even seen dogs this fat (or fatter)?

Someone is not taking good care of that dog. A dog that fat is at risk for diabetes and other health problems.

that dog won't have to worry about health problems because his back will be destroyed before there can be a problem...

Or cut down on his food?

You could probably roll him around, though. :evilfrown:

My vet gave me a hard time about one of my cats being obese and he is nowhere near that. In fact, he is quite active and loves to fight.

the vet gives us a hard time if they gain a pound or two. One of ours is a mini so he is 13.5 pounds and the other is a full size and he is 22 pounds. The full size is prime weight for the breed and the mini is a little big, but he is almost a full size (in length).

I have an obese cat. He was born with severe birth defects. He's under the care of a very good vet, he's on a special diet. We spend a lot of time with him, and care a lot about his health.

But his back end is not connected to his brain properly and he can't run or jump. He was part of an abandoned litter. If we'd not taken him in, he would have died. We do our best with him, but his birth defect makes it very difficult to keep his weight down.

If you saw a picture of him, you'd accuse us of abuse. That would be very frustrating and heart breaking for us considering we work with him on his weight problem every day.

Thanks. That's all I wanted to say.

Wow.

It's even mentioned in the breed description in the Westminster book of dogs. That being said, I've had 5 and you just have to be vigilant. Letting them get that fat is terrible and they are headed for health problems.

would give them back and hip problems. Poor big ol' bugger!

And excess weight will aggravate it. However, I've had two thin ones who had back trouble so it's not the whole story either.

I inherited her in that shape. One of the eatingest, laziest, happiest dogs I ever saw. She died at about 14 or 15. Never was quite sure when my aunt got her.

Had dragon breath, though.

My German Shepard weighed 114 on his last visit to the vet. Ideally a German Shepard shouldn't weigh more then 90-100lbs. We've had him on a diet but it's helped only a little so far. Hopefully when the snow isn't so deep, he'll be able to run around and get some excercise.

He is cute though!

They should weigh in the 18-20 lb range. He tips the scales at 45. He looks like Jabba the Hut on four tiny legs.

He's otherwise healthy, and the vet has him on a special diet to get his weight closer to normal.

there's no such thing as a mini doberman

I'm not much of a dog person. :)

It was the usual height and length but WIDE. Poor thing couldn't even stand up. The owners had brought him in because of a foul smell and inability to lift his tail (!) Turns out there were so many fat folds around the tail that the dog couldn't even wag it weakly (only the outer 1/3 of the tail was even visible). His urine and feces were getting trapped and there was a horrendous skin infection. I put him on antibiotics and frequent antiseptic baths for 6 weeks and talked to the owners at great length about weight control. I'm not sure I did any good, though, because nobody in the family (including the adolescent son) was under 300 pounds, and out of courtesy to them I had to pull my punches in my usual obesity lecture. I felt sorry for all of them.

They should weigh about 25-30 lb, depending on their frames.

Buffy weighed 65 pounds. He was fat and mean, but he loved grandma because she fed him all the time. Grandma weighed about 265 at the time, too (she's 5'2").

Buffy died really young, at about age 8. Grandma is still alive, but she is thinner. Grandpa took over the cooking and he doesn't cook everything in butter. Or fry potatoes as a side dish for lunch.