FYI: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!

Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Home

Overweight Aussie

by Amanda
(State College, PA)

I have a male Australian Shepherd who currently weighs 76 pounds. I know a typical male Aussie is supposed to weigh between 50-65 pounds so I'm a bit concerned about his weight. He's on a high quality food (Innova) and we only feed him 2 cups of food a day. He gets VERY few treats and no table scraps. (The only human food he gets is lettuce (which he loves) and other fruits and vegetables.

He's relatively active and walks daily. On the weekends we typically take him hiking or he follows behind us on the mountain bikes. I'm not really sure what to do about this. I don't want to cut his food back too much for fear that he's not getting enough calories. Our vet doesn't seem too concerned since he's still relatively young (about 2 years old) and is physically in great condition otherwise. Anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions?

Comments for Overweight Aussie

Click here to add your own comments

overweight aussie
by: Anonymous

You should have a thyroid screening (blood test) done to see if he is has hypothyroidism. Hypo meaning overweight (hyper - meaning underweight).

Our Aussie
by: Anonymous

Our Aussie is also very over-weight. We have done everything. We had thyroid testing done, we put him on diet food, he was on thyroid medication, everything and nothing is working. No matter how much exercise. He maxed out at 96 lbs!!! Now he is 86. He is always between 80 and 86 now. He didn't out on weight until after he was fixed. The only reason we can think of, is some dogs metabolism really slows down after getting fixed. Any suggestions would be helpful. He is 4 now and we have had a 2 1/2 year struggle with his weight. he is very active.

overweight blue merle
by: Anonymous

I also have a 2 year old male, recently neutered, I'm scared for him because of his weight. He's a blue merle, and the ones that I have seen overweight are merles. do you think it's a gene? I also have a black tri that is 6 and neutered that is not overweight. Both dogs are very active and run all day. Help

Overweight Aussie
by: Tracey

I have two Aussies, a female blue merle and a copper coloured male. The male is extremely overweight and I don't know what to do. He will be 4 this year and didn't start the weight gain until he was fixed. He is very active but fluctuates at around 85 to 90 lbs. He has been on every mix of diet food, glutten free, thyroid meds and nothing works. The meds were making him lethargic instead of hyper. The best he got down to was 82 lbs. He is now having obvious signs of joint pain from his weight. The female is thin and most days eats both of their food! I don't know what else to do. Last summer the vet said he wouldn't make it through, but he did. He doesn't act sick or tired but climbing the stairs is hard for him now.

Same Here-Overweight Aussie
by: Kathy G

My Aussie has the same problems---tried Blue Wilderness Wight Management and she got bigger... Hills Science Diet, Iams, etc just switched to Orijen...had all the testing done..and she gets exercise... does anyone know the best food to try?

Oversized Aussie
by: Anonymous

We also have a male tri-colored aussie, 3 1/2 yrs old who weighs in between 89 and 91.5 lbs. He doesn't get much to eat (on Acana food), he only gets a treat once in a while, and no people food but he still doesn't lose weight.

2.5 year old male Merle overweight
by: Anonymous

Since our puppy was 9 weeks old, he has been very active - walk 3-5k/day in winter and 10-12k/day summer (I'm a teacher with summers off). He's outside playing in the yard 2+ hours a day all year round. He eats 1cup at breakfast & another at dinner of weight controlled food. He gets a carrot chunk, ice, or half of a small dentastick for treats. He must sneak food when we're not home. He's supposedly pure bred, but he's super tall, weighs 85lbs, and has a massive tail. The rest of his litter are all small compared to him without tails...neutered early so he should (technically) be smaller. Suggestions on how to lose weight?

Same with my boy
by: Anonymous

My boy is six and also gained after neutering. He has arthritis and is on adiquan (sp?) injections. It’s a vicious cycle since being 7–10 lbs overweight makes it harder to exercise. He’s been on a diet for a couple
Of years and the weight comes off very slowly. Thyroid’s been tested as normal. He’s is of a stockier build, but on the short side. I tried 8 foods in the attempt to get him on a lower calorie food, but in the end had to do Acana freshwater fish and just feed him less than 2 cups per day. He’s incredibly picky and an aggressive beggar if he hates the food. He’ll literally go on strike.

