Did you know that an estimated 44% of dogs in the US are overweight or obese?

I found this little cutie on the Internet. She needs to lose some weight.

Has anyone told you your Poochie has a pooch?  Perhaps your vet has said your dog needs to loose five pounds; or you’ve noticed your dog is having difficulty walking or gets winded easily.  No one is exempt – young dogs can become overweight just as easy as old dogs.  It is more rare to see an overweight intact puppy – but I have seen those, too.  There’s really no excuse for it either.  You could be contributing to future debilitating arthritis, cardiac or diabetic health problems.  So start today – here are some tips to help Poochie loose a few pounds:

1. Exercise – just like us, increase exercise.  If your pet isn’t used to it – go easy.  But slowly increase the duration.  There’s nothing wrong with a good old walk.  Fresh air is good for the senses – dogs love to smell things and investigate – any time walking outdoors is stimulating for both your body and your dog’s body.  Spend more time with your Poochie and go for a walk.  You’ll both feel better.
2. Feeding – cut down on the volume of food.  No different from us, the less you eat, the more you lose.  So, start cutting back on treats and the food bowl.  You can use clever substitutions like lettuce and other vegetables.  After giving some grief to a friend of mine for her “square” beagle, she substituted half her dog’s food with lettuce (which her dog happen to love).  She lost a bunch of weight and her girlish figure came back.  That was at 12 years of age, and she lived to be 18.
3. Work for Food – use feeding devices so your dog is exercising while eating.  My favorites are the Tricky Treat Ball, the Kong and the Twist-n-Treat.  Kongs are best if you feed raw or home cooked; the Twist and Treat and Tricky Treat Ball work with kibble. 
4. Hire a Dog Walker.  If you are at work during the day and your dog stays home, how about treating Poochie to an extra walk several times per week.  Dog Walking is big business these days and there are all types of services depending on needs.  Just make sure you hire a dog walker and not a dog stander.  A Poochie that is already overweight needs a little encouragement to move, so someone who is walking for a full hour with a pack may help keep them walking along.
5. Play with Toys.  If your dog likes toys, play a little fetch or tug every evening.  My other favorite is “hide and seek”.  Hide the toy and let your Poochie try to find it.  (Or if your dog is food obsessed, hide the Kong or Twist-n-Treat.)  I played this game the other day when it was raining.  I took Jester’s prized ball, showed it to him, then put him in a sit stay just outside the room and hid the ball under a pillow on the chair he’s allowed on.  It took him 15 minutes of running from chair to chair and corner to corner of the livingroom trying to find his favorite ball.  
   

   Here's what that cutie above could look like if she got fit. This is my Harleigh at 10 years old.

For more information visit:

 Pet Obesity Prevention

 Fat Dog Slim by Victoria Stillwell 

Tammy Mehmed
 The Puppy Nanny

Many of you from Twitter have commented on how Dogopolis’ photos looks nice and professional, and have asked me about the camera that I use etc.  Most of the time I use a Digital SLR but I also take a lot of the photos with  my iPhone camera. I would agree that a good camera enhances the quality of the image, but there are other things that you can do to get a great photo of your dog, even if you don’t have a fancy schmancy DSLR.

So here is a short tutorial for ya:

1. Get your dog used to the camera

Trust me, I'm a Poofessional

The first thing is to get your dog used to the camera. Most of you have probably snapped hundreds of pictures of your pup so this won’t be a problem but some dogs might not be as familiar with the camera, they might try to sniff it or get close to it because they’re curious about it.  If this is the case, distract them by giving them toys to play with or take them to an outdoor setting where they will be amused with plenty of other things and forget that the camera is there. In general, get them used to being in front of the camera by spending more time taking pictures of them.

2. Lighting
While Indoors, I find that natural lighting works best for the dog’s feature, try to look for indirect light near windows, pose your dog so the light is facing them and you are holding the camera with the light source behind you.

Outdoors, be aware of the time of the day and how that reflects the quality of the image. The best time to take photographs outside the house would be before 10-11 am and after 3 pm.  I find that the afternoon sun is a little harsh but if you must take photos during this time, do it in areas where there are some shade.

3. Pose
Dogs are pretty photogenic, they are naturally cute and they don’t care if they look fat in pictures. Once you get them used to the camera, you will find that it’s pretty easy to get a good picture of them. It also helps to have a dog that LISTENS to your command because you can pose them to stay still and tell them to pay attention to you. You can also make it fun for them by giving them a treat after you take a picture of them.

4. Close up is good
My favorite photos of dogs have been the ones that are a close up to their face, showing their expression. Don’t be afraid to put the camera really close to them, or at ground level. Experiment with different angles and position of the camera.

Turtle, Smiling on cue

5. Be ready and aware
Be ready and aware because you never know when your dog might be sleeping upside down with his tongue hanging out, and you want to have a camera handy because they might not be in that pose for very long. I like using my phone camera for this situation because it’s easy to use.

6. Have fun!
Have fun! If you’re having a good time, your dog will have a good time and you’ll have a great picture. Don’t stress out if the pictures are not what you expected. Keep taking pictures!