Is It OK for a Total Stranger To Tell You Your Dog Is Fat?!

Allie

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I have two Black Labs, Bailey and Allie, and they think they are the mayors of the West Village. Every person that passes, they look longingly up at them with their puppy dog eyes and are completely crushed if someone doesn’t bend down and coo over them.

Plenty of people do stop and invariably someone will say about Allie… “she’s a big girl” or “she must eat well.”

Rude!!! I wouldn’t walk up to you and pinch your muffin top and say “too many doughnuts” or look at your child and call them chubby. So, why is it OK to say that to my dogs!?!

My Allie is now 9-years-old. She has a bum knee and can’t be as active as she used to be. The vet says she’s not obese and that the knee repair surgery could be risky for her. She gets around fine and loves taking daily walks, but she has a few extra pounds.

Do dogs understand? Will she go on a crash canine diet to get back her puppyish figure? We turned to our favorite dog expert from the CBS show Dogs in the City to find out what the doggie etiquette should be.

Justin Silver from Dogs in the City and owner of The Language of Dogs Dog Care Company here in NYC gave us the proper etiquette and whether the girls actually understand when someone calls them fat (or as we call it “well-loved” in my house!).