Owner Exaggerations

[OSoSwift]

Working in vet hospitals people tend to grossly overestimate weights of dogs when the percieve bigger is better and grossly underestimate when it is perceived smaller is more desirable.

Heard hundreds of thousands of those!

The 80kg GSD X Kelpie who when he was put on the scales was 26kgs comes to mind.

[dotdashdot]

Working in vet hospitals people tend to grossly overestimate weights of dogs when the percieve bigger is better and rossly underestimate when it is perceived smaller is more desirable.

Heard hundreds of thousands of those!

The 80kg GSD X Kelpie who when he was put on the scales was 26kgs comes to mind.

yep, my work has started a grooming service...amazing how many dogs are smaller when services depend on weight (i.e under 10kg, 10-25 and 25kg+)

otherwise I hear so many size exaggerations. My old boss' great dane was 70kg and he was a good weight, I would HATE to see smaller breed weigh that much - as much as so many "tough" blokes would like to think that their rotti's etc weigh that much.

[OSoSwift]

I have seen an 86kg Rotti and it was not pretty. As you would imagine he didn't live to an old age, but even in middle age found basic everyday things difficult. The owners could not be convinced he was overweight and suffering.

Edited July 1, 2014 by OSoSwift

[tdierikx]

I met a young couple who had adopted a staffy cross from the pound the other day - they said he was 40kgs... I'd say closer to 20kgs actually... lol! He was a sweetie who gave aweome kisses though, so I didn't really care that his owners wanted to talk up his size... lol!

T.

[Esky the husky]

My pup is 40+ kg and people thing I'm kidding.

Come and lift him up if you have your doubts :laugh:

[meggie]

a local idiot who owns American bulldogs once challenged me to race my whippets against his dog because he insisted it was actually even faster than a greyhound so would thrash my whippets. I didn't take him up on it because his dog was terrifying and I'm sure would have attacked any other dog that it could reach.

If they're that fast why are we racing greyhounds? We should be racing American bulldogs. :laugh:

One of my Staffords used to surprise a whippet owner at the park when she could keep up with the whippet in a sprint, though not long distance. Years ago now, and they had great fun together. But bulldogs??

[BlaznHotAussies]

Ahh yup my friends reckon their Old English Sheepdog will get to waist height

Okidoke. Maybe stock up on hairspray & teasing combs

Actually if they are short people.... :wink:

And kidding aside, many pet people I have met describe their dog as waist high because they are using the top of the head to measure and not the withers.

Certainly no excuse like that for the weight braggarts (or are they getting pounds and kilos confused? )

Hehe nah they're not that short...I thought! But yeah maybe it's because I automatically think of measuring at the withers (because horses) so it's a bit confusing

[kelpiecuddles]

Person describing their dog: My Alsatian sits, drops, stays for hours, heels, comes to his name, knows not to take the washing off the line, waits for his food and fetches things for me.

Me: wow that is impressive you must have done a lot of work with him, good on you. How old is he now?

Person describing their dog: 9 weeks

:rofl: :rofl:

Maybe not 9 weeks but I managed to convince the obedience school I had one of my dogs in to put her up to the advanced obedience class at 14 weeks where she was frequently used for demos. She was a very smart little pup who learnt quick.

I'm often at the other end of the stick where people assume I'm exaggerating when I say things as simple as that my basset hound keeps up with my kelpie in play, I frequently get laughed at when I say she can run just fine and runs down the beach with me quite happily. I now have videos kept on my phone for the specific purpose of proof for the doubters :laugh:

[Ivory & Beau]

My Mum always tells me that Badger is part Great Dane ... He honestly isn't the size of a Great Dane.

[MelissaS]

A guy I know who thinks of himself as macho told me years ago he had a 93 kg Rotty. The weight gets more exaggerated as time goes by.

He also has told me several times the Rotty had the biggest balls the vet had ever seen to this day.... the size of coconuts. He does the visuals with his hands when describing it.

It is really hard not to laugh as he is so proud and serious when he tells you-which he does often!

Edited July 1, 2014 by MelissaS

[Staffyluv]

Fool at the local dog park with his 35kg, 5 month old purebred red nose pit bull..

He researched all over Australia to get the best breeder and paid $3000 for his purebred dog with papers.

I asked if his dog had Old Red Nose lines and he said yep, it's all in his papers..

Mind you, the pup could have been the 35kg, it was huge.. Looked more like a bigger dog, like the mastiffs. Very floppy skin everywhere.

