Not Keeping Weight Off As Easily?

[Celesteandthebullies]

This year Dakota has been hard to keep his weight down. He's not really at what I'd call a bad weight but I like to keep my dogs very lean.
We've been more active than usual this year in the sense that we've been biking everyday of the week. But he still isn't at lean as last year, could he have matured to be a thicker dog? We swam a lot more last year, this year the docks where our dock jumping club practice broke off so we were inactive. However I'm getting a long lead soon so that should change.

He gets 2 cups of High Prairie Taste Of The Wild, he weighs around 74lbs. Should I reduce it a bit? Should I go in and get his thyroid test (and what on average are the costs for these tests?)
Maybe some ideas for a daily exercise regiment?

Here are somewhat recent pictures



And some from last year

[AllisonPibbleLvr]

How old is he now?

[Misskiwi67]

Just like all of us, dogs metabolisms slow as they get older. Many dogs will require less and less food as they age.

What are you feeding for training treats and how much?

[chako]

Also that COULD be a symptom of a low thyroid -- but that's just a big maybe.

[Celesteandthebullies]

I usually use hotdogs if I decide to train with treats. But I usually just use his toy as his reward. He's 2 years old (Estimated birthday 6-8-09) . I also use Pet Botanics treat rolls.

Just recently we took rally and CGC prep classes, which I've been using a lot of hotdogs for. Around 6, Dakota is dog reactive and easily distracted in new areas so I've been giving him a lot of rewards for focusing on me. And rewards for showing interest in strangers if I give him the okay.

I'm going to start reducing his food on those days, how much should I remove per the amount of treats?

[BrokenAquarian]

He's reached adulthood. He's going to be eating less than he did as a pup. It seems to be, on the average, that most adult dogs eat most brands of kibble at 1.5 cups a day.

[Adrianne]

I hate feeding less than 2 cups to my dogs... I change food if I have to. My 7 and 13 year old pit bulls who are very inactive eat two cups a day, I can't imagine Dakota at his size and exercise level should be eating less than them. Then again I'm a total sucker, I'm big on food myself , I hate the look they give when they finish as if to say, "Is that really all there was?"

I did hate TOTW though because it made my dogs fat (and Shamoo was getting horrible red eye stains). I found Blue Buffalo was by far the best for my dogs weight management but it's far from the only option.

Just my input... Or if I lower the feed I would up supplements of raw foods, etc, ya know things that take longer to eat so they are satisfied.

[Adrianne]

I just saw you're giving 6 hot dogs per training session? Maybe you should cut those up smaller? I cut mine into tiny, tiny cubes... that may help?

[Misskiwi67]

FYI - a hotdog (ballpark Frank) is 180 calories per hot dog. This is the equivalent of 1/2 cup of average dry dog food.

You are essentially feeding 3 cups dry food per training session, thats a lot of calories!

[nic]

Dogs mature 'thicker' as they reach adulthood,but he looks like he's carrying more weight,not being 'thicker set' to me.
I never weigh out my dogs food,feed them x amount if they look chubby they get less,look too skinny,they get more.
I would never have realised how many calories are in hotdogs!I never eat them myself so have never checked.
On training days I mix my dogs dry food in with cut up sausage or cheese then they have their dinner as their reward but it smells a bit more exciting than just plain old dry food.

[Celesteandthebullies]

Thank you for the input guys, Next time we have training classes I'll use just the Pet botanics and lower his food a lot. And bike a little more than usual after training. I'll slowly lower the amout of food he gets each day, maybe he won't notice the change as much. I'll take some weekly pictures. If I don't see a notable difference in about a month, I'll takwe him in and get his thyroid checked.

[BrokenAquarian]

CRAP!!

It's been so long since I've fed kibble - I forgot that I used to feed 2x a day.
It was 1.5 cups in the morning and I think 3/4 to 1 cup in the evening . . . . I think.

Sorry about that.

[Celesteandthebullies]

Dogs mature 'thicker' as they reach adulthood,but he looks like he's carrying more weight,not being 'thicker set' to me.

That's what I thought, but a lot of people kept bringing it up. I didn't believe them really but I'm not one for completely putting a possibility aside without proof.

[Misskiwi67]

CRAP!!

It's been so long since I've fed kibble - I forgot that I used to feed 2x a day.
It was 1.5 cups in the morning and I think 3/4 to 1 cup in the evening . . . . I think.

Sorry about that.

Some dogs have the metabolism of snails and need tiny amounts of food like that though. Romeo is 42 pounds at his ideal weight, and he gets 1/2 cup dry twice daily. Lena is 35# and gets the same or more.

[AllisonPibbleLvr]

CRAP!!

It's been so long since I've fed kibble - I forgot that I used to feed 2x a day.
It was 1.5 cups in the morning and I think 3/4 to 1 cup in the evening . . . . I think.

Sorry about that.

Some dogs have the metabolism of snails and need tiny amounts of food like that though. Romeo is 42 pounds at his ideal weight, and he gets 1/2 cup dry twice daily. Lena is 35# and gets the same or more.

Wow, if I had to feed my dogs that little, they would keep me up all night with their stomachs growling and scavenging for food.