Did you know that more than half of all American dogs are overweight? According to the APOP (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, founded in 2005), a whopping 52.7% of American dogs are fat! The main contributing factor to this epidemic is the so called “Fat Gap” ~ referring to the unbelievable 93% (!) of owners of obese dogs who believe their dog’s weight is normal ~ this was the surprising result of a study conducted by the APOP in 2013.Why Are So Many Dogs Obese?Many owners have been conditioned by their pooches to dish out food whenever they “bark for some”, and to substitute attention with an increased amount of food and/or treats.
Yes, dog obesity is a real and growing problem. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention’s 2022 State of U.S. Pet Obesity Report, 59% of dogs in the U.S. are classified as overweight or having obesity, based on veterinary body condition exams.
What makes this hard to catch at home is the gap between how owners see their dogs and how a vet actually scores them. In that same APOP data, 36% of dog owners rated their dog’s body condition as normal when their vet’s exam classified it as overweight or obese.
In other words, more than a third of dogs owners call “healthy weight” are carrying extra pounds their owners simply aren’t seeing.
I ran into a milder version of this with my own dog, Wally. When I started weighing his raw dog food portions more carefully, I realized his daily amount needed to come down to keep him at a healthy weight, not because he was obese, but because he was drifting in that direction.
Why Are So Many Dogs Obese?
Many owners have been conditioned by their pooches to dish out food whenever they “bark for some”, and to substitute attention with an increased amount of food and/or treats.
Begging dogs are rewarded with table scraps due to their pleading, “sad” doggie eyes owners just can’t resist.
Additionally, these dogs don’t get regular exercise.
Breeds especially prone to weight gain due to genetic predisposition are:
- Labrador Retrievers
- Dachshunds
- Beagles
- Cairn Terriers
- Cocker Spaniels
- Collies
- Shetland Sheepdogs
- Basset Hounds
Physical Signs Of An Obese Dog
1. You can’t feel their ribs when you run your hands down your dog’s sides
2. The dog doesn’t have a waistline
3. The dog’s stomach sags
Health Risks In Obese Dogs
Dogs who are overweight are much more prone to:
- Respiratory difficulties
- Joint problems
- Heart disease
- Kidney failure
- Diabetes
Their quality of life is compromised, and their life expectancy drops drastically due to their overall decreased immune function.
Vet Check Up For Obese Dogs
If you suspect that your pooch belongs to the overweight half of America’s doggie population, please consult your vet to rule out any diseases contributing to obesity.
For example:
- Insulinoma (tumor occurring in the pancreas causing increased insulin production)
- Diabetes mellitus (not depending on insulin)
- Abnormalities in pituitary gland (controls metabolism & appetite)
- Cushing’s disease
- Hyperthyroidism
However, these diseases only occur in 5% of dogs.
Once your vet has diagnosed obesity in your dog, he’ll discuss a diet plan for your pup.
Depending on his size, he should loose an average of 1-5 lbs per month.
The weight loss program should last about 6-8 months.
Tackling Excess Pounds In Obese Dogs
If a dog is completely out of shape, start building up his stamina very slowly, and increase the amount of exercise on a daily basis.
Severe cases of underexercised dogs may only be able to walk down the driveway and back home for the first few days.
It’s likely they’ll still be panting as if they had just returned from a 5 hour hike.
Sadly enough, I’ve experienced this in my capacity as a professional dog walker.
But, I’ve also experienced the fairly quick turnaround of consistent daily exercise for a few weeks.
As with all things in life, consistency and discipline are key in weight control.
Types of Exercise To Help Tackle Dog Obesity
1. Daily, brisk walks for a minimum of 30 mins.
2. Playtime & trick training.
3. Swimming for those who like it, which is especially gentle on joints.
Diet Tips To Help Tackle Dog Obesity
1. Feed a high-quality diet – you won’t find this kind of dog food at your grocery store!
You’ll have to purchase it from a commercial pet food brand or make it yourself.
2. Don’t feed any dog food that contains cheep fillers like corn, artificial food-coloring, and harmful chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT, TBHQ, and Ethoxyquin.
Avoid Overfeeding Your Dog To Tackle Dog Obesity
1. Monitor the amount you feed by taking notes. That way, you don’t lose track.
2. Don’t free-feed, but measure out meals, ideally at set times.
If you feed kibble and use a free feeder, only place the equivalent of one meal inside the feeder.
3. Don’t give in to begging; even better: Don’t allow begging!
Just ignore those “sad” puppy eyes.
No Unhealthy Table Scraps
1. Don’t feed your dog unhealthy, greasy leftover human foods.
2. Make sure your entire family is on the same page.
3. Instruct guests not to share any of their leftovers either.
Minimize The Treat QUANTITY & Maximize The Treat QUALITY Instead
1. Limit dog treats to a maximum of 10% of your dog’s daily caloric intake.
If you use treats for training purposes, make sure to use low-calorie treats, and don’t forget to cut back on your pup’s daily food intake.
2. Only feed healthy limited- or single-ingredient treats.
Choose the kind that are rich in natural glucosamine and chondroitin.
For example, dehydrated duck feet, chicken feet, or green lipped mussels.
Both benefit your dog’s joints and help with arthritis.
Check out my healthy doggie popsicle recipes here – spoiler alert: some of them feature duck feet.
3. Have your pup work for treats, don’t just hand them out whenever he “asks” for one!
Have him perform a trick (e.g. “rollover“), or at least a basic command such as “sit” or “down” before giving him a goodie.
A little discipline regarding doggie mealtime & exercise will go a long way!
Let’s all take the pledge to be responsible dog owners, and providing a long and healthy life for our canine companions.
After all, they’re our best friends ~ don’t they also deserve the best treatment?
