Totally. And if you keep it up, you will swell with pride at every vet visit when they rave about her weight.

My Bax was from athletic lines (his father has never been more than 55 pounds...24 kg, I think) and we even got stopped on the street. I was so sensitive to it. I distinctly remember shedding tears over the questions, especially since I was really into researching food and diet. Even better is when people questioned whether he was a golden.

Our new puppy is at the stage where he has lost his puppy chub and is a tall, lanky dog. There are times when he seems to be "all legs."

Here was Baxter at 4 months:

Most of Baxter's family about a year ago (we are on the far right...I had to drag him out of the lake to be in the picture!):

 

All of these dogs look absolutely perfect to me. People just don't know, have seen a lot of wobbly Goldens and imagine that to be the breed. I used to get that when Thor was in his lanky stage. Not as much since he grew a coat. On the reverse side of this, a person once told me Thor was the most beautiful golden she'd ever seen; I think he's beautiful but I'm of course not under that level of delusion so I kept talking to her to try to figure out what to make of that statement. Her explanation was that he looked so athletic. I was like, yeah, that's what they're supposed to look like. To clarify; I do see many really fit Goldens and labs on the trails.

 

The average dog owner doesn't know what a healthy weight is for a dog, unfortunately. I don't think they mean harm, I just think people are so used to seeing fat and obese dogs that they think we are starving our dogs because they are at a healthy weight. Even my vet told me my lab/golden mix girl that we lost recently at 14 1/2 was on the lean side of a healthy weight. She had a lot of orthopedic issues, including having surgery for hip displaysia at 7 months old (first hip) and 2 1/2 (second hip) and partially torn CCLs. Keeping her weight down is what allowed her to live for so long and remain mobile up until the end.

Of my three goldens, two have a less dense coat, so you can see how lean they are, but my third one is super fluffy so until he's wet, you can't see it.

 

Oh, I'm so glad to see that I'm not alone. My ten week old golden puppy is a ball of fluff but he is lean and you can feel his ribs.
My vet was thrilled with his weight and reminded me again, to keep him lean and not cave.

My neighbours constantly pester me about how thin he his and how we aren't feeding our growing puppy. One neighbour keeps asking when she can start giving him milkbones because they are healthy. Other people have commented too and it is upsetting.

I'm overweight but my pets are all healthy weights becasue I do know and I make sure to take proper care of them.
Most of the dogs I see are simply overweight and people are used to it.

I know that once he enters that awkward, tail to long, legs going everywhere, racing stripe on the back stage that the comments will likely get worse. Gald we can rely on eachother for support!

 

Keep a close eye on your little puppy at 10 weeks however. Puppies like babies should not be too thin... they need some reserves in order to grown properly....

 

I think the best thing to do is give them a education on why it is important to keep your dog thin. Sometimes we think that Chloe is to thin because of her indenture. But it's better to keep them thin and lean. She is around 55 pounds at nine months. She gets no table scraps. Only the occasional Bannana or fruit and some peanut butter in her kong.

 

People are used to fat dogs, so a dog at a healthy weight (the lean side of ideal) looks thin to them. They're used to barrel-shaped Goldens.

I get comments all the time about it with my dogs. People who know dogs (the vet, breed people, agility people) say thinks like, "Wow, he's in great condition! He's 7? Seriously?" because the dogs have great muscle from all our hikes and trail runs, but people who don't know dogs as well comment that I should fatten my dogs up and joke "do you feed them?"

It's just a lack of knowledge. Anybody who spends 30 minutes looking at that Purina study weight chart and putting their hands on their dog would realize that being able to easily feel the ribs is a good thing, and a waist is a good thing, and a waddling barrel on stumpy legs is a bad thing.

You can get an extra two healthy years, on average, by keeping a dog lean. You know what I'd give for two more healthy years with my dogs? It's simultaneously the cheapest and most effective thing you can do for longevity. We argue up and down about ingredients, but amount is the thing that's been shown to really make a dog live longer and be healthier. Not that ingredients aren't important, but feeding too much of a high-end food is actually worse than feeding the right amount of a cheap but decent food.

