# TX k9 "too thin"?



## kendell jones

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-beat/Photo-of-Skinny-Police-Dog-Causes-Alarm-107323093.html










I get shit all the time for my dogs being "too skinny" - this dog looks happy and healthy to me.


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## Ben Colbert

Does this dog look too skinny in this picture? Yes.

But perhaps this dog just finished a session of bitework and sprinted 100 yards for a long bite, is breathing heavy etc and the photographer just took the pic at the worst possible moment.

A lot of pet people think working dogs are too thing and so I think working people tend to get defensive about it any time its brought up. There is a difference in healthy thin and unhealthy thin and they may be only a few pounds a part.


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## Ben Colbert

After taking another look at the dog I can obviously see where someone might be alarmed but if you look closely the only thing that looks thin is his rib cage. He has decent muscle tone on his shoulders. Seems to lende credence to the theory that he's just breathing very hard.


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## kendell jones

In the picture he does look thin - the video he's not nearly that thin, it looks like the picture was snapped after he'd done some work and was breathing/panting heavily.


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## kendell jones

just realized the picture didn't work...


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## Maren Bell Jones

He looks too thin in the snap shot photo but not in the video. My female Mal is the sort where literally losing 2 lbs makes her look almost emaciated versus lean. If he's like he was in the video all the time, no harm no foul.


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## maggie fraser

kendell jones said:


> just realized the picture didn't work...


 
That looks too thin to me....no resource on him.


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## Wawashkashi Tashi

Ben Colbert said:


> After taking another look at the dog I can obviously see where someone might be alarmed but if you look closely the only thing that looks thin is his rib cage. He has decent muscle tone on his shoulders. Seems to lende credence to the theory that he's just breathing very hard.


Totally agree! I think the pic was snapped when he was panting.. he'd be sucking wind even harder, since he'd primarily be pulling through his nose (with the hose in his mouth). He may be a *titch* light, but only a pound or two. Pet folks don't seem to realize how badly the extra weight affects the dogs -I recently chubbed my bitch up in preparation of puppy-cooking by about 8-10#, & she moves like she's in molasses compared to her usual speedy self! It stinks! Plus to me, she looks out of shape being as "chunky" as she is now & she isn't anywhere near what most "pet people" would have her at!


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## Loren Leffew

My very uneducated opinion: he looks a tad skinny, but nothing I would have taken a dog to the vet for. The whole article sounded very PETA-ish to me. Like, the dog hadn't been to the vet since August. How often do people normally take their dogs, lol. My dogs weights go up and down all year, I just adjust food when that happens. I would have fed a little higher calorie diet, too, but I wouldn't have needed a vet trip just for that. 
He looked good in the video, only caught a good view of his ribs once or twice. Anyway, this is a working Belgian malinios, he's expected to be lighter. If this was a chained Labrador in someone's back yard, it might a different story.


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## Nicole Stark

My mastiff looks like this particularly when I have been exercising her hard. Catch her on the right moment and I see every rib. I've got dozens of pictures of her looking like that. You can even see it a bit when she's not breathing hard.


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## Megan Berry

I agree that he was probably panting. Mals are so skinny anyhow. I had Turco out with me when we first got him, and a lady actually asked me if he was a Greyhound mix!


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## Nicole Stark

Different dog but same type of image, in this one it's a bit more obvious than the last. In a mal, if one knows the breed and understands it's structural characteristics, I'd expect this would be fairly typical once you got them huffing.



BTW if you guys don't know you need to click on the images to see them in larger size.


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## Wawashkashi Tashi

Nicole Stark said:


> My mastiff looks like this particularly when I have been exercising her hard. Catch her on the right moment and I see every rib. I've got dozens of pictures of her looking like that. You can even see it a bit when she's not breathing hard.


Nice looking bitch! 
You can pretty much always see every rib on my mastiffs -much to their chagrin! :-\"


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## Michelle Reusser

Nicole Stark said:


> Different dog but same type of image, in this one it's a bit more obvious than the last. In a mal, if one knows the breed and understands it's structural characteristics, I'd expect this would be fairly typical once you got them huffing.


My dog looks like this too. First thought in my head when I saw the topic pic, was the dog just got worked and he is panting hard. I don't see an issue, I see a very athletic dog.


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## Kristin Countryman

Most people that have a say in this (not here, but the general public) have no idea what they are talking about. I get this crap all the time, I have had people ask me if my dogs are rescues, mostly because my dogs are not fat like the general population thinks they should be...they are athletes! And if they get sick I have to be extra vigilant because they can also loose weight very fast...This dog(the Mal in the article) just got over tapeworms, and is a thin highly active dog by nature, people are ignorant and need not stick their noses where they don't belong. Maybe he needs a few pounds, maybe not, but judging by one picture one can't say for sure. 


Sydney recovering from a gastric bacterial infection @ 42lbs. 










Sydney @ 48lbs conditioned...










Same dog, same day...Might look too thin in this particular picture to the general public...


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## Michelle Reusser

The general public just sees bones, they don't take in the healthy coat, brite eyes and muscle mass that all together, creates a healthy, happy dog. Look how many people, let alone dogs, are obese. We are so used to seeing it now, it's almost the picture of normal these days.


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## kendell jones

I get shit all the time for my dogs being too thin - even my "pet" dogs I keep leaner. One of my pits was FAT, and you could see a huge difference when she dropped the weight.





























There was a time when Layla was fat...22 pounds overweight, actually.







She went from 64 to 42 pounds - she looked like a piglet. It was gross.

Fat Layla...









Not-fat Layla...


















Maggie may have a wicked underbite, but at least she's not fat.

















kendell
______________________________
gadda - CGC, TDI, TT


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