February ’08 Newsletter
Contents
- Bella's Big Booty. (Or How your IG can look svelte too). by Bridget Wessel
- Where are They Now?
- The Simple Life With Paris by Karyn Sehmer
Bella's Big Booty. (Or How your IG can look svelte too).
When people on the street meet our dogs, they frequently comment on how thin they are. Some even ask, "Are you sure they aren't too skinny?" with this look of disgust on their face which says, "You're cruel for starving your dogs". Many people, and even some veterinarians, don't know what an Italian Greyhound should look like. Most vets are used to labs and other breeds which are meant to look stockier than our svelt IGs. We've had some adopters tell us their vet thinks their IG is too skinny, when the dog is at a perfect weight for an IG.
Simon - at his ideal weight. Simon has a nice tuck up and in person you can see a trace of one or two ribs.
In Wisconsin, we are known for our brats and cheese lifestyles, but we all know being fat is not healthy. Canine obesity is the number one health problem in dogs today. According to a study by Imperial College London, Nestlé Research Center (NRC) and Nestlé-Purina, dogs lived on average 1.8 years longer on a low calorie diet. See the study for more information. Considering your Italian Greyhound will probably live on average only 12-15 years, 1.8 years is a big difference. As your dog ages, you'll be glad to have those extra years. If keeping your dog slim will not only make them healthier and happier, but will also add a couple years to their life, why wouldn't you keep them slim?
Other points to keep in mind about the weight of your iggy:
1 extra pound on a 10 pound dog is equal to 15 extra pounds on a 150 pound person. A couple pounds of extra fat on an IG is like an average person being almost 30 lbs overweight. WIth IGs, even a few extra pounds can make the difference between slim and obese.
Just like in people, in dogs obesity can lead to:
- Heart Disease
- High Blood Pressure
- Trouble Breathing
- Diabetes
- Arthritis
- Skeletal Problems/Lameness
- Inactivity/Low Energy/Lethargy
- Non-allergic skin conditions
- Stress on the organs
Also, due to their fine bone structure and thin legs, iggies can’t handle the extra weight. Keeping your IG a healthy weight is the first defense against leg breaks.
A healthy weight for an Italian Greyhound varies greatly with size. Small IGs could weigh as low as 6 lbs and very large IGs might be slim at 20 lbs. Average weight is usually around 12-14 lbs on an average sized Italian Greyhound. To determine what your dog's healthy weight should be, you have to go by how they look.
So what should a healthy IG look like? From the top down, they should not resemble a stuffed brat. They should have a smaller waist than rib cage and, speaking of the rib cage, you should see some of those ribs! When you can see ribs on a furry dog, it usually means they are too skinny, but IGs don't have fur to hide those ribs. A good rule of thumb is, you should see a trace of the last three ribs. From the side, they should have a nice tuck up between their rib cage and belly. This is the shape that drew most of us to this breed in the first place. Don't overfeed your dog so they lose the classic "IG look". I've seen some IGs that are so fat they don't even look like Italian Greyhounds anymore!
A common place IGs gain weight is over their shoulders. I've had a couple fosters who arrived at our house fat and had extra weight on their bottom. Yes, IGs can have a fat booty and hips - and I'm talking about the here boys too. You should be able to see the ripples in the muscles on their legs and bottom. An Italian Greyhound is an athlete designed to run 35mph and your IG should look an Olympic sprinter - thin and well muscled.
Rocky from the top down when he first came into rescue. Rocky used to resemble a stuffed brat and had rolls of fat on his shoulders.
Rocky from the top down after he lost 2 pounds. Now you can see Rocky has a waist!
So, you've read the above and realized Bella or Guido need to go on a diet, but how do you put a dog on a diet? The answer is easier than you think. Dogs can't raid the refrigerator for ice cream in the middle of the night when nobody is looking. The number one cause of obesity in dogs is their owners.
Some Misconceptions About How to Take Weight Off Your Dog.
Getting another dog or hoping Bella or Guido will exercise or limit their food intake on their own is not the answer. While a fence is great to allow your dog the freedom to run when they want to, it is not going to force your IG to run. And a fat dog will not run that much.
