five ways to help your dog lose weight

While recently on the subject of overweight dogs, and assuming your dog's girth is not expanding due to a litter of puppies growing in there, here are some tips for helping your pooch to shed those unhealthy kgs.

Taito looking a bit pudgy

1.   Before embarking on a drastic weight-loss programme, visit your vet.  Find out what a reasonable and healthy weight is for your dog and make sure your dog is physically able to exercise safely. 

2.  Start and maintain a regular exercise routine. If your dog is unfit, start small with short, easy walks and build it up gradually.  Aim to get your dog on at least one long walk every day. If you have time for two walks, or more, so much the better.  Don't let your dog wander along sniffing the ground - put him on a lead and keep up a brisk pace.

3.  Look very carefully at what you're feeding your dog and then cut out the treats.   All of them.  For training, use pieces of kibble taken from your dog's meals (not in addition to his meals).  If you must give a treat, give raw vegetables instead of unhealthy high-fat, high-salt store-bought treats.  If your dog won't eat raw veggies, then he is not hungry!  Give your dog big meaty bones fresh from the butcher - they are very satisfying.

4.  Change your dog food.  Get rid of the standard brands you can buy in supermarkets.  They are full of unhealthy additives and preservatives and generally have too much fat and sometimes even non-edible rubbish! Instead, replace them with high-quality premium dog foods such as those sold in pet shops or veterinary surgeries.  

5.  Give your dog two or more small meals a day instead of one big one.  To slow him down, consider one of the bowls specially designed for dogs who eat too fast.  Feed your dog less than the amount recommended on the dog food bag - the aim of those guidelines is to sell more dog food!  If your dog is still not losing weight, decrease the amount in his meals by 10%.  Add a few raw vegetables to your dog's meals to bulk them up without the extra calories.

Taito looking perfectly fit

 For more reading about helping your dog to lose weight, here is an interesting article from the Whole Dog Journal with lots of good advice about what to feed and how.