Too fat???

[grab]

Looks like she's carrying a bit round her back, although the side shot does look like she goes in at the tummy. But she's got pretty thick fur too, so difficult to tell.  She's got a really sweet face with that foxy nose and big eyes - slightly dachshundy, although with a bit more dog attached, of course!

We seem to have managed to get the shortest *and* tallest female cockers in our area.  Judi (1 year old) was up to 11kg before she got ill, and she was a bit too porky for her size - she's the smallest cocker we've seen (and there's quite a few locally).  We cut her food as a result, and being ill accelerated her weight loss, so she's now down to 9.5kg and she's about right.  Conversely Alice (8 months) is up to 12kgs and still looks too leggy - she's as tall as most of the males round here.  We don't want to over-feed her though, because we want her to put on bone and muscle, not fat.

We saw a lovely male cocker called Harvey yesterday evening who was really friendly but far too fat (around 16kg) - you could easily have balanced a tea-tray on his back.  He's on less food and more exercise now, but it'll take a while to slim him down.  His owner said they'd thought it was mostly fur, until they took him to be clipped and found it was mostly Harvey...

[mermaid]

Honey is 16 inches tall. We walk every day for miles along the canal side or down by the river. She is off lead for most of the walk and runs and runs! Quick rest back home then playing outside with my son.
I am not worried in the slightest about her weight but am aware how quickly she could get porky. I have reduced her dried food and treats slowly.
What do you think is the ideal weight for her height and age?

[joanne_v]

I'd say she is a little overweight. Perhaps a kilo less would suit her frame. Its impossible to say what she should be as every dog is different. My two cockers are 10kg and at 11kg they have looked porky so I've cut back. If thet vet says she is overweight then I would take their advice and cut back 15% of the food allowance for a month or so and see what difference it makes.

[Nicola]

I think from that photo she does look overweight, her back is broad in relation to her size and she doesn't seem to have much of a waist. I would look at cutting back on her food and treats and upping her exercise to help her burn it off and build up some muscle instead.

It's impossible to say what the 'ideal' weight is for dogs of a given age or even height as other factors like build, bone etc. have to be taken into account. Rodaidh is 16.5'' tall and weighs just over 14kg but I can see the outline of his ribs, he's very muscular and has good bone but carries next to no fat.

[supergirl]

Roly at 14months is a very lean 14kg (16.5" at the shoulder) - was at the vet recently who said that he was the perfect build for his age.  Think you need to factor the dogs build into the equation.

[mcphee]

Honey is 16 inches tall. We walk every day for miles along the canal side or down by the river. She is off lead for most of the walk and runs and runs! Quick rest back home then playing outside with my son.
I am not worried in the slightest about her weight but am aware how quickly she could get porky. I have reduced her dried food and treats slowly.
What do you think is the ideal weight for her height and age?

She looks a similar build to Rufus. 12.5 kilos would be a good average I would say.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Honey is 16 inches tall. We walk every day for miles along the canal side or down by the river. She is off lead for most of the walk and runs and runs! Quick rest back home then playing outside with my son.
I am not worried in the slightest about her weight but am aware how quickly she could get porky. I have reduced her dried food and treats slowly.
What do you think is the ideal weight for her height and age?

She looks a similar build to Rufus. 12.5 kilos would be a good average I would say.

She only weighs 12 Kilos at the moment 

Looking at the second photo I would go with my first thought that she's carrying a little too much across her back. She has quite a narrow chest  - so whereas Nic's Rodaidh is a similar height and a lot heavier he has a broad chest at the front so will be naturally heavier from that and his muscle. I have a female Weimaraner that according to 'charts' could be overweight but she has an extremely deep chest (too deep really) and so has extra mass inside if you like that makes her naturally heavier - even when you can see her ribs.

If you can grab a handfull of flesh across the top of her back (near her shoulders not neck) and it wobbles a bit or wrinkles up then that's a good indicator that she needs to loose some and tone up a bit. Once you've found their ideal weight it's easier to 'feed by eye' and keep on top of it. I probably vary how much food my two get daily and judge it just by looking at them and knowing how much exercise they've done that day etc.

It shouldn't take much to get her into top shape though 

x

[Helen]

muscle weighs more so maybe she just needs to tone up I agree with the others, she does look like she could lose some weight.

How have you measured her height as 16 inches makes her quite tall?