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Super Skinny Daisy


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Well, maybe it's the picture, but she doesn't actualy look underweight to me. All adult dogs (except pregnant ones) should have an hourglass when viewed from the top, have a tuck (deeper chest/shallower waist) when viewed from the side, and you should be able to easily feel but not see ribs. It's fine to see the edge of the ribcage, and it's fine to see individual ribs if they're stretched out or turning, but unless they're in training for the Iditarod, you don't want to be able to count individual ribs while in a neutral position. I'm not seeing ribs, and she looks muscular and well-fleshed on her limbs and over her loin. (Finn, BTW, has a very similar build and is pretty wasp-waisted. Ali even more so, and he's not thin. Just whippety.)

 

Beautiful dog, BTW. The one behind her is a cutie-pants, too, but I'd actually say that one looks a bit overweight (sorry! Not trying to insult!) It could just be the picture...?

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Haha !! I will pass the comments on to my sister. She is my Sisters collie cross spaniel, Sally !! She is 10 years old and yes she is over weight!!! haha.

 

Daisy does def have that whippety look about her. My dad keeps teasing me saying she is crossed with a whippet !!

 

Maybe its just me thinking she is super skinny then! Its just all the collies that I have seen are bigger than Daisy and thats why I thought she was super skinny !!! Apologies to my little Daisy Dot !!

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Wow! People always say Kessie is skinny, but this picture makes her look a bit, er, unskinny! Maybe I'm feeding her too much after all.

Anyway, I'm glad Daisy is NOT super skinny

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I should add, BTW, that not all tucks will be that deep and hourglasses may vary in width - Kenzie the Westie, for instance, has a proportionally broader shoulder and hip than Ali the BC/whippet, so her hourglass is more hourglassy and his is more narrow. Ali also has the deepest tuck, and Kenzie's is the shallowest. He's deep from top to bottom and narrow side to side, while Kenzie is more rounded - wider side to side, not as deep top to bottom. Still a trim, muscular little thing, and able to hold her own with the big boys. (What she lacks in stride length she makes up in persistence.)

 

Heppers, good for you for trying to help your sister's dog by advising your sis the dog is overweight. When doing so, however, you might mention to your sis that you're telling her the dog is overweight because keeping her trim will lengthen her life (by about 15%, which is about a year and a half to two years in a large-breed dog, longer in a medium- or small-breed), and also make her healthier and happier while she's here. Some people are DEEPLY insulted if you mention that their dog is fat, but if you tell them that you like their dog and want it to live as long as possible and be as pain-free and healthy as possible while it's here, sometimes they'll listen better. (Sometimes not, unfortunately. Sigh.) I generally tell people by all means to weigh thier dogs, but that the body condition (as described above) is more accurate, because a simple body weight will not distinguish between lean body mass and fat, and a body condition WILL. If your sister starts cutting back on the food and taking Sally on extra walks, and Sally loses five pounds of fat and puts on five pounds of muscle, her weight will be the same, but her condition will be significantly improved. (As an added bonus, if she puts on five pounds of muscle, her metabolism will go up and she'll be able to eat more and still stay trim, which most dogs like. Most people, too!) :rolleyes: The general info on that is that if you take a pound of fat and a poud of muscle and sit them on the couch and make them watch TV for 24 hours, the pound of muscle will use up forty-two calories. The pound of fat will use up two. That's 21 times as many calories if you're a pound of muscle. And that's if the muscle does NOTHING. If it gets up and does aerobics whle watching TV, it uses up more.

 

Hmm... suddenly I feel like lifting weights for an hour or two.... :D:D

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daisy has the same figer as Happy I figer if I shaved Happy down and took her to a dogshow calling her a whippet nobody would question it lol I have actually has a greyhound person ask if she was a baby grey :eek: not to mention at 21" tall and 25lbs she actually matches the weight/height ratio of an actual whippet I know lol

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Daisy and my Liz could be twins LOL. They look to be the same weight. I've found that on young Border Collies, especially intact dogs, it's sometimes very hard to gain or even maintain weight. I have a 2 yr. old male, who is bony :rolleyes: I feed the heck out of him, I even had my regular vet, as well as our oncologist vet look at him, just to be sure he was ok, they both said he was fine...My 1 yr. old female, looks like your Daisy,and I feed the heck out of her too. I think it's just a Border Collie thing.

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Love the photo, Heppers. And yes, my Kirra (490mm tall at the shoulders, weight about 13.8 kg) looks a lot like that. In fact when she's soaking wet, I feel a little embarrassed, she's such a skinny minnie. But she runs like the wind (way too fast for me in agility) and I'm hoping that having her skinny will keep her sound longer!

 

Daisy looks as though she's fairly light framed, too, like Kirra.

 

Now how about a beauty parlour photo?

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A few months back I took Jackson to the vet because I was so sure he had a gazillion worms or some weird wasting away disese. The vet checked him out. He said his coat was in great shape, his eyes clear and alert, great muscle tone. I said yeah, but I can feel his rib bones and hip bones! He said well, if it were any other breed, I would say he needs more weight, but he is a border collie and he is just fine. He put him on a higher protein/fat dog food and we had him weighed two months in a row. He gained around two pounds each month. It's just the border collie.

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Heppers - I just saw a remark made on sheepdog-L (a Yahoo list) that mentioned "pancreatic enzyme supplements" for humans that are available at health food stores. The person posting about this had had a dog with the problem of losing weight, getting weak, walking as if in pain, all while eating well (no mention that I remember of diarrhea or other symptoms). He/she put the dog on these supplements and has seen the dog return to full health within a number of weeks. Whether or not the supplements did the trick, I don't know but it might be something to look into.

 

Best wishes!

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