 

Everytime someone comments on your lean dog, pat yourself on the back and then use it as a chance to educate someone on the benefits of a dog at a healthy weight. Find a good article on the relationship between overweight dogs and joint issues, anytime a friend questions your dogs weight, thank them for their concern, tell them your vet says your dog is the model of health and them tell them you will email a wonderful article to them so they can read up on it themselves. If it's a total stranger, thank them and then give them a couple statistics on overweight dogs and joint issues and then tell them what my vet told me, "just like people, dogs are much better off a little too lean than a little too heavy." And then walk away.

Keep doing what you're doing Your dog is lucky to have an owner who is so careful about his health.

 

I've been thin shamed so much since having Ripley! It's funny because my corgi is also lean, but because of his breed, no one seems to notice. However, Ripley is all legs and narrow chested, so it's much more noticeable. My mother-in-law, grandpa, and several friends, have all commented on how thin Ripley is. My grandpa loves to point out that he had a golden Ripley's height that weighed over 100lbs. I've been told countless times by family that my "poor dog gets so excited at dinner and eats so fast because he just doesn't get enough food." :doh: Or maybe that's just a golden thing? lol However, on the flip side, Ripley's vets have complimented me on Ripley's weight (between 65-67lbs) and said not to listen to everyone because we are so used to seeing overweight dogs. When I moved to Illinois last year, I started seeing a new vet. The new vet thought Ripley was too thin at 65lbs and that he should be 75-80lbs. I had never heard that before! And when I told him that my regular vet complimented me on Ripley's weight and he said to me "well I guess its fine if you want your dog to be the lean runner type." Ummm... how is that a bad thing? Later, he showed me pictures of his dog, a severely obese lab, and I decided not to take his advice for having Ripley gain weight. It's hard, and people will always make those comments, but our dogs are healthier because of it.

 

thanks for all the words of support I do tell all the people that comment on her weight that its very important to keep them lean for their joints. Hopefully one day chubby puppies will be the rarity !

 

My puppy Bowie is 5 months old today and he keeps going back and forth from being tall and lean to having a little bit of puppy chub. I'm trying to keep him lean and athletic but since he's a growing boy it's hard to find the right balance for growth and energy and keeping him nice and lean. He's in his long and lean phase now. Trying to attach a photo of him getting a bath today. My vet loves his weight.

 

I am always seeing great fat goldens at the beach and when I ask their age most often they are six and only capable of paddling in the shallows. Last week I met an older boy in really good shape and he was 12 and a half. When I commented on how good he looked his owner said "We have always worked to keep him lean". The rewards are there.

 

I'm pretty lucky that most of the people I hang around with, with Noah are dog sport people who comment often how GOOD Noah looks as a lean dog and that it's so nice to see a golden in such good condition.

I also struggle with MY own weight, but am overly obsessive about his.

I keep in touch on FB with four of his littermate's owners, and Noah is definitely the lightest. I'm happy to see this post, because it reminds me that I wanted to run him by the vet for a current weight on him today.

 

I'm pretty lucky that most of the people I hang around with, with Noah are dog sport people who comment often how GOOD Noah looks as a lean dog and that it's so nice to see a golden in such good condition.

This is my experience, too. Shala is 21.5 inches tall and 48 pounds. She is very well proportioned and looks very fit. Everyone who stops us raves about her. Many people think she is "small" but no one ever says she is too thin.

 

Chloe is real lean also. Because I know we don't overfeed her for us it's just making sure she gets enough exercise. With thanksgiving this past week we were in and out for three days and she didnt get her two mile walk for a couple of days. But we always try and do that most days. And she gets a lot of playtime during the day. I am not sure how much she weighs. My guess is tight at 60 pounds.

 

Well, we are back from the vet - Noah actually lost 1 lb since his last time being weighed about 6 weeks ago. At 10 months old, he weighs 62.1 lbs. The vet says he looks great!

 

I heard the same thing but I kept Cara at 55 lbs for her whole life. At 12 (before the Cancer)...she was still running like crazy and had almost NO arthritis. Keep doing what you are doing and only listen toy your Vet that you trust

 

My little girl is 9 years old, 22 inches and she weighs 53 pounds. Many goldens I see are definitely too fat and yes, I have people ask why she is so thin. My vet also says she is a perfect weight. When people say that just smile and know you are right and they are ignorant.