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My Bandit, a doxie, doesn't have back problems, yet....but I am worried that he will develop them. We have successfully trained him to not jump off of the bed....most of the time we catch him before he jumps off the couch. BUT....he's chubby. I know I am mostly to blame, as I cave to those big brown eyes and share what I am eating. I actually have tried, unsuccessfully, to put him on a diet before. We had special food, no extra food from me, signed him up for a doggie daycare that had the dogs outside playing most of the day, had him on the treadmill there every week....and NOTHING changed! I try to take him for walks, but he goes a block or so and then sits down and refuses to go any further. I need some recommendations for what has worked for others. I want my baby to be with me for a long time. BTW...he's 7 years old, and does play with his toys...so he's not totally inactive. HELP!!
My Bandit, a doxie, doesn't have back problems, yet....but I am worried that he will develop them. We have successfully trained him to not jump off of the bed....most of the time we catch him before he jumps off the couch. BUT....he's chubby. I know I am mostly to blame, as I cave to those big brown eyes and share what I am eating. I actually have tried, unsuccessfully, to put him on a diet before. We had special food, no extra food from me, signed him up for a doggie daycare that had the dogs outside playing most of the day, had him on the treadmill there every week....and NOTHING changed! I try to take him for walks, but he goes a block or so and then sits down and refuses to go any further. I need some recommendations for what has worked for others. I want my baby to be with me for a long time. BTW...he's 7 years old, and does play with his toys...so he's not totally inactive. HELP!!
You control his food. Give him less, nix the treats, put him on a leash and exercise him as much as possible. Keeping a doxie overweight will lead to disaster.
Agree, check his thyroid. If it's fine, put him on reduced calorie food. I think if you cut back on his food (unless you're feeding too much) he may feel hungrier because the quantity is less. If you're feeding once a day, break it into two or three meals. Be sure and use a measuring cup to portion out his food - that way you get the same amount every time. If you're eyeballing it, you may be feeding more than you think.
Give him green beans and carrots for treats and/or hold out some of his food and give it a kibble at a time for treats. If you're feeding him a cup of food total, use 3/4 of it for his morning and evening meals and reserve 1/4 to be given a kibble or two at time as treats. Since you usually feed him while you're eating, then that's the time you give him a bite of carrot, a bite of green bean or a piece of kibble. He'll still be eating when you are but it will be low calorie.
Start SLOWLY on the walks, he's like an out of shape human. He'll need to build up on his stamina to go a longer distance. Just go one block until he does it easily without tiring, then try a block and a half etc.
You may feel bad not sharing your food with him but you'll feel worse if he has back problems due to his weight. As you know, with a long-backed breed they need to be on the thin side of normal.
Good luck.
ETA: I'd be careful about doggy daycare if they let all the dogs run loose together unless they segregate the dogs by size. I'd be concerned that one of the bigger dogs could inadvertently injure him while playing.
Along with all above advice...
Just hang in there, our biggest dog needs to lose about 5lbs, and we reduced his food and upped his walks, he's lost 2lbs over the course of almost 2 months...so I imagine it takes awhile.
My Bandit, a doxie, doesn't have back problems, yet....but I am worried that he will develop them. We have successfully trained him to not jump off of the bed....most of the time we catch him before he jumps off the couch. BUT....he's chubby. I know I am mostly to blame, as I cave to those big brown eyes and share what I am eating. I actually have tried, unsuccessfully, to put him on a diet before. We had special food, no extra food from me, signed him up for a doggie daycare that had the dogs outside playing most of the day, had him on the treadmill there every week....and NOTHING changed! I try to take him for walks, but he goes a block or so and then sits down and refuses to go any further. I need some recommendations for what has worked for others. I want my baby to be with me for a long time. BTW...he's 7 years old, and does play with his toys...so he's not totally inactive. HELP!!
Some good suggestions have been posted. I agree with checking thyroid and make sure you get the full thyroid panel from Hemopet (best because they utilize breed specific reference ranges) or Cornell or Michigan State University. Thyroid problems are notoriously under diagnosed by vets who merely test for T4 or TSH.
Just wanna make sure you are NOT using the feeding guidelines on the bag of dog food...they are almost always way too much! This might help: How to Estimate the Right Dog Food Serving Size for Your Pet It depends on the dog's activity level and the kcal/C of the food but as a comparison when I was feeding a nutrient dense grain free kibble (I feed raw now) my very active 42-44 pound Aussie girls got 2/3 C in the AM and 2/3 C in the PM. That may not sound like enough but my girls were very active in agility...and believe me they had plenty of energy to run blazingly fast...so I wanted them to carry less weight for landing jumps. But I keep all my dogs thin because I prefer to help my dogs live very long, pain-free lives.
You can also replace about a quarter of the amount of food he should be getting (may not be the amount you are currently feeding and prolly will be much less) with canned pumpkin...NOT the pumpkin pie filling but plain pumpkin. It's high fiber so very filling for the dog and low calorie. Plus most dogs love the taste.
Here is an easy guide to assess if your dog is in proper weight: Is My Dog Fat? How to Tell Your Dog is Overweight | Ahimsa Dog Blog The VAST majority of pet dogs I see are overweight. Most of the agility dogs I see run by very competitive handlers are in ideal weight...they are what most pet people would consider too thin but they have plenty of calories and are in the best shape to handle agility's vigorous physical demands on a dog's body.
The poor guy is prolly out of shape. Or maybe he just doesn't like walking. Regardless, you can make a game of walking by throwing a piece of kibble out in front of him. Start with short throws to ensure success and to make sure he sees the food. Take it slow and very gradually increase the length of the walks. Once he starts walking reliably you can switch to rewarding him with food for actively walking with sporadic throws to maintain his interest. Very important...remember to subtract the amount you use from his meal allotment.
I would look for facility with an underwater treadmill...better workout than a regular treadmill and excellent for rehabbing dogs so very safe.
Try thinking this when those brown eyes get to you: "I am not denying my dog something he needs; I am saving his life."
I had a chunky, no fat dog. Sophie was 108lbs when she should have weighed about 70lbs. We cut down on her food but still gave her treats, they were cucumbers, apples, carrots, she thought she was getting people food for treats and it took about a year but we got the weight off. See if you can find a low or no calorie treat that will help her feel fulfilled and add more play time, tug of war, little games of fetch, a few minutes at a time all adds up.
Agree about the thyroid. My my doxie mix got huge (like doubled in size) and sure enough he had hypothyroidism. Once medicated he lost the weight very quickly and stayed slim the rest of his life.
If that checks out, then it is all on you. Figure out how much food he SHOULD eat each day to be healthy then measure it out. You can put it in toys to keep him busy while you eat your food so you aren't tempted to share. Plus having to work to get food out of a maze or ball is good mental exercise.
Trust me. The hips and spine WILL be a problem one day and you don't want to make it worse by adding extra weight. I hated seeing my old man hobble around. When you open our back door we have a step down to our porch and we had to build him a ramp, because just that 5 inch step, coupled with slippery tile was too rough for him to step up and he fell a lot. Take care of your buddy!
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I know I am mostly to blame, as I cave to those big brown eyes and share what I am eating. I actually have tried, unsuccessfully, to put him on a diet before. We had special food, no extra food from me, signed him up for a doggie daycare that had the dogs outside playing most of the day, had him on the treadmill there every week....and NOTHING changed! I try to take him for walks, but he goes a block or so and then sits down and refuses to go any further. I need some recommendations for what has worked for others. I want my baby to be with me for a long time. BTW...he's 7 years old, and does play with his toys...so he's not totally inactive. HELP!! 
