weight loss and nutrition

[Luciengwin4]

Well i am sad to say my three year old lab is over weight my wife has done it to all of us by over feeding so i had to take over feeding the dog this past month. I switched her food to the new purina active life, started giving her less, and i have been working her almost every day at least twice a day for the last month. She can't go for more than ten or fifteen minutes without her tounge dragging the ground and we have to stop before she gets over heated. The season starts here in three weeks and i need to get the weight off of her. Could someone suggest what kind of food i should get and maybe how much i should give her and maybe some other excersice routine. all opinions are welcome. Thank you.

[Ken Bora]

Welcome to the RTF Luciewigen
Your Dog,
Your Canine Athlete.
Is not going to suddenly become “In Shape” any more than you are going to be in a humble 3 weeks. While the increase in working activity is very beneficial to the both of you. It is quite unrealistic to expect complete fitness in that time. Swimming and fetching are very good for the dog. Walking, simple long walks. Brisk. Are very good. I am chipping away on my own weight loss here, slow and steady. It is a heck of a lot easier mucking through the swamp in the dark.
OH, blaming the wife for overfeeding YOU is like blaming the bartender when you wake up stuck to the bathroom floor in the morning. And realize it is not your bathroom.

[Bill Watson]

Good luck on your weight loss, Ken. You do have a way with words. Hehehehehe, Bill

[Pam Spears]

Ken's right, you're not going to achieve fitness in 3 weeks. Starving her for 3 weeks (whether by cutting volume or cutting quality) might get her down a few pounds, but her attitude will surely suffer and really, it isn't fair to her. Best thing you can do now is continue to feed the food you've got. Read the bag, figure out how much she's been getting while getting fat, and then feed less. Incorporate exercise, based on what she can handle. Take her for brisk walks or shorter jogs (these will help YOU, too) and swims to improve fitness and burn calories. Train as usual, but don't use training itself as a weight loss tool: there's an appropriate amount of retriever training per day, which is probably not enough to achieve fitness. You don't want to burn her out on her work in the name of exercise: they're two different things. What's the weather like where you are? Some of the tongue dragging and overheating might be normal, even for a fit dog, if it's still warm where you live.

There are loads of discussions regarding dog food brands... I'd skip Ole' Roy and Kibbles and Bits, LOL, but any name brand food that's mid-priced or above will probably do. Retriever competitors use a lot of Purina and Eukanuba. The main thing is, you're not going to see a difference in the time you have left with a food change, and you might introduce a stomach upset by changing foods now.

She might not be in tip top shape by the time your season starts, but do the best you can, be practical about what she can handle when you hunt, and enjoy watching her shape up and get fit.

[2tall]

Don't know where you live Luciengwin, but now that my dogs are not getting their regular training, we go on lots of hikes. Good for all of us and a beautiful time of year to do it as well! This is the first time I have ever "knocked off" on the training and they did not gain weight. And I agree with Pam, you really won't accomplish anything with the discount foods. Get a quality blend and just feed less. Welcome!

[DuckTruk]

Its not the type of food, its the amount. We will give heavy dogs a small amount of food until we can feel their ribs. Most of the time this takes several weeks to get them to the desired weight. We also steadily increase their activity level. We don't switch to a "weight control" diet as we want to assure that the dog is still getting some nutrition and not just fillers due to the reduced amount of food.