"I feed Guido the amount the dog food bag says to. I don't understand why she is overweight." I've heard this many times. Remember dog food companies want you to feed as much as your dog will eat! They sell more food when you feed too much so they always the list the amount of food higher than your dog needs! Also, the amount a dog needs varies from dog to dog. Some pups are more laid back and expend less energy than a high strung dog. Don't rely solely on the feeding amount the bag recommends. Use it as a guide and tweak the amount depending on your dog. A 1/2 cup two times a day might be the right amount for some IGs, but others might only need 1/4 cup two times a day. So far, I have not had a foster or owned an Italian Greyhound who needed more than a 1/2 cup of food twice a day. And I have had some big active boys who, at their ideal weight, were 18 or 19 pounds.
Rocky from side after losing weight. Rocky has a nice tuck up and in person you can see a trace of a couple ribs.
Also remember, if you feed your dog a snack or treat between meals, you might need to cut back the amount of food you feed him in his next meal. Every bit of food counts.
Cutting Calories
We always recommend not free feeding your dog. Free feeding is when you leave kibble out all day for your dog to snack on. The benefits of only offering your dog his food bowl once or twice a day are numerous enough to cover in a future article, but for weight loss, the benefit is obvious. You can control how much your dog is eating if you only offer your dog specific amounts of food twice a day. This benefit becomes even more obvious with more than one dog in your home. If you have more than one dog and you free feed, you can't control their weight loss -- at all! One dog might be fat and the other skinny because the fat one eats all the food. Dogs are domesticated wolves and wolves are used to binging and fasting. Wolves don't have access to food 24-7. Sometimes they only eat a couple times a week. We shouldn't expect our companion dogs to desire, or need, access to food constantly either. Offering them food twice a day, and not leaving kibble in their bowls to go stale, will please them just fine.
A former foster when he first came into rescue. This IG was obese.
But Bella or Guido gives you big puppy eyes or whines when hungry. The beg, they drool...they have you wrapped around their paws to do their bidding. This behavior can be changed! My dogs are fed twice a day and they never tell me when they want to eat. When they are fed is a decision they can make when they get a job and start doing the grocery shopping and cooking themselves!
Dogs do what works. They are very much like us in this way. Dogs whine, so we do what works to stop the whining and give them supper a little early. Dogs want their supper, so they whine because it worked yesterday and you gave them food. It can be an endless cycle unless you, the human--and hopefully the smarter of the two--put an end to it. I'm not saying it will be easy. Dogs can take awhile to learn a new behavior, especially if the behavior has been rewarded time and time again for years. In their minds, if "whine = get food", they are not going to stop whining for food very easily. But with consistent training, most behaviors can be altered. If your dog's behavior is locational, for example, he goes to the kitchen and sits and whines for his meals, block the kitchen with a baby gate so he can't. Many times, just by being a step or two ahead of the dog, you can put a stop to the learned behavior.
One important thing to keep in mind is to make sure your dog looses weight slowly. I am not advocating starving your dog till he is back to his ideal weight. This can lead to other health issues. Cut back their food, but do it slowly. Losing weight takes time, but the end result is worth the journey.
Exercise
We all know to loose weight you should decrease calorie intake and increase calorie use. If your dog is a fat couch potato, get him out for frequent walks or jogs. Being skinny is not the end-all to being healthy. Fitness is a key ingredient to keeping the vet away! One vet put it best when he said "igs need about a minimum of 5 miles a week". They need to get out, stretch their legs, sniff and see the world outside their house. This is good for them not only physically but mentally!
Eat Healthy
Many cheap, commercial dog foods are loaded with fillers. Those added fillers, oftentimes grains, don't help your dog stay trim. Feeding your dog a good quality kibble with more meat than grain will go a long way in keeping your dog slim. Just as humans lose weight on the Atkins diet, our dogs, being carnivores, are even more metabolically engineered to thrive on a high protein diet. My dogs only have grains on occasion and I never worry about them gaining weight.
Human Food
You are probably thinking you know what is coming: the usual dogs shouldn't eat human foods mantra. However, this is a myth. Food is food, whether it is kibble, biscuit, cooked steak or raw apple. I am a firm believer that dogs should not subsist on only that so-called "100% complete" kibble diet. No animal naturally eats a 100% complete diet in every meal and even animal nutritionists paid the big bucks make mistakes when calculating what a 100% complete diet is for our dogs. When was the last time you balanced all your nutrients, vitamins and calories so you ate a 100% complete meal? My guess is, probably never.
