I have a 2 1/2 year old Chinese crested powder puff. She is a rescue dog an we are her third owners. She joined us at 10 mos. of age. She stands about 13 to the shoulder and weighs 19.5 lbs. She is very active, we walk 2 1/2 to 3 miles daily and 5 times a week she goes on a 2 mile jog with me. She is very broad chested but does not have much body fat. She is a very solid dog. My concern is am I exercising her too much and should her weight be a concern. She appears healthy and happy in all respects.
with that level of exercise i would find it hard to believe shes overweight unless your feeding her the amount of food a dog twice her size would need. with dogs i tend to believe with my eyes not my scales. if she looks fat then shes properly fat. the general rule should be that you can find ribs easy or even last couple be slightly visible and they should have a waist. dont listen to guilds as it says a female bullmastiff should be 45-50 kg but my phoebe is 52.5 and thats because shes randomly lost weight so looks all bony
According to the breed information http://www.breedia.com/dogs/chinese-crested she sounds overweight but you say she does not have much body fat, so possibly her extra weight is muscle. And as you are new,
Do you have any pictures of her that we could see? Could just be she's larger then average for her breed and the extra weight is muscle. Welcome to Breedia BTW
thanks, she has good body contour and ribs are easy to find, she has a waist so I suppose I'm worrying about nothing. Her broad chest may be from muscle as a result of the level of exercise. From what I've read the Chinese crested doesn't require a lot of level of exercise but she loves to go run with me and after a jog she's ready to fetch the ball. Thanks for your input
Going by that second picture which shows off her body better, I'd say she's a little overweight too. Nothing major, and being oversized for her breed, she will be bigger and heavier, but I'd want to see a more defined tuck myself.
I am sure you will be able to do it just by slowly cutting her food down. My dog gained 3.8kg in less than six months when first put on medication, and although it took 18 months I got her back to the 17kg she had been before starting medication. But I did it very slowly so she did not realise that she was having less food and less food - bought a pair of electronic kitchen scales [the first scales I had ever owned!] and weighed everything. Her weight now tends to fluctuate from just under 17kg to just over, but I did get that weight off her and so far I am managing to keep it off. But as I say, I did it very slowly, and your girl only has a couple of pounds to lose whereas Pereg was way overweight. Good luck!
I agree that she's a tiny bit overweight, and I'd look at diet first if you think she is already getting enough exercise.
Maybe it's me but that doesn't sound like much exercise to me at all. 3 miles a day isn't that far is it? What's that about an hour? is that just walking? Anyway it makes no odds if she's a bit chunky you either cut down on the food or up the exercise or both.
3 miles is about 5k. We do that in half an hour. Not extreme but enough to keep her in good condition. I've started cutting back on the calories. Thx
I was thinking aloud really as my Pugs probably do 3 times that every day, they have little choice as the big uns need the exercise, although they can just sit and watch when we're chucking the ball, they generally carry on pottering about.
We'll be working to get to about 15 lbs. I think that will be a good weight for her. Thanks to all for your feedback and comments.
If you take it slowly, reducing the amount of her food, she should not notice that she is getting less. Good luck!