Reason for being overweight
by: Canadian Aussie

Same situation here. Fixed male, 2 cup diet very active.

It’s the way we are fixing the dogs is the problem. We remove the source of testosterone and destroy their metabolism. If we fixed our dogs the way we fix humans we would not have this problem. Until then love your big ole Aussie, it’s not their fault.

Overweight Aussie
by: Anonymous

Our 4 yr old male is overweight also. He's on Thyroid meds, only gets 1/2 the amount of dog food required and he gets green beans to try to help if he's still hungry. He went from 69 lbs to 75 lbs in a year. 😔 There HAS to be a solution to this since it's so common.

Over Weight Australian Shepherd
by: Anonymous

I have had 6 Aussies in my life. My current is a 4 yr old black tri that weighs in at 94lbs. All were neutered but only 2, the 2 that were shorter and stockier, ended up with a weight issue about a year after. Living the ranch life my Aussies are busy, busy. Genetics, neutering, hormones, food, metabolic, etc., can all play a role in weight gain and the inability for a dog to pull it off. Testosterone plays a major role in a male dog's ability to stay lean and fit. Once gone, any dog but especially dogs that have a genetic predisposition to weight and metabolic problems, will gain weight fast and have an issue burning fat. The same thing happens when spaying female dogs. Hormone replacement therapy along with lifestyle and diet modifications on the human side of things, gives back to men and women the ability to pull off weight and keep it off. However, the person's genetic and metabolic makeup will play a role in this. It's an area that veterinary medicine needs to be looking into for dogs who have properly functioning thyroids after being neutered but can not get to a healthy weight despite all efforts.

Fixing
by: Anonymous

It seems that the common trend among the comments is fixing/neutering and the slowing of metabolism.

Is he overweight or just big
by: Mom of a big boy

Our 2 year old boy is 93 pounds, but he's super lean and heavily muscled. He's a tall, big doofus. Is your dog actually overweight, or does he just not meet the breed standard? A lot of Aussies are above breed standard weight but are at the perfect weight for their bodies. If he's not obese, I'd feed him what he needs for all the energy he's burning.

Fat Aussie
by: RiverlovesNicks

Wow. So glad for this site. I hear an overweight dog is Dog Abuse. I wake up everyday and feel quilty for Her weight.
She is a Toy Aussie and my Best Friend and companion. She eats only 1/2 cup of Science Diet.
Help

I have 100 pound male aussie
by: Anonymous

I’ve had my dog for about 6 months. I got him from a shelter and they told me he needed to go on a diet because he was too overweight (96lbs). When I got him he was always panting although very active. Since then he has gained 1-3 pounds and I feed him a couple of cups a day and he gets some scraps, but to me he seems very healthy. Literally can exercise for as long as me and is the fastest most agile dog I’ve seen for his shear size. I don’t know though 100 pounds seems like he’s over weight, I took him to the vet and he saw on the paperwork that he was 100 and looked at it weird, then proceeded to say "he doesn’t look 100 pounds". The shelter really emphasized to put him on a diet, but they also just thought he was lazy cause Australian Shepherds don’t do to well in a shelter, especially for 3 months. I don’t plan on changing anything because he lives a happy life and is plenty active.

Benny at 86 lbs
by: Stan

We had a part Aussie part Border Collie male that contracted cancer at 8 years old and we had to put him down. We got this beautiful companion when he was 4 from an elderly couple who could not keep him anymore. Unfortunately we did start to give him table scraps occasionally. We got him at 78 lbs and he passed at 86. He was neutered so maybe that is part of his weight issue. Even at his weight he had lots of energy. We bought him Hills brand food and 2 cups a day maximum other than no table scraps I don’t know what else we could have done to prevent the cancer so young.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Australian Shepherd Q & A.

Have Dog Training Questions?

Check out these introductory dog training videos...

I want my dog to stop being aggressive.

I want some help training my new puppy.

I want my dog to stop barking at everything.

I want my dog to walk nicely and calmly on the leash.

I want my dog to listen and come every time I call!

Back to Home

⌃ TOP ⌃

All Content Copyright © 2006-2024 by Anton Hout,
Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com. All rights reserved.

Disclosure: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!

As stated in our Privacy Policy, Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com
does not sell your personal information.