Typical out of control pup. It had every dog in the park avoiding it because it was jumping all over other dogs. A couple of dogs gave a growl at it and all he could say was 'they won't be growling at him in a couple of months'..

I just shook my head, you can't talk to people like him, he just won't listen.

[louise6616]

hahahaha,love this thread!

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My brother got a kitten - that completely had his old staffy under its thumb/claw. So my brother told me great tales of how this cat would beat up my dog and make her respect cats, and would stand its ground and not run away...

Well I think my brother over estimated his cat's tolerance to excited cattle dog barking... and the cat couldn't do anything about it because my evil hound stayed out of reach - at least a 2m safety gap... so cat weighed up her chances of "escape" given a 2m head start and bolted up the nearest tree as far as it could get.

We've had to keep them separated ever since. Evil hound even left a message outside the room the cat was hiding in. Oops.

I think if my brother hadn't been so insistent on letting them sort it out (and me confident that cat would not get close enough to do damage), that they'd actually be able to be civil to each other but the opportunity was lost. My dog thinks that cat is the best chase toy ever. And the cat - despite all my brother's tough talk - is definitely scared of my dog.

[D'smum]

My mother-in-law grossly understimates her dogs weight since being told this is contributing to the luxating patella problem she has.

Her fallback statement when I weigh her using all three sets of clinic scales?" Well, tell your silly vet that she's a crossbreed so he has no possible way of knowing if she's the right weight or not!" Facepalm.

[mfch]

Oh I think we are all prone to this more than we'd like to admit. Who isn't proud of their babies?

My mum always says her current dog is the sweetest/smartest/prettiest and of course they are! She is frequently saying how big my 5 month old standard poodle is and is going to be ... he's pretty average sized to be honest. But he is beautiful ...

[Maddy]

a local idiot who owns American bulldogs once challenged me to race my whippets against his dog because he insisted it was actually even faster than a greyhound so would thrash my whippets. I didn't take him up on it because his dog was terrifying and I'm sure would have attacked any other dog that it could reach.

If they're that fast why are we racing greyhounds? We should be racing American bulldogs. :laugh:

I hear that one a lot too, usually from people walking tubby barrels-on-legs sorts of dogs

I never understood why people felt the need to exaggerate physical traits. All of my dogs are within normal height/weight ranges (and no one has any doggy superpowers) and that, to me, is a good thing. One of them is epileptic/half blind but that's not something I'd brag about, that's a "Oh god, I'm so sorry my dog just ran into you and then circled crazily away like a Special Ed. shark with you and your dog and that tree tangled up behind him, he's not quite right". Yeeeah, more a source of embarassment, really.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

All Irish Wolfhound owners know that even if you have a very large male, at Ag Shows there will inevitably be some bloke whose sister-in-law's uncle's neighbour had one that was bigger than that mate. He was up to here! *indicates somewhere around Clydesdale size* And yes, always over 100 kilos (our boy is around 75).

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I met someone at the park who was admiring all the tricks I could get my dog to do. And I suggested she try teaching her dog to do some. She said "he doesn't like food" - he was completely rotund round roly poly... Erm. And he liked my food which was kibble.

[The Spotted Devil]

All Irish Wolfhound owners know that even if you have a very large male, at Ag Shows there will inevitably be some bloke whose sister-in-law's uncle's neighbour had one that was bigger than that mate. He was up to here! *indicates somewhere around Clydesdale size* And yes, always over 100 kilos (our boy is around 75).

:laugh: Love it! Sounds like a story out of James Herriot.

I must say that I have often mentioned one of my cat's obsession with food and his intense affection - that he's more feral and over the top than any dog - the wonderful lady I board my kitties with nodded politely when I told her and said she had seen it all. I had an email within 24 hours of his first visit: "I was wrong." :laugh: My vet was also blown away when this cat's incredible aversiveness to needles was overcome with a liver treat immediately afterwards.

The worst dog exaggerations I hear are when the owners tell me "the dog knew it was the wrong thing to do...."

[raineth]

All Irish Wolfhound owners know that even if you have a very large male, at Ag Shows there will inevitably be some bloke whose sister-in-law's uncle's neighbour had one that was bigger than that mate. He was up to here! *indicates somewhere around Clydesdale size* And yes, always over 100 kilos (our boy is around 75).

Yep, Dane owners get this too :laugh: