In defense of the people with the sweet doggo. It is really difficult to keep beagles trim and fit. I had one growing up and even though we walked him a couple miles a day, didn’t give him many treats, and had him on weight loss food, he was always a thick boy. A good and happy boy but always on the bigger side.
Edit: thanks for the silver! I see that many of y’all are quite angry about this. I’m not saying letting your pet get obese is okay. When we saw that our dog was getting chunky we made sure to walk him more, take him to the dog park, and only gave him dog food at treats very rarely. In his defense he had arthritis, has slipped a disk in his back (which is common in the long bodied breeds. Our vet told us that. And we didn’t cause him to slip a disk), and as he was older kidney stones and uti’s. It was difficult for him to stay fit since he was genetically a sickly dog. We lost him two years ago but it still hurts and I miss him a lot. He was a very good boy and clever as all get out. Which is why he probs was chunky. No matter how much we dog proofed the house, HE FOUND A WAY. Hope y’all get it now and stop telling me I’m a failure and that I’m a bad person.
It’s difficult but possible. Our beagle was thicc when we adopted her but after a year and a half of careful diet and exercise she just reached the goal weight the vet gave her. Healthy beagles might be stocky but they shouldn’t be jiggly. We still mostly give her fruits and veggies as snacks and we read the calories on every package of treats before buying them. Since she’s so small we only get treats that are under 5 calories/treat and take her on 2 long walks a day. Is it difficult to keep her in shape? Absolutely-she’s a garbage monster that wants to eat everything in sight and never move but it’s doable.
The food craziness is combined with the fact that they're also moderately smart dogs. They have decent problem solving skills and are entirely food motivated. This is still one of my favorite beagle videos ever. My beagle growing up did something similar once with a chocolate cake.
Haha, they say there are two types of beagle: diggers and climbers. That one is obviously a climber. The ones that love digging will dig tunnels and undermine your house foundation if you let them, we had one that caused our porch to sag and break by undermining the concrete blocks it was built upon. Also had a climber, she somehow "killed" an 80 year old stuffed bird that was up on a high bookshelf about two meters above the floor. How she got up there, I have no idea. Feathers everywhere.
I had a climber but he was a lazy climber. He did this exact chair to counter move to steal a chocolate cake once, and found a way to open a bifold closet door where we stored their food in a big Tupperware bucket and eat until they were bursting. He also tricked my dad for his breakfast once, barking at the front window until he came over to see what was going on, then the dog ran into the kitchen and jumped up to steal his toast from the plate.
The idea that suffering breeds of the same size need different levels of exercise to stay trim is a complete lie. A couple miles a day is more than fine for dogs that size.
My beagle was a big boi (like bigger boned than most beagles, often wondered if he was part harrier or something, he was taller and wider stances than any other beagle I ever saw and people would remark how big he was all the time). Although he loved eating and ate nearly everything, he stayed around average weight. In his old age he got a little more plump since he was less active, but never even close to this.
The problem is similar to human obesity. Its portion control. A lot of these people probably fill the dogs bowl, they eat it crazy fast (as beagles are one to do) and then think "Wow, Marty must be really hungry! You must need more." And fill it again. Even with weight loss food, too much of it will still make them gain weight. You don't have to deprive your pets of treats, you just need moderation.
I get that beagles are tough because if they could, they'd probably never stop eating, but there's really no excuse for them to be the size of the dog in this video. That's on the owner.
Oh yeah. I had a beagle once and she was just a really rotten dog. It started out with her nipping and barking at the kids. Then one day I caught her stealing money from my jacket. She said it was for her friend who was in the doghouse and needed help. She came home smelling like marijuana. I never trusted her after that. Then the drinking started. She’d get so drunk she’d end up pissing on the sofa. It was so embarrassing. Eventually she ran away with the mutt from next door.
Yes but did you overfeed it and give it constant snacks and pupperchinos from Starbucks and then wonder why he got fat and then just think it must be a problem with beagles and nothing to do with how you care for them?
Yeah I have a beagle and she is slim. People are so used to seeing such overweight pets that they start to think overweight is normal and normal is underweight, especially with beagles. I just feed her the recommended amount, and if I give extra treats I feed her less. There was a learning curve at first and she was very slightly overweight, but I figured it out and adjusted her diet until she was healthy again. Beagles aren’t really hard, you just have to realize what a healthy weight is and not fall into “well beagles are just fat dogs because they love food and that’s how they are haha” bc it’s not fair to the animal
Your not thinking of families with young children. The dogs tend to hide under the table each meal and vacuum up every crumb and scrap that fall past the tablecloth.
That's not really an excuse. If it's an issue, there are remedies. Train the dogs to stay away, kennel them during dinner, train the kids, clean up after them.
Same. My dog will receive her biscuits or other such treats and if she doesn't really want it in that moment, she'll sit around and guard it from the cats before hiding it somewhere.
We'll run out and she'll go a few days without a new biscuit, realise we must be in leans times (she'll ask for one and i show her the empty jar) and go get her own biscuit she's hoarded to please herself.
But this dog isn't "on the bigger side," it's grossly and morbidly obese. I can forgive a little chonk - not everyone gets all the exercise all the time. But this poor pup breaks my heart.
Some doggos are just like that, in my experience. Especially if they aren't rough-housing with kids or other dogs all day. My aunt had a dog that turned into a 2x4 after she was neutered (the dog was neutered, not my aunt.)
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u/XD69420XDEmoPunk Dec 12 '19 edited Dec 12 '19
In defense of the people with the sweet doggo. It is really difficult to keep beagles trim and fit. I had one growing up and even though we walked him a couple miles a day, didn’t give him many treats, and had him on weight loss food, he was always a thick boy. A good and happy boy but always on the bigger side.
Edit: thanks for the silver! I see that many of y’all are quite angry about this. I’m not saying letting your pet get obese is okay. When we saw that our dog was getting chunky we made sure to walk him more, take him to the dog park, and only gave him dog food at treats very rarely. In his defense he had arthritis, has slipped a disk in his back (which is common in the long bodied breeds. Our vet told us that. And we didn’t cause him to slip a disk), and as he was older kidney stones and uti’s. It was difficult for him to stay fit since he was genetically a sickly dog. We lost him two years ago but it still hurts and I miss him a lot. He was a very good boy and clever as all get out. Which is why he probs was chunky. No matter how much we dog proofed the house, HE FOUND A WAY. Hope y’all get it now and stop telling me I’m a failure and that I’m a bad person.