I'm a huge proponent of feeding your dog some healthy "human" or real food and of course cutting back their daily meals when they eat other food. Feeding human food will not teach them to beg unless you feed them from your plate. Feed them human food in their bowls or as training treats and they will not learn to beg at the dinner table. If you don't teach them that begging from you will result in food in their bellies, they won't do it.
Dogs' noses are many times more sensitive than ours and, trust me, they know your steak is going to be a lot better than their kibble. Even if they have never tasted it before. Smell is a big part of the ability to taste foods. Remember how food loses its taste when you have a stuffy nose?
There are some human food dogs should never be fed. Onions, chocolate, grapes or raisins are out because these can make your dog very sick and even cause death, but other human foods can be good for them just like they're good for you.
If you have tried everything and your dog won't loose weight, a trip to the vet might be in order. There are some health issues, like low thyroid, that can cause weight gain. But if your dog is otherwise healthy, only you are to blame for their extra pounds, and only you can fix the problem. Bella is not going to look in the mirror one day and decide she must go on the Atkins diet tomorrow so she looks good in her bikini come spring. Guido is not going to start working out at the gym so he can pick up chicks. However, you can look at Bella or Guido and decide they will be happier, healthier and live longer if they drop a few pounds, so you are going to slowly cut back her food and start exercising them daily to make this happen.
Where are They Now?
We asked a couple of enthusiastic adopters to tell us about their new family member. We enjoy updates on the IGs who made their way through rescue to their forever homes, and we hope you do too!
Justin - adopted October 5th, 2007 by Tiffany and Steve
Justin in his first formal portrait.
Justin survived the first 6 years of his life in 2 puppy mills in Iowa and Missouri. We first met Justin and his foster parents Erik & Bridget at a puppy mill round table in September 2007. We fell in love with Justin immediately. While his foster family took wonderful care of him, he had hernia surgery along with some dental work that included the removal of many teeth. We adopted Justin shortly after his surgery.
Justin was extremely shy and afraid of people. He was so brave to attend many puppy mill roundtables to expose the treatment he endured during the first 6 1/2 years of his life.
He has the typical flat feet from the wires he stood on along with poorly developed shoulders and legs. He looks bull-legged from having to balance on the wire floor he once knew as home.
Justin napping with his big sister Bronte
Justin napping with his brother Kimi.
Justin adapted rather quickly to his new home in WI. He has a sister named Bronte (Greyhound) and a brother named Kimi (Cat). They both welcomed him into our home. They knew he needed extra love and tender care and they both took him under their wings.
From Justin: I am so happy in my new home. I've forgotten most of my painful past. I love to snuggle with Bronte. I never leave her side. She has taught me how to play, chew on rawhides, potty and poop outside even in rain or snow! I love to play a game with her by hiding all her toys and bones but I have to be watchful because as soon as I turn my back, she steals them all back! I used to be deathly afraid of cars and now I get really excited and love going on car rides. I played this year with some other dogs my size at a dog park. Boy that was fun. Never dreamed a life like this could ever exist!
Justin in his bee costume.
I even had my picture taken with Santa this year and dressed up as a bumblebee for a Halloween party! My favorite time is when the whole family goes to sleep. I get to snuggle right under daddy's chin against his chest while Bronte gets the middle and Kimi sleeps above mommy's head. During the night I even sneak away from daddy to snuggle up to Kimi and Bronte to be close. We are one happy family. This year mommy and daddy are bringing me to obedience class and I will be working towards being a therapy dog with my sister Bronte. I have so much confidence now and people do not scare me. I love to go right up to them and introduce myself. I often get called a big dog in a little dog's body. I act more like a greyhound than an IG. I love to relax and lay around with my sister. I can behave like a crazy flying squirrel if I still want to. My parents have spoiled me so much that they even bought me a lot of toys and some really cool outfits for the changing weather. I am no longer cold or hungry. I am so very grateful to all of the people that helped to save my life.
Love,
Justin
Justin with Santa.
