Heroes - and - why do we feed our dogs to death?

Paul and Tinker

Hey Julie,

I’m glad you’re a fan of Paul McGreevy’s too! 

I admire so much of the work he’s done (and facilitated or helped others to do). He’s not afraid to raise sensitive topics and tricky questions through his science and I appreciate that enormously.

Your last post got me thinking about who my canine science (or general doggy-people) heroes are – I’m still pondering on this, but there are plenty of them!

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I think I’ll get back to you with my conclusions and explanations another day, after I’ve had some more time to ruminate on it a bit more.

Meanwhile, I wanted to get back to you to talk fat dogs.

Sampson, June 2011 (source)

One of my local animal shelters was attracting global attention recently when 8 year old Sampson was surrendered to the shelter for rehoming and weighed in at a whopping 84kg (that’s 185lbs). 

Sampson’s not alone. Up to 40% of Australia’s pet dog population are overweight and this is comparable to other developed nations. 

The weird thing is – why? 

Vanessa Rohlf

As pet owners, we humans are in control of their food, we understand that amount of food + amount of exercise = pet weight. We even have pet food companies who have developed weight control formulas so we can feed 'more' but give 'less' - so why can’t some people control the balance to keep our pets healthy?

(source)

Vanessa Rohlf is a fellow PhD candidate of mine in the Anthrozoology Research Group and she has done some excellent work looking into this area of pet owner/caregiver psychology.

Click to enlarge figure (source)

Her research has shown that our behaviours (actions) as pet caregivers can be based on a complex range of beliefs and intentions. We may give more importance to the opinions of a close friend in regards to our pets' care than what our veterinarian tells us. You can read the outline of a talk she presented that offers a good summary about why some owners don't comply with pet ownership practices here. 

For more detailed information about Vanessa's research, check out the journal articles below. 
It’s really, really interesting stuff!

Sampson, June 2012 (source)

Oh – and Sampson? He’s doing really well – 12 months on, he’s half the dog he once was, has inspired a whole fundraising campaign and is a bit of a local celebrity.