How do you ensure your pup stays in the healthy half of American dogs? As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below!
Related Reading
- Homemade raw dog food
- How to teach your dog to roll over
- Where can I take my dog to swim?
- 5 tools of a professional dog walker
- Where to buy green lipped mussels for dogs
- How to train your dog to accept a dog backpack
- Enjoying the outdoors with Mighty Paw dog gear
- When NOT to exercise your dog – bloat explained
Barbara Rivers is the founder of K9sOverCoffee and a raw feeding educator with over a decade of hands-on experience.
She has fed raw in the US and Europe since 2015, after her Boxer mix Missy’s cancer diagnosis led her to move away from processed kibble and commit to species-appropriate nutrition.
As a former professional dog walker, she developed deep insight into canine behavior, conditioning, and the essential link between proper exercise and long-term health.
Barbara completed online training with veterinarian Dr. Marion Smart and Labrador breeder Dana Scott and works for one of Germany’s leading raw dog food brands, BARFER’S.
In 2026–2027, she is completing a year-long raw nutrition certification for dogs and cats at THP School, founded by raw feeding pioneer Swanie Simon.
Through her blog and weekly newsletter, she provides clear, experience-based guidance to help dog owners feed raw safely and confidently.
Maddie gets overweight in the winter (like 4-5 lbs). It’s hard sometimes to get her out walking with her legs so bad. But normally she stays at a stable weight.
Aw, poor Maddie with her little legs. Have you tried cutting back on some of her food to make up for the decrease in exercise? That should help some :-)
I’m sorry, but you are wrong when you say ribs should never be visible. For many dogs having the last few ribs visible is absolutely a sign of healthy weight. I know many people with healthy weight dogs who get attacked when in public and accused of abuse or starving their dogs, and comments like yours above about if ribs are visible your dog is underweight just make it worse. SOME dogs whose ribs are visible are underweight. Not most, and certainly not all.
I’ll add, if you want me to send you photos of dogs at healthy weight, I can get together a huge collection of healthy competitive sports dogs of a variety of breeds and mixes to send you. You’ll see a lot of ribs, and I promise, our dogs are healthy and not starving.
I would absolutely love for you to share some pictures of healthy working dogs with us – it pains me seeing so many (severely) overweight dogs all the time that it would be a wonderful change to see their fit counterparts! You are welcome to share them right here on Disqus :-)
Hi Cyrstal, thanks so much for stopping by! I am very excited about the fact that you keep your pups at a healthy weight. I suppose I should have clarified that I meant emaciated dogs whose entire rib cage is showing. I myself know several dogs whose last few ribs are slightly showing – they aren’t working dogs, but just have a high metabolism.
P.S. I need to add that I would never attack people in public, that’s not my style & not my place.
If Labs hunted as they were bred to do, they would not be overweight. :) I think a big contributor to obesity is the idea of using treats for every little bit of training. And I will agree that on a working dog, ribs may be visible. Also senior dogs should be kept lighter than when they were younger. Less wear and tear on joints. Due to loss of muscle mass, ribs may be visible on them.
I absolutely agree – as I just mentioned below in the reply to Crystal’s comment, I meant emaciated dogs whose rib cages are showing. I should have clarified that.
Yes, too many high calorie training treats and not balancing them out with less food at mealtimes will pack on a nice cushion real quick.
I have never had to think about this with Daisy or with Cocoa. I think it is because we are so active and run and play and hopefully make sure their physical as well as mental health is good. I also am lucky because both of them have full access to food and only eat what they want and then walk away. I could learn from them, lol!!
I love that you’re so active with Miss Cocoa, Julie!! – every now & then I need a little reminder about that lesson as well… ;-)
Wonderful post and advice, Barbara! One thing I realized with Haley is when giving treats, she doesn’t notice the difference between a small treat and a larger one. In our human minds we do notice so we sometimes might think our dogs will notice too and feel slighted if we only give them a small bite, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference to them. Haley’s just happy to get something.
Thank you, Elaine! You’re making a very good point – Missy & Buzz are just as happy as Haley to get something, regardless of its size ;-)
We see the problem all the time and read about it as well, but last fall at our vet check when our vet said she loves to see us and examine us because it is so rare to find really fit dogs let alone a family with three. She almost always has to have weight conversations with pet parents. It is very sad. Love is more than food. Eat to live, not live to eat.
Is is super sad – your vet sounds exactly like ours. She always tells us how frustrating it is to spend the vast majority of her days having weight-related conversations with her patients’ humans.
I couldn’t agree more with your “eat to live, not live to eat” statement.
You know we LOVE this post – great tips and advice for folks – now if we can only convince those millions of people with fat dogs!
LOL, I do ;-) This is right up your alley! Thanks so much for all the wonderful posts and ideas on how to keep our K9 friends fit! ***Let’s tackle the people with fat dogs, one by one!***
We don’t eat raw (dehydrated human grade) but we try to eat healthy. I am big on portion control. I measure everything. This is an excellent post. Thanks so much for writing – have a great weekend!
Thanks so much, Cathy! I’m excited to read that you feed dehydrated human grade food, that’s a very healthy alternative to raw. I feed dehydrated or freeze-dried food every now & then as well (usually when we’re in-between raw shipments or if I forgot to take some raw out of the freezer to thaw).
P.S. I had a grand weekend, which is why I only reply now – after having worked non-stop for several months, I finally decided I needed to not work on a weekend. It was refreshing & much needed! I hope you had a great weekend as well!
Mr. N gets his treats for training and he gets tiny, tiny bites usually. Also we exercise with him every day.
Mr. N always looks to be in great shape in every single photo I’ve seen of him! Your exercise routine & disciplined treating/feeding definitely shows!