On Facebook I posted about my concerns over the breed dogs we saw at Westminster last week.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am a stickler for keeping my dogs lean. I know the benefits! My dogs do performance agility work. They run, jump, race, play, do leaping tricks and other things that put stress on their bodies. Just racing after chippies in the woods or geese on the farm fields, they work their bodies, often. They are athletes and I am very proud of their good condition. No one can say my dogs are not physically prepared for the agility work they do. They are fit and lean and in top condition. Period! I insist on it and some might say obsessed by it. They get hours and hours of off leash running each week. I spend many hours heading to the beach in the winter, when the snow is high and they can't run in the fields. We head to the beach so my tiny dogs can stay in good condition!

Last week when I watched some of the Westminster breed show, as always, I was amazed at how fat some of the dogs are. It just doesn't make sense to me. The labs were so fat there is no way those dogs could work all day in the field retrieving ducks. No way! The top breed lab would die of a heart attack if that poor dog ever had to work in the field. It surely couldn't last a day doing it. No way!

I just don't get it? Why would a breed judge reward a dog for being so fat? In the MinPin breed ring you will not see a fat MinPin. It is a requirement in the breed standard that the MinPin have a "well defined tuck". The tuck would be the dog's waist line. I know some working labradors. They have nicely defined tucks. They work the fields and ponds and are in tip top shape. They have a tuck! The Westminster Labrador? No tuck. Fat, fat, fat. I just don't get it. All that extra weight will simply add stress and strain to that poor dog's joints as he/she ages. Why do that to a dog? Why reward it as the top dog? What is the point???? Aren't Labradors a breed that is/was supposed to work? A "Retriever"???? What am I missing?

Colby, my soon to be 11 year old MinPin? She has a well defined tuck..........
She has many breed faults, though, if she were to be looked at as a breed dog (too big, nose too long, not enough slope to her shoulders and many other "faults", she was from a puppymill!), but she has a well defined tuck. I insist on it.........
Roscoe, he has a well defined tuck.......

These two are great examples of proper weight on a dog, any dog!!! You can easily feel their ribs, but not see them. How do they compare to most dogs you see? They look "emaciated". Which is just plain sad. They are healthier and, hopefully, will live longer lives because of it. Studies done on Labradors found that by keeping a lab lean you can add two years to it's life!! TWO YEARS!!!! That's a LONG time for a dog whose average life span is 11 (perhaps that average would be higher if most were kept lean?). MinPins usually live well into their teens. I sure hope by keeping mine lean they live into their late teens. I hope. Sadly, I am not sure that will be the case with sweet Colby. She has such poor genetics (she was a puppymill bred dog), her body is already breaking down. Knee surgery in 08, eyes going, she shows the signs of aging, I am afraid. Roscoe, who knows what his breeding is? We have no idea, but that little guy may live forever!!! LOL!! He may seem more fragile than Colby, not as well muscled or well boned, but he shows no signs of his body breaking down. And he, too, is 11. Amazing little guy!!

Spur, with all that hair you can't see a tuck or definition, but you CAN see the papillon in him, A?...........

Tell me those idiots running his puppymill didn't breed papillons with the aussies to get them smaller. At 14lbs, he must be a papillon/aussie mix. He must!!!!.............

One more photo just because it was SO cute I couldn't resist. I was vacuuming and piled the dog beds up so I could vacuum the floor. It put the beds in a nice, warm sun spot that Roscoe could not resist..........
Cute little bad dog!