Vet says my malt is overweight

I would think a combination of cutting back a little bit on the food/treats plus more exercise would be the ticket. When Pip got a bit bulky (she was eating the puppy's food), we got her a bag of reduced food plus exercised her more. She tightened up really quickly. Baby carrots make good low cal snacks too...

Thank you for the great suggestions. I do tend to give her stuff throughout the day cause I am home with her. If I'm eating something she looks at me with those cute puppy dog eyes and I tend to give in. Bad habit that I need to stop.

Yeah, those precious puppy dog eyes will get you every time. ;P

I don't think 1/4 cup of food 2x a day is too much - that's what I feed Jill, who is 10 lbs. But I agree that it's the treats and snacks throughout the day that really add up. Maybe on the days she goes for her walks, you can give her treats, but really cut down on the days she doesn't get out?

If you want to get the weight off of her quickly. Cut her kibble back to 1/8 cup twice a day and give her 1/2 fresh cooked or frozen cooked green beans combined with the kibble 2x a day. That will keep her from being hungry and get the weigh off quickly. Once the weight is off, you can adjust her treats and exercise and go back to the regular amount of kibble.

1/2 c. kibble is not much for a 10 lbs dog. Cosy is four pounds and eats that much. I would have to believe it's the snacks and table food. Try stopping all table food and just give veggies as snacks. green beans and carrots work well.

Pepper and Luigi each eat 1/2 c daily ...and they are 4.8 and 4.0 lbs respectively. Those must be some calorie rich snacks throughout the day.

You have some great suggestions here with snack substitutions. Also, I think if you do not want to deprive your malt completely of the snacks she is currently having, you could also just give her much tinier portions. I remember reading a study about elephants in training willing to do tricks for treats as small as the size of a marshmallow!

People food (treating them to what you're eating) will add up weight quickly... look at the size of the tidbit(s) and then her size compared to your size... although it would be a small piece(s) for you, to her it is like super sized fries.

I would stop giving her people snacks altogether and find some doggy snacks she likes which you can give SPARINGLY. One that my dogs love is Wellness Jerky Wellness Pure Rewards All-Natural Delicious Venison Jerky Bits Dog Treats | PetFoodDirect.com ... also bits of fruit/veggies (like carrots, apple, etc) Note: NO grapes or raisins.

Just cutting out people food + increasing her walks will help quite a bit

my 2 cents

I would say exercise ! My little guy is 7 months and around 8 lean pounds...

He eats just around a 1/4 of a cup twice a day with treats...
And never gets close to being overweight. He gets plenty of exercise and romps. I would definitely try and add more exercise and walks. "these little guys love there walks "

Keeping a healthy weight is soooo important! I learned the hard way.. I allowed my Missy whose ideal weight was abt 20 pounds....she got up to abt 14 at one point...! and we did get her down to 12 with more careful monitoring of her food and exercise but it was too late... she became diabetic!
From then on we had no choice but to regulate her diet and it required 2 x day insulin injections . I wish we had gotten 'smarter' sooner! Hubby and I both 'indulged' her and had no idea of the consequences that lay ahead!
When you think of 2 pound overweight it doesn't sound like much but then if you think of that excess to % of body weight in a small pooch.. it is considerable!
Good you are jumping in early and warding off potential problems from the excess weight!

I think I am really going to up the exersise cause she loves going out for walks. I was talking to the store owner where I buy my malt's shampoo and stuff and he told me his malt was 4 pounds overweight and started having joint problems and was limping. He put her on a strict diet no treats whatsoever and she lost the 4 pounds and is back to normal.

You will feel so good when you are succesfull. Izzy was a little heavy and I put her on a diet. She is small so I started giving her 4 tbs of food a day 2 morning and 2 at night. I had been giving her 1/2 cup a day.

She weighed in today and 4.6 lbs which is right where she should be.

I know it's hard but it's worth it in the long run.

Our big boy YoYo the rescue pup (in my sig pic, mixed breed) was recently diagnosed as being overweight. I had no idea since we got him as an adult, do not know his breed, etc. etc. Anyway....a good vet who disgnoses your dog as overweight should be telling you exactly how many calories per day he SHOULD be getting. Not amounts, calories. Then you take the amt of calories and look up the food you give on the internet and figure it out. My vet did all this right there at the office for me. If you're having a hard time figuring it out you should be asking them those specific questions and they should be helping you so that you are without question. Best of luck. Being overweight is very serious for a dog and, ultimately just like it is for humans, can be life threatening.

We had the same problem when we got Hunter. We continued to feed the same amount of food but started using a measuring cup to ensure that both DH and I gave him the same amount. The measuring cup made a HUGE difference. Then, we switched to natural treats such as carrots, green beans, apple, etc. We also increased our exercise, walking two little walks a day (totaling a mile); sometimes we would do 2 mile walks a day.

It took time - its important to take the weight off slowly but once it starts coming off you will really notice a difference in your pup. Another thing we did was used his meals as treats. We would put the kibble into toys for him to try to work out the food (Nothing in Life is Free right?!?!).