Most owners of overweight dogs describe them as a good weight, and most vets see the opposite. The drift is slow, everybody on the same walk has a similar dog, and the treats are given by four different people who each think they gave one.
It matters more than appearance. Excess weight is associated with a shorter life, worsens every joint problem, increases anaesthetic risk, and makes heat far more dangerous. It is also the health variable most completely under your control.
Step one: a number, not an impression
Ask your vet for two things: your dog's body condition score on the nine-point scale, and a target weight. Then weigh the dog monthly, on the same scales, and write it down. Many practices allow you to use the scales in reception without an appointment.
Without a target and a record, a diet becomes a vague intention that lasts three weeks.
Safe loss is roughly one to two per cent of body weight per week. For a twenty-kilo dog that is two to four hundred grams. Faster is not better and can be harmful.
Step two: count everything for one week
Before changing anything, write down every single thing the dog eats for seven days: meals, training treats, the dental chew, the crust of toast, the cheese used to get the harness on, what the children dropped, and what your partner gave without mentioning it.
Households are routinely astonished. The meal is usually fine; the additions are the problem, and they are invisible because no single person sees them all.
Step three: change the food, properly
- Weigh it. Kitchen scales, not a cup. Volume measures vary wildly between people and kibbles
- Start from the packaging guide for the target weight, not the current weight, and expect to go ten to twenty per cent below it for a neutered, moderately active dog
- Subtract treats from the ration rather than adding them to the day. Ten per cent of daily calories is the ceiling
- Use part of the measured ration as training rewards, which costs nothing
- Add volume, not calories: green beans, carrot, cucumber or courgette mixed in makes a smaller portion feel bigger
- Ask about a prescription weight-loss diet if the reduction needed is large, since these keep protein and micronutrients up while calories come down
- Feed from puzzle feeders and by scattering, so the smaller meal takes twenty minutes instead of nine seconds
Reassess every four weeks. If the dog has not lost, reduce by another ten per cent rather than concluding that diets do not work for this dog.
Step four: move differently
Exercise supports weight loss and rarely produces it alone, and a heavy dog must not be pushed hard: the joints are already loaded and the heat tolerance is lower.
What works: more frequent, shorter outings rather than one long one; a steady pace on soft ground; sniffing walks, which tire without strain; swimming where it is available and safe; and building gradually over weeks. What does not: sudden long hikes, repetitive ball throwing, and stairs many times a day.
Step five: get the household to agree
This is where diets fail. One person weighing the food and another handing out biscuits produces a dog that does not lose weight and two people who each think the other is wrong.
Put the daily ration for the whole day in one container in the morning and feed only from it, including treats. When it is empty, that is the day finished. It removes the argument entirely, and it makes visible how much the dog is actually getting.
Tell everyone else too: the person who walks the dog, the neighbour who keeps a jar of biscuits, the grandparents. Most people comply immediately when they know there is a plan and a target.
When the numbers do not move
If an honest reduction over two months produces nothing, go back to the vet rather than cutting further. An underactive thyroid and other hormonal conditions cause weight gain that no diet will fix, and they are treatable. The clues are a dull coat, lethargy, skin problems and a middle-aged dog whose shape changed without a change in food.
Equally, unexplained weight loss in a dog eating normally is always a veterinary question and never a success.
Breeds and life stages that need more attention
Labradors, beagles, cocker spaniels, pugs and several others are genuinely more food-motivated than average, and their enthusiasm is a poor guide to their needs. A dog that appears permanently ravenous is not necessarily hungry: begging is a behaviour that has been rewarded.
Two moments in a dog's life account for most of the weight gained. The first is neutering, after which energy requirements typically fall and the portion should be reduced in the same week rather than months later. The second is the transition into middle age, when activity quietly declines and the food does not. Both are predictable, and both are the point at which to recalculate rather than to wait and see.
Treats that cost almost nothing
You do not have to stop giving treats, only to change what they are. Single pieces of the measured kibble work perfectly well as training rewards for most dogs. Beyond that, small amounts of carrot, cucumber, courgette or green beans are close to free in calorie terms, and a licking mat with a thin spread of something soft, frozen, lasts far longer than a biscuit.
Keep the genuinely high-value food for recall and for the vet, where it earns its calories, and do not use a dental chew as an affection habit: a large one can carry a substantial share of a small dog's daily requirement on its own.
Keeping it off
Once the target is reached, recalculate the ration for the new weight and keep weighing monthly. The commonest pattern is a dog that loses three kilos over four months and regains them over the following year, because the plan ended when the target was hit.
Two habits carry it: the hands-on check every month, ribs easily felt, waist from above, tuck from the side, and the single daily container. Both take seconds and both survive a busy working week, which is more than can be said for any regime that depends on enthusiasm.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
Away from your dog all day?
PAWLY provides individual dog walks, home visits and overnight care in your own home, across Luxembourg City. Same walker every time, written report after every visit.
Keep reading
All Health articles
Grooming and coat care through the Luxembourg year
Mats are not cosmetic. They pull on skin, trap damp and hide what is underneath.
Worming: a schedule, not a reaction
Many flea products do not treat worms at all. Check what yours actually covers.
Dog first aid: the six emergencies and what to do first
Nobody researches an out-of-hours vet while carrying a collapsed dog down three flights of stairs.
