It has been my experience that most people believe that they make healthier lifestyle decisions than their generational predecessors. There is a compelling causal narrative at the core of their beliefs: scientific researchers uncover new truths about the world every day; as that newly-discovered information trickles down into the mainstream over time, we all become more informed; and informed decision-makers are “better” decision-makers.  For many of us, that “trickle down” process explains much of how we form beliefs about what types of lifestyles to avoid and what types to embrace. Read More

Obesity kills dogs.

It’s that simple, really.  We can spend our time discussing the specific health conditions that have been linked with obesity – nasty stuff like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Or we can focus on figuring out how obesity does it’s dirty business – explaining the specific biological processes going on inside an obese body.  But the bottom line is this: all else being equal, an overweight dog is likely to die about 1.8 years earlier than a lean dog. In terms of “actionable knowledge,” that’s really all we need to know.

So what’s a loving dog owner who just wants his or her dog to live a long, full life to do about it? How do you put that knowledge to work?

You take three simple steps:

The first step is admitting that your dog could have a problem.  You don’t have to form conclusions or wed yourself to a position, just open your mind to the possibility that your preconceived notions about the appropriateness of your dog’s weight could be wrong.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds.  It will require that you overcome your natural tendency to deny that there’s anything “wrong” with your dog.  This tendency will be exacerbated by the inescapable conclusion that you, as your dog’s guardian and caretaker, are responsible for shaping the animal’s lifestyle. Many people are not honest and caring enough to look at themselves with the kind of critical perspective necessary to make that sort of an admission (it’s no real surprise that canine obesity is wildly under-diagnosed). But you can do it – remember, you’re going through this unpleasantness because you love your dog and you want her to live as long and healthy a life as possible. It’s worth it.

The second step is figuring out whether your dog does have a problem.  If you’ve completed step one, then this one will be a piece of cake.  Just use one of the several scientifically-proven methods for determining whether your dog is overweight.  They’re designed to be quick and easy, they require no special equipment, and they can all be performed from the comfort of your living room.  Best of all, they’ve been proven to be accurate and effective, so, in a matter of minutes, you can have an objective analysis of your dog’s body composition.

If the results show that your dog isn’t overweight then you’re in luck (and in the minority) – you can skip step three.  Just keep doing whatever you’re doing.  Thanks for reading.

If, on the other hand, your cold, un-emotional analysis reveals that your dog is overweight or obese, then you need to take an important third and final step.

That third step, of course, is doing something about the problem.  Canine obesity is a puzzle that can be effectively attacked from all sorts of angles, from simple dietary changes to improved exercise habits. Our regular readers will know that we use this blog as a platform from which to highlight some of the most interesting, effective, and note-worthy ones (along with publishing other canine fitness and wellness content).  Keep up with us and we’ll give you an assortment of ways to solve the obesity problem, leaving you free to chose the solution that fits best with your lifestyle.

Just three simple steps.  If you want your dog to live a long and healthy life, it’s really that easy.

On a high level, the chain of reasoning supporting the claim “your dog should lose some body fat” looks something like this: (1) canine overweight and obesity are “bad” for dogs (they shorten lives and amplify suffering); (2) your dog is overweight or obese; therefore (3) your dog should lose some body fat.

Most dog owners won’t quibble with the contention that overweight and obesity are vile, life-shortening conditions. (Yes, “overweight” is a proper way to say “the state of being overweight.” If you’ve got another concise, politically-correct way to say it, I’m all ears.)  We’re usually pretty willing to admit that overweight and obesity are conditions to be avoided (that they’re “bad”), even if we disagree with or don’t fully understand the science supporting that conclusion.

In my experience, where dog owners do tend to push back is when someone tries to tell us that our dogs are overweight or obese.  Picking random overweight dogs out of a line-up isn’t very difficult.  Admitting that your dog is overweight is another story altogether. Read More

How did you choose your dog’s food?

Did you look critically at theories about the food eaten by her ancestors and make your best-reasoned judgment about what she evolved to eat?  Did you sift through data and crunch numbers to determine how many daily calories she needs? Did you unearth studies that link certain ingredients to specific canine health conditions? Did you identify a food that meets your dog’s nutritional demands without also pumping her full of surplus calories and “non-food” with no nutritional value whatsoever and addictive sugary additives and ingredients with proven links to dangerous health conditions and all the other utter crap that’s in so many mass-marketed dog foods?

Not if you’re like me you didn’t. Read More

In addition to the tremendous physical benefits that exercise provides your dog and the psychological benefits that YOU will enjoy from providing care to your loving companion, there’s another reason you should feel compelled to provide your dog with daily exercise:

She is psychologically hard-wired to enjoy it. Read More

Early this morning an article appeared in the New York Times, extolling the benefits of high-intensity interval training in light of new scientific findings suggesting that short, high-intensity interval workouts may boost cardiovascular fitness just as effectively as longer, more traditional cardio workouts.  The studies upon which the NYT commentary is based can be found here and here. Read More

We prove what we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove.

- Emile Auguste Chartier

Why Not Today?

Is today the first time you’ve thought that your dog would be happier and healthier if she lost some weight?

Probably not.

If you’ve read this blog before (somewhat unlikely) or if you’re at all interested in the intersection between doggie culture and science (more likely), you’ve probably heard that canine obesity is a serious problem in this country and you probably recognize that your dog’s experience in the world would be measurably better if she were a fitter, healthier animal. Read More

No profit grows where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what you most affect.

– William Shakespeare

If your overweight dog is ever going to get back into shape, you’ll have to play several different (but equally critical) roles throughout the process.

On one level, you’re going to be a general.  This one is pretty obvious.  You’re the one with the big brain, the one with the ability to set goals, the one with mental faculties that allow for differentiated tasks and strategy-formation, the one primed for (though not always capable of) skepticism and critical analysis.

For most of us, this is the relatively easy role. Read More