Hey All,

So I'm trying to figure out what my optimal weight is for my almost five year old dog, Blade. He is a Black Lab/Boxer mix to the best of my knowledge (I adopted him so who knows really!). The last time I was at the vet that I can remember they said he weighed in around 65lbs, however this was many many years ago, he was probably one year old. Anyways, that always seemed right (however I have never had him weighed since then) until I just weighed him tonight, and on my bathroom scale, with me holding him and then subtracting my weight he came to 76 lbs!

I'm starting the raw diet with him, and am trying to calculate how much I'm going to need to be feeding him, and wanted to make sure my numbers were right. All this time I've been thinking he is 65 lbs, and boy am I off. How should I figure out what weight he should be at? Here are some photos taken from tonight.

Blade Photo #1
Blade Photo #2

My apologies but he kept trying to lay down for the pictures lol! I tried my best to get a good side photo of him.

Thanks!

At first glance he looks great. A photo from above would be helpful as well. The main thing is you should be able to feel his ribs. If theres a nice smooshy layer over them, you may want to reduce portions. This is all obviously just my own opinion since everyone seems to have their own opinion on what the perfect weight on a dog looks like. And on that token, every dog seems to carry their weight differently. I like my dog THIN. For the amount of energy he expends running around like a nut, I don't want any extra weight pushing on his joints and bones, especially.now that he's in training for SchH. So I like to see his last rib. And I don't want any fat layer on top of that ribcage. I think thats the key area where dogs begin to carry fat (whereas I carry it all in my butt lol) but you see what I mean. It took a LOT of playing around with portion sizes just to figure out how to maintain his weight, with allowance for growth (he's 15 mos), and to compensate for extra energy expended during training. Its a constant adjustment game. Changing of the seasons, changes in routine, changes in age- its all part of the formula!

Hope it helps! Great looking dog!



Edited by Jessica Pedicord (10/28/2010 09:02 AM)
Edit reason: typo!

He looks pretty good to me too. He's definitely not underweight because I can't see the outline of ribs. But like Jessica said, you should be able to easily feel ribs--and see a well-defined "waist" when you look down from above.

The calculations for how much to raw-feed are just a starting point anyway, but it'll get you in the right ballpark. I'd calculate it like this:
70 pounds x 16 oz. = 1120 ounces of dog
x 2.5% of his weight in food per day
= 28 ounces of food per day (so, 14 oz. per meal if you feed twice a day)

Start there and monitor his weight with the hands-on-ribs test and then adjust from there.

He's very handsome.

Thanks all!

I'll try and get a shot from above when I get home, and update for you.

Pictures as promised - again had difficulties trying to get him to not sit.. really need to teach him the 'stand' command, though I'm waiting for my new Mike Ellis DVD pack to arrive! Looking forward to it.

Here are some pictures from the top down.

Missed it by a second!
Alright Dad, what the heck are you doing up there?

Those were the best I could get, lol. Trust me, I tried!

Thanks again for all your helpful insight, advice, and encouragement!

- Jonathan & Blade

Ha. Cute.

I think his weight is in the right ballpark. He has a waist. But he shouldn't gain any. Err on the side of too lean vs. too fat.

If you run your hand along his sides, can you easily feel ribs under the skin (should be easy with a shorthaired dog)--or do you sorta feel them, but under a layer of fat?

His coat is super shiny, you must be feeding something decent already!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

His coat is super shiny, you must be feeding something decent already!

His coat is 'OK' - I always get comments on it, but I feel it could be better. I'm assuming a little bit of that is from the camera flash! Really looking forward to how sharp of a boy he can be once on a good natural diet and with the salmon oil

Thank you for the comments though

p.s. Kibble is currently kibble from the local Costco - which honestly compared to others I've fed, has seemed to work well for him, though looking forward to a better diet