Is Your Dog Wearing a Tank Top or a Parka? - Part 1

What do you think when you see this meme? It's ok if your immediate reaction is to chuckle, but the reality is that the rise in pet obesity is staggering and alarming; it is estimated that over 45 percent of dogs in Canada are overweight.

What do I mean when I ask if your dog is wearing a tank top or a parka? Think about it for a second, when you wear a tank top on a warm summer day, you look and feel lighter. But on the other hand, wearing a warm, thick parka in the winter makes you look and feel heavier due to that extra thick layer. So, in the context of our dogs, are they at an ideal weight (tank top)? Or are they carrying extra pounds (parka)?

This blog is part one of a two-part series with facts and research about obesity in pets and, more importantly, what we can do to prevent and treat it. Whether your dog is a sport dog, an active dog, or a couch potato, extra weight is not suitable for them. Attending various agility events and seeing overweight dogs competing in a physically demanding sport is hard for me, so I wanted to write this blog series.

Discussing weight management can be a touchy subject, but it's time that we normalize this conversation and not let it slip through the cracks. 

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