how should i respond to the "too skinny" comments ? - Page 2

I know the feeling as well.My girl is a flat coat and is in constant training.There is not an ounce of fat on her at 72 pounds.I was nervous about showing her at the regionals because she blew coat and looked like I havn't fed her.I just told everyone she was a GSD MAli mix and they thought nothing of it then.  J/K

FionaDunne--lol..

i just try to explain how lower weight is better for the hips, espc while the dog is still growing...some people understand and get it , but i do still those that argue with me about it...and the comments like - "thats why i don't want a purebred dog" and "I would never starve my dog for 'looks' ", even tho i try to explain that its not for looks, except for looking healthy..lol..people around here think a fat dog is a healthy dog, + that means you take care of your dog if they can tell its well fed (fat)...which is sooo off to me because it would be much easier to just free feed my dogs and let them eat when they wanted, than to split up meals and watch what they eat......

atleast  for you its just the dog they complain about.......everyone b!#ches to me about ME, my dog and my kids are to skinny!...lol....(even tho my kids dr. says they are fine)

I have to say that the younger vets that I work with are quite good in telling folks that their pets are too heavy.  My boss on the other hand is way too nice!  I always get comments on my male more than my female, although she's way way leaner than he is at the moment.  But, she's also the kind of dog that looks totally different being in coat vs. out of coat.  My boss has a weird perception, that GSD's are just not great eaters, that's why they are so lean. 

My dogs are herding dogs and thus need to be lean otherwise they couldn't run the 10 to 15 miles per session of herding.  Especially in the summertime, they can get away with a couple of extra pounds in the winter.  We don't see too many GSD's period, I would say about half are in good weight half are not.  Saw an obese long coated GSD this morning, that the "new" tech who is still learning, thought was a husky mix.  I laughed and said, he's just not the best example of a GSD.

Tell people that she's a working dog not a couch potatoe. 

With someone who is pretty rude about it I always say, "On a working dog you should be able to feel EVERY rib"... but don't look at your dog's ribs, look at the other person's round belly....

lol - I've had this problem too.

I was at a UKC show with my Ruby last month and the judge goes to feel her and tells me she's too skinny.  I said she was a competition dog - that I worked her in SchH and she's also at the gangly age of 10 months....judge said it didnt matter.  Ruby is in perfect shape.

I asked a friend of mine about it - a seasoned handler - and she said Judges (and I am going to say your average pet owner as well on my own note) like fat dogs - which is why it is more important to get dogs out who do work out and are in shape so that they can learn what to look for.

The judge was a little overweight too on an afterthought O.o

Just ignore them...it's easier.

~Cate

I get this ALL the time, my Rikkor Bad-Boll daughter is 24 inches at the witther, 60 pounds soaking wet. I point out that you CANNOT see her ribs, or her hipbones, or her back bone. I also explain how much healthier it is for a GSD to maintain a lean, athletic weight.

Then again, I also had some morons insist that my other bitch, who weighs about 75-80 pounds, was called "large and strong" in her breed survey is too small.

Sadly, in America, bigger is better, and most people don't know the difference between genuinely large and just fat.

I've had some people be downright rude and snotty about it, and to those people I politely inform them that perhaps they should educate themselves by reading the breed standard before taking it upon themselves to critique anyone else's dog.

Geez KC, if your 75-80 pound female is too small, my 56 pound soaking wet must be a midget! 

Working at a vet we see sooooo many fat dogs.  Cute story, rather large Old English Sheepdog, probably the biggest I've ever seen anyway without being overweight.  The owner was really clueless, he was a wopping 114 pounds, and actually pulled it off fairly well, but way too large.  The vet asked how much do you feed him, she said, "oh, 8 cups a day," we both looked at her and said "8 cups?!?!), she's since dropped him down to 4 or 5 and low and behold lost 4 pounds in a month already.  She honestly thought that he should like like that.  And he's not the worst we see.  The 150 pound Labrador is fun!

I get the same thing from friends and family. I have a 13 month old male, 78 pounds. My own mother is appalled because he actually has a waist. She asked me last weekend if I feed my dog haha.  People arent used to seeing Shepherds that are in good shape. I explained to her that he is just right - Athletic and trim...ready to work!

Dont let it bother you. You know what is right.

Tell them you're taking donations for a new bag of food and you know someone who is that concerned with another person's dog should surely be counted on to chip in.

I have a 2 year old bitch (her 2nd birthday is actually today!) that I bought when she was 13 months old. The folks I got her from said they had always had trouble keeping weight on her and she did look a bit thin to me as well. She is from Ursus/Fleischerheim lines. She weighed  58 pounds when I took her to the vet the next day. I noticed she also would consume her "turds" a very disgusting habit.  I put her on a good quality kibble and began adding raw full fat burger and Prozyme to her diet. She now is a lean 63 pounds and I haven't seen her eat her "turds" for quite some time now. To be safe I had the vet run a battery of tests to the tune of a couple hundred dollars. Result she is in perfect health - just has a high metabolism , don't I wish I had that fast burning metabolism!  The vet said you can't believe how many fat german shepherds we see but never yours, they always are lean and healthy. Because she does have such a high metabolism I do have to make sure to add the extra to her meals or she can quickly show her whole rib cage visibly.