Working Out A Dog’s Weight – 5 Great Resources To Help

A question we often see within our society and groups is- “What weight should my working dog be?” or “How do I maintain my dog’s body condition?”.

The answers are not always simple to find as the answer is completely different for each dog. In this blog, we provide you with the links to resources that can help you work out how heavy your working dog should be and how you can maintain it.

1. The Kennel Club Website

If your dog is a pedigree, then you can find the advised weight for your breed via the Kennel Club website. Within the website, you can also read about your breed’s health and well-being which may be helpful if you are not completely confident about your breed’s traits and health.

The Kennel Club

2. Skinners Website

Skinners have a whole blog series called “Keeping Fido fit, not fat!”, where they look at some of the best ways to maintain your dog in a healthy condition. Their website has lots of useful tips and tricks, including how to help maintain weight on an older dog/puppy. Click the button below to view Skinner’s Advice Centre.

Skinners have also put together a masterclass for the LWDG entitled Keeping Weight On A Working Dog. This can be accessed by Society members using the link below.

3. BASC

BASC have some great blogs on dog weight, and they also have a lot of information regarding maintaining a dog’s weight all year round. They have many blogs written by experts and even have a blog on getting your dog fit for the season. The link below will take you directly to that blog, but you can navigate from there to different blogs on weight on their website:

4. PetMD

This resource is a healthy calculator for your dog. You put in your dogs condition, current weight, age and breed and the calculator will work out the ideal weight for your dog. Please remember that this is only a guide and will depend on the activity of your dog and how you personally like your dog to look:

5. The LWDG Blog Post

We did a blog back in 2019 on keeping weight on a working dog which can be difficult, especially as the shooting seasons start. The blog looks at things such as what diet might be best for your dog, frequency of feeding and how to record your dog’s condition:

Need a way to track your dogs weight? Download our FREE Weight Tracker Here!