"Your puppy is FAT" is what i was told by someone today?!?

People are rude. I often get the "Your dog is fat" from many people. Including my family.

None seem to take into account what breed she is

Anywho, stop free feeding your boy. It'll work out better in the home run.

Oh, and FFS, bring your dogs in during the day. You NEVER know what can happen, even when police come 'round 'every hour on the hour'.

Now I'm intregued, Angel - what breed is she??

We all have different life circumstances, I suppose. I'd be wary about leaving my dog out all day in the vast majority urban/suburban areas. But that doesn't mean there are some where it would be relatively safe. I wouldn't leave Sarama out with no one here, but she spends four hours out between when I leave for work and when my fiance leaves for work . . . so someone is home, but she's unsupervised in the yard, which to some is a no no. I guess it depends on what works . . . and what strikes you as a safe enough comprimise. And the dog. A lot depends on the dog.

Kona is a corgi mix (we believe). Long and low, so she looks chunky to some people (people who don't actually take into account what breed(s) she is).

My coworker's boyfriend let her lab outside when he got up for work. On his way out, he told her that the dog was outside and to be sure and let her in before she left for work. She got up a few hours later and when she went to let the dogs in, the lab was lying dead on her deck surrounded in a pool of blood. Her dog had been shot in the leg (hit the femoral artery) and had bled to death, while she slept. She lives in a very safe neighborhood, and has no idea who shot her dog, or how. She heard nothing. That is from leaving the dog out for a COUPLE HOURS. Your dog may be safe 99% of the time that that you put it outside, but it is that 1% chance that really bugs me.

It bugs me too. Just as I am sure it bugs parents every time they let their children out of their sight (I don't have kids). It worries me to let any of the critters out of my sight, to be sure. But things can happen IN the house too . . . most significantly, fire (I've lived through one, and we saved the animals, but we were home . . . the firefighters never would have made it to them in time). Gas leaks. Burglers. I can't even evaluate whether Sarama is safer outdoors, with Mike home, or in the house alone with no one here in her crate, or in the house out of her crate . . . there are just SO many things that can happen. Ideally, she'd been in the hosue with one of us all the time . . . but she enjoys her mornings out, and I feel she's pretty safe out there. But we don't leave her out there when no one's home . . . but because he does check when she barks, and all of our neighbors (some of whom are home all day) know her and would likely knock if they saw something amiss I feel its alright for her to be out when one of us is here.

So I worry. And I accept the risks as I see them. Because there's nothing else I can do, but accept some risks and use my best judgement. If I didn't do that *I* would never leave the house, let alone Sarama. We have a six foot privacy fence, both gates barred from the inside. Someone could shoot through the gate . . . someone could shoot through the window. SOmeone could climb in . . . someone could break in . . . considering where I live, there could be some kind of terrorist attack and neither Mike nor I could get back to get her . . . I hate that thought.

Puppylover, I don't want to rub you the wrong way and this is, of course JMO, but I think you are being a little naive. In no way, shape, or form should a 6 month shep/lab mix and a 7 month whippet/lab mix be left unattended, loose in a back yard, for 8 hours a day. And don't tell me that you have eyes in the back of your head that you KNOW what they do when no one is there to watch them. I can only say that if you have not had any issues so far, you have been lucky, but odds are, your luck will run out. I hope not, for their sake and yours.

Before having rottweilers, my ex husband and I had a yellow and a black lab, a golden, and a chessie/lab cross. (My ex was an active bird hunter.) I know from experience that labs are prone to joint issues just like shephards (yours being a lab/shep mix), so IMO your 6 month old pup should have supervised exercise and playtime. At least until he is 12 months of age, even 18 months. I always like to error on the side of caution. With the experience you say that you have, you should know this. It takes nothing to tear a cruciate (sp?) tendon or pop a shoulder in a young pup.

Again, not trying to send you on the defensive, but wouldn't it be wiser to be safe than sorry. Just something to think about.

As far as the weight thing, if your vet says that they are fine then I wouldn't worry about what anyone else thinks. They didn't go to school for 12 years for nothing. I think a vet can tell if your pup is in a healthy weight or not. I personally keep my rotties on the trimmer side, more of a working weight, but that is just my preference. I believe that a trimmer rottie puppy is better. You never want them to grow too fast. HD, ED, pano, are all effected by weight.

I'm going to assume your the spider that's on the wall behind the class clown at my school.