Poor Blurry Dog :(

[sandgrubber]

To me that is just an excuse like a person saying it is not my fault I am fat it's genetic. I see it as shear lazieness. Both My parents were over weight but my brothers and I aren't. Both of them used that excuse but now after a diet change and plenty of exersize they are a healthy weigth and staying that way. Genetics may play a miniscule part but 99.99% of the time it is lifestyle.

Why, then, are almost all fat dog stories about Labs or Lab X's?

Why (so I'm told) is it almost impossible to get a dingo to put on weight?

Why do so many sea mammals put on blubber? Remember, the Lab ancestor, the Lesser Saint John's Dog, was a working dog who did a lot of swimming in extreme cold water.

I heard a medical geneticist the other day saying that 68% of obesity in humans is genetic. It is extremely well documented that success rates for taking of weight and keeping it off are very low.

I expect, one of these days, we'll hear stories about use of Labradors as models to help identify the genes that contribute to obesity in humans.

Of course, genetics can be used as an excuse, and humans have so much control over dogs' diets, even a dog who is programmed to get fat can be kept slim. One of my cousins has a well trained, reasonably slim Lab who has been trained not to scavenge food from the wastebasket. But put a bread crust in the trash, and the poor dog will stare at the trash bin for hours.