Justin has brought so much joy to our lives. Every morning he lies in bed wagging his tale. He loves to say good morning with wet kisses and snuggles. We have never seen a dog before that wags his tail from morning to night. Just a smile will get his tail wagging.
He cannot bark because the mill debarked him but he has learned to communicate to us. He rings the bells on the door when he wants to go outside. When he wants attention, there is no lack of communication - he just makes himself available for petting. Justin has enhanced our lives more than we could ever imagine.
We love our new son with all of our hearts.
The Simple Life With Paris
As I recall the conversation went sort of like this:
Carol: I have a lady who said she "found" this Italian Greyhound on the side of the road.
Me: Oh, do you want me to foster it?
Carol: Can you? Maybe just for the weekend?
Me: Is it a male or female?
Carol: (knowing I prefer males) Ahhh, it's a female, and it's small.
Me: Well, OK I'll try it.
Carol: Oh yeah, it's also a puppy.
Having never fostered a puppy before I left to meet the woman in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant. Needing moral support I also took my 17 year old daughter who adores all animals. The dog was in a crate in her car. She said she can't pick the dog up, she lets it come to her. Red flag #1. She brought the dog over to my crate and placed it inside. Sheepishly, my daughter and I peered into the crate. She signed the surrender papers and we quickly said goodbye. As we climbed back into the car I angrily whispered to my daughter "That is not an IG, it's a flippin' Chihuahua." Red flag #2.
Tiny Paris
As soon as we got home I immediately called Carol at her work to inform her of this momentous error. I didn't even want to bring it out or introduce it to my dogs since I assumed it wasn't going to stay with me? One hour later Carol was at my door. She went to take the little girl out of her crate and the puppy went ballistic and tried to wiggle, kick and bite her way out of her grasp. Red flag #3. I then learned the professional trick dog people do when they handle a difficult dog--they wear gloves. What a concept? Work or garden gloves make it a lot easier to deal with a fearful 3.5 pound puppy. I was about to ask Carol how quickly we can get rid of this Chihuahua when she announced it was an Italian Greyhound. The type they were breeding 30 years ago for a miniature size. Oh God, now what do I do? Carol offered to take her for me. My insides screamed "Take it, take it" but my daughters face said something else. My head spinning, I sat immobile. Right now I should tell you a secret, Carol is not only the local IG Rescue Coordinator, she is also psychic. Reluctantly, I agreed to "try to foster it--whatever it is" and on the condition I get to keep the garden gloves. Deal. Carol put her in a harness and made a tiny collar out of a cat collar with smaller holes. Her parting words to me were "In 24 hours this might be a totally different dog?" As the door closed I had that sinking feeling of dread and doom, will this be my first IG foster who will be unadoptable?
I gave the puppy a little time to settle in, get used to her crate and our house. Mustering up all my courage, I approached the small crate, and would wrap her up in a blanket with my big gloves on. I must have looked ridiculous holding onto a 3.5 pound dog, like it was some kind of wild animal. I petted her and talked gently to her for a few minutes every few hours. No lie, within 24 hours the gloves and blanket were gone and this tiny little girl would not leave my lap. I enjoyed showing her off to my family since she was so incredibly small. I joked that she isn't really a dog, she's a wind-up toy. We tried thinking of an appropriate name for her, most didn't fit. My sister came up with Paris since she resembled the type of dog the heiress carries around. Paris now enjoys everyone she meets. She is learning commands and knows her name. She bounces around in our backyard like a rabbit. She has at least 4 adorable outfits to fit her and keep her warm. We worried about her size and climbing stairs and jumping on furniture. Paris has no boundaries, she goes up and goes down anywhere she wants to. Paris is an IG who loves to snuggle under your favorite blanket with you, but has also been known to put my older, bigger IG's in their place if they approach her without respect. My husband enjoys recreating the opening scene of "The Lion King" while holding Paris up as Simba. I have learned so much living with Paris, including the process involved with indoor training a small dog. Her personality is huge compared to her size. We all adore Paris but no, we will not adopt her. Someone wise once told me I could do a lot more good fostering, than just keeping a lot of dogs. Paris's life starting out with me was anything but simple, but she has really come into her own and has been adopted by a loving family in Illinois.
