Dog obesity is a serious issue for any pet owner who wants to own an animal. Overweight dogs can die earlier in life, have severe health issues and be generally unhappy when they can't get around. Yet, 84 million dogs and cats in the United States are overweight and obese. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to help keep your own four-legged friend from reaching this point, and new medical advances are helping reduce the problems they cause.

If you ask the experts they will give several reasons dog obesity is so acute. The single biggest problem is giving too much food, especially leftover human food and scraps from the table. As cute as it might be to feed your pet at the table, resist if you want to help their health. Human food just can't be handled properly by dogs, nor does it really provide the nutrients that they need for their health needs.

Lack of exercise can also result in dog obesity. When the owner doesn't get out often enough, neither does the dog. These days more and more dogs are indoor pets, leaving the time outside to be brief bathroom breaks. So unless being walked by the owner, dogs don't smell the fresh outdoors.

One of the best ways to address dog obesity is to look at your own lifestyle. Since Fido follows his master, there can't be anything changed without the owners starting first. Getting out and enjoying life every day when you walk is the first way. Try to get the rest of your family to agree not to feed the dog food from the table. Make sure that your dog just eats dog food, not people food as well. Based on how heavy your dog is, feed accordingly and wait to see if your dog appears hungry before feeding more.

The dog obesity issue will stop when people recognize the health of their animal should be a way of life and the behavior of the dog reflects the owner. The first step always needs to be taken by the owner.

As well as writing pet care advice, Taylor Martinerin also writes about picking a good xlarge dog bed, such as a waterproof dog bed.

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Written by Taylor Martinerin using tags: dog advice, dog obesity, dog training, Pets