"Your Lab is overweight!" Is this going to be the story of my life?

It is not ''fat'' it is the structure of the body. According to the standard, labs should not have a tuck.

You can condition a bench lab all you like, those dogs will not look like a GSP. You would be surprise that many of those dogs are conditioned.

very true Red...I am sure Trav looks too heavy in pics...was trying to find a pic that shows her physique better...but she has such a thick coat! Here..this one you can see her build a little better



but this one she looks like a brick!

Yes, that's what it means Obviously, Zues (from the link) is a CH and won to be in the National Championship dog show........I hardly think he would be there if he was out of shape or "fat"

He is an excellent example of an AKC standard Lab

Pffttt...

when I went to a show with Red, and AC, you shoulda seen some of the fat labs out in that ring..

Out in the ring and making it to National Championships are two different things..........
Orson has AKC registration, so technically I could enter him in any AKC thing I wanted, doesn't make him correct :lol-sign:

And yes, the "regular" labs we are used to seeing out and about are mostly ALL not "correct" just like most BYB dogs we are used to seeing

thats not what I was saying and you know it...

you said he wouldnt be out there if he was fat or wasnt in shape, and I said thats simply not true

Every AmStaff I have recently seen in a show ring has been grossly obese. Just because it is in the show ring and winning doesn't mean it is fit.

NO, I said he wouldn't have made it to the National Championship if he wasn't a good example of the AKC standard..........read the first post you quoted

no I dont wanna :nono:

thank you...

She does look like a brick in that picture! I'd probably incorrectly think your lab was overweight. The first pic, though, she looks great

Here's a picture of Augie where you can get a side view of him. As you can see, he's a blocky fellow, but he's not at all squishy. He's VERY solid, and as other's have mentioned, his coat does make it hard to see ribs.

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He does not look fat in that pic too me, quite solid though.

I totally agree with you here, and if my dog was overweight, I would want to know about it. It's true that many people are not aware that their pets are fat, and sadly true that many just don't care. They think they are "loving" their animals by letting them become obese.

Just a quick comment about labs in the ring---Jack's breeder kept his dogs very fit. he lived across the street (literally) from a river where they swam all season, he jogged them on his bike, etc. However, he did tell us that he had to put about 10 lbs on his dogs for show season if they were going to do well.

Your lab looks great! I can see he's not fat but it's hard to teach people such things, unfortunately.

I've often heard the same thing.

Sadly, the show ring encourages overweightness in labs.

Sadly it's not just labs either, but giant breeds that really should not be carrying the extra weight.

Jack's physical therapist said that one of their clients was a mastiff breeder who had a female mastiff with some sort of injury (can't recall what). Apparently the woman was a big deal in the mastiff world--she had one of the top male mastiffs in the country at the time.

The vet was clearly irritated by the female mastiff's condition. The dog had to lose 30 lbs of "show weight" to get to what the vet considered a healthy weight. The vet did say in her opinion the weight contributed to the injury and she had her doubts about the owner keeping it off after therapy.

BINGO!!! And just ONE of the reasons why I hate KC and what it does to dogs/breeds.
I am friends with many people who compete and put Championships on various breeds in KC and they all say the say thing. You have to put pounds on them to do well or win.
Many of those same people also compete in dog sports as well and its very hard for them.........show ring weight vs keeping the dogs fit and at a proper weight for dog sports.

lol reminds of when I was a judge for line classes for sport horses.........this couple were very upset and mad at me because I didn't use their very fat 2yr old filly in a class (she had been winning all year). I told them, she was too fat for my ring. Not happy campers, tough.

word. and that includes the "big shows".