I have three little dogs.  When we got our first one she was so cute that we of course overfed her by giving in and letting her have treats all the time.  It got to the point where the dog would turn up it’s nose at it’s food because it wasn’t really hungry and knew a better tasting treat was right around the corner.

The dog in question was a jack russell rat terrier mix.   A small dog which should weigh no more than 20 pounds ours got up to 27 I think.  

The thing of it was that it was my wives and I first dog.  And being the dog was so small it was hard to tell if it was overweight.   Also, the dogs natural body type was kind of stocky

We learned from our vet that for most dogs you should be able to look at them from the side and their tummy should tucked up at a very quick angle compared to their chest. 

In other words if their belly is even with the angle of their chest or hanging lower than the chest, your pooch needs to go on a diet.

Some people don’t care if their dog is overweight because they feel the dog is happier getting plenty of extra treats.  The problem with this is that being overweight is just as bad for a dog as for a person, more-so if you consider that most owners are not willing to pay for extra medical treatments and would rather put a sick animal to sleep.  So, letting your dog get fat is one of the quickest ways to shorten it’s lifespan.  

In our case our dog was much more alert and a happier dog after having her lose weight.  She also enjoys what food and treats she gets much better.   

We quickly had our dog lose weight by simply cutting down the number of treats and reducing the amount of food she gets.    We also put her on a weight control formula as she doesn’t run around much so any overeating will cause her to gain weight. 

If part of the problem is that your dog begs all day out of boredom for treats, replace them with things better for the dog.   In the summer our dogs like to chase around ice cubes.  Or, simply giving them a bone instead of something they will ingest and turn into fat. 

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