully, who is about 68lbs and very sedentary gets .75 cups in the morning and .5 cups plus green beans in the evening.
Mulder, who is about 80lbs and moderately active gets 1.25 cups in the morning and 1 cup plus green beans in the evening.

They both get snacks and small amounts of table scraps through the day though. Mulder is actually getting too skinny (he's been exercising more lately) and I will probably up his food a little.

Weight loss is not only about food and feeding less. that is a big component but the key to sucess is to mix food and exercise. Especially as you want your pup to loose weight and are potentially looking at giving LESS exercice for the next few months...

How early does it get dark? I usually have time for a good run or walk with Rocky before dark (a good hour) - right when I get home. Yes it means that is the first thing I do when I get home.

Is there a safe park/gree area you can play fetch in?
doggy daycare?
Play dates with other dogs in a safe area?
Can you drive to safe place to walk? I do this for a change of scenery...

The dog will need abit more exercise and it needs to be more of less stable thru the year, there has to be some sort of solution. I hate to mention it but at this point even a treadmill would ge thte dog moving...

Up the exercise...that is what I do when our dogs look chunky. They prefer the snow to play in and can go for hours. I just make sure to dress warm myself :)

Why would you not walk in the winter? Other than a few days of storms? Rain or shine we head outside for a walk, it just means you have to build a wardrobe that keeps you comfortalbe outside.

Running on leahs is good exercise but do abit of research - I notice your pup is just 1 year old, so if you are doing short runs that might be ok, but generally it is recommend to not do forced exercise until the dog has matured (18+ months) physically.

I guess I wasn't clear. I'm not going to NOT walk in the winter. We will still go for walks everyday. But there are days where it's not possible, whether it's icy (our sidewalks don't get cleaned real great), or snowstorm, or anything that would prevent us from going. We only do short runs as DH and I are trying to get in better shape ourselves and aren't capable of long, hard running right now :o:

How early does it get dark? I usually have time for a good run or walk with Rocky before dark (a good hour) - right when I get home. Yes it means that is the first thing I do when I get home.

Is there a safe park/gree area you can play fetch in?
doggy daycare?
Play dates with other dogs in a safe area?
Can you drive to safe place to walk? I do this for a change of scenery....

It's dark here now about 5:30, which is before DH or I are even home from work. I don't mind walking after dark as long as DH is with me. We have lots of trails around our neighborhood, but none of them are lit :tapfoot: I'm thinking of emailing the city and seeing if they can put some lights in. We don't really have a good park area except for the off leash dog park, but that's a bit of a drive for us, and we have to get a membership to go after hours. And again, I wouldn't go by myself as it's not in a good part of town. We don't have any other dogs close by to have play dates with. We take her to my parents every now and then to play with their mastiff, but Marley wears her out pretty quick. We're hoping to do doggy daycare a little in the winter (have to get over this kennel cough :(), which of course makes me nervous to take her back to that situation. We hit a lot of brick walls. It's just got to be us continuing and upping her excercise. Weekends of course she gets more because we have more time. But in the evening by the time we eat, go to the gym, walk the dog...we have no time. I don't mind...it's just getting DH used to a busy schedule.

for the poster in the bad neighborhood -how about loading up and going somewhere else to walk? we do that so we can let the dogs off leash...

for the poster in the bad neighborhood -how about loading up and going somewhere else to walk?


Packing up the dogs and driving over to one of the nice neighborhoods to walk? Well, that's an idea. I must say I never thought of it. I DO drive the dogs over to the park for a walk when it's light out but in the dark, I'd be better off in an upscale area. I suppose I should drive around this weekend and scope out a nice walking area. That would give me a chance to give the dogs a nice long walk in the evening. I really hate limiting it to my lunch hour.