[jack's brittany]

I have a 6 yr old Brittany. She loves to eat. She was so overweight at the last vet visit he suggested feeding her one cup of kibble / day and a can of green beans / day. He suggested that we break this up to 1/2 cup and can in the am and the other 1/2 cup and can in pm. Does this make sense ? What do any of you all who have experience in working with "always hungry / overweight" dogs suggest / recommend ? We are always taking pity on the poor hungry pooch but we have to keep her weight down somehow.

[Lara's mom]

I wouldn't feed canned veggies - too much salt. Better to boil the equivalent amount of fresh green beans.

[DoggieVogue]

Green beans are a good filler, but like Lara's Mom said, the canned is probably too salty. My dog was on a steroid for a while and gained a bit of weight. When he was done with the meds we cut back on treats to slim him down and only gave him baby carrots for a while. He loves them more than regular dog treats now. Most dog treats are just garbagy junk food. I'm not sure how much treats your dog gets, maybe you could cut back on those too. They count into your dog's food intake too. ;-)

[jack's brittany]

Thanks for the recommendation re: boiling the beans vs canned. We are in a quandry in that she is always seems hungry. She doesn't get much in way of treats. Usually a chew stick in early evening and a couple broken up chunks of Milk Bone biscuit before her bedtime. We cut her back on the kibble bag recommendation and substitued the green beans but she does not seem satisified. Also have tried cooked carrots and they seem to go down okay but I do notice them at times in her stool.

[woofah]

I have just finished researching an article on dog food. I like a couple Dr Bruce Fogle's comments in relation to this thread. Dr Fogle is a vet and very respected author.

Quote" Ideal weight dogs make up a slight majority of my patients ". Almost as many of the other dogs are overweight or obese, so you are facing a common problem.

He suggests:
Start an accurate record of what goes in.
Start an exercise program
Avoid crash diets
Buy blinkers (your dog will look at you all day as is he hasn't had a feed for a week- you need to learn to ignore that, because dogs KNOW that this works)
Do not reward your dog's begging for food

The meals he suggests are:

Cooked chicken, rice, scrambled eggs, fish in smaller proportions than the dog has been getting. I get the impression that he is not a huge believer in veges unless they have been scrunched up with other foods.

I hope this helps with your Brittany.

[Lara's mom]

My suggestion is to feel a lot of raw veggies in place of treats if your dog will eat them. My two dogs grew up believing that raw veggies and fruits were actually treats. It was really an asset to Bailey when she sustained a soft tissue injury to her back and was on steroids for several months. She gobbled up raw sliced carrots and green beans as if they were dog cookies!

[Daividh Dugald]

I make sure my dogs have plenty of chew bones and toys and we do play training daily for good natural dog treats and this has stopped them from eating other things. I also feed them only natrual dog food (Solid Gold) and this has been great for them.