Weight loss for 3 y/o GSD - advice?

[snooby]

Our 3 year old female german shepherd is a true land shark. In the last year she gained quite a bit of weight and is now 104 lbs, and she should be about 90. Our vet recommended decreasing her food by 25% so we have done that, but we want to walk her more. Unfortunately our older male shepherd typically limits how long our daily walk is to half mile. I'd like to get to the point where we walk three miles everyday without the old boy. Can I just start walking 3 miles a day out the gate or should I start her at 1.5 miles every other day and work our way up? She's a healthy beast of a dog but she just got away eating table scraps and her bro's food long enough to expand her and waistline.

Any advice on exercise and diet is appreciated! Thank you!

 

[luisbuesa]

@snooby Test the waters! She how she does on a mile walk first, if she does well, increase the distance. She should be able to go 3 miles divided into two walks a day.

 

[snooby]

@luisbuesa Thanks for the idea to do two instead of one to get started!

 

[luisbuesa]

@snooby Sure! Good Luck!

 

[maxamir]

@snooby Try swimming. Amazing for weight loss and gentle on the joints.

 

[patiencem]

@snooby I would build up to it. While she is healthy and young, you don't want to stress the joints. When one of my dogs was over weight the vet said for us to cut the dog food by 10%. Dropping by 25% will make her hungry and become food aggressive by trying to eat your other dogs food and people food or worse eating stuff that isn't food at all.