Canine obesity affects over 50% of pet dogs in many developed countries, causing chronic pain, reduced mobility, shortened lifespan, and a significantly diminished quality of life that is almost entirely preventable.
Dog obesity is a welfare crisis hiding in plain sight. The affected animals experience chronic joint pain, difficulty breathing, and reduced ability to engage in the behaviours — play, running, exploration — that most contribute to positive canine welfare. The welfare irony is that obesity typically results from excessive feeding driven by affection: owners expressing love through food cause suffering through kindness. The human-animal bond is central to both the problem and the solution — owners who understand that lean dogs are healthier and happier dogs are more motivated to resist the impulse to over-feed. Veterinary weight management programmes that frame weight loss as improving dog happiness, not just health, achieve better owner compliance.