[LazyZoe]

So, I was walking Zoe through our subdivision along our usual route. We pass by a house where there is a man and woman talking at the driveway, and as we get close to the yard (we are walking in the street, not in the grass), this dog come tearing across the yard, snarling and barking in a very, very aggressive way. The woman tells me not to worry, she's tied up (literally; it looks like she's got a bit of clothesline attached to her collar). So, whatever, I move along and the man she's speaking with says "Is that a beagle?" "No, she's a coonhound." "Oh, I had a blue tick coonhound once, but she ate all my wallpaper." "..." "Yours looks kinda of overweight, whatcha feeding, table scraps?" "Uh, no, she gets dog food." And after that we kind of picked up the pace and meandered on home.

I was just kind of like WTF? I honestly don't think Zoe appears overweight at all. She's definitely put on weight since we got her (she was like 43, and then was up to 47 lbs at her last vet visit). I can still tell she has a waist, and even if she is a little round around her ribs, I'd say she's a far cry from being overweight.

Now I wish I had some pics to include in this post because that guy has me feeling all defensive.

 

[Tofu_pup]

Being from O'Fallon myself, I can safely say that you won't run into a whole lot of dog savvy people. Shrug it off.

 

[CptJack]

Being from O'Fallon myself, I can safely say that you won't run into a whole lot of dog savvy people. Shrug it off.

Ditto. I'm not from anywhere near that area, but there aren't a lot of dog savvy people, anywhere. My rat terrier is a beagle/chi mix, though occasionally someone hits JRT, and he's emaciated, according to most of the public we encounter. It's just not worth getting bent out of shape about.

 

[Dog Problemz]

"Oh, I had a blue tick coonhound once, but she ate all my wallpaper."

Kind of makes you wonder what happened to the guy's last Coonhound...

 

[deege39]

His dog must have been severely emaciated and underweight if it ate his wallpaper. >.> I would have said something along the lines to him, and play it off as a joke. "Well I'd rather give my dog table-scraps then make her find her food on the walls."

I get a good mix of people from dog parks and pet stores that think Donatello is overweight or at his ideal weight. Currently, he could stand to lose a few pounds; Since bringing Miggy into the house, Miggy needs to eat two meals a day, where as Donatello has only ever gotten by on one, [per his desire], but of course Donatello has to have whatever Miggy is having so Donatello winds up getting two meals a day. So we're working on cutting him back, but he still has a nice waist-line. I have had people tell me, "boy he's a chunky thing," but what they always refer to his big barrel chest, not his non-existent tummy. :doh:

Some people have no filter.

 

[bgmacaw]

Some '*******' types think that if you underfeed a dog it makes them more aggressive and better hunters. I've heard some of my wife's relatives say stuff like this.

 

[InkedMarie]

I love coonhounds and would love to see pictures!

 

[NozOnyCalAur]

As far as I can tell I'm the only one who 'actively' walks the dog on our block. Going outside to potty every 2 hours you'd think I'd have seen someone in the past week walking their dog. Most of the homes have fenced in backyards, we have 2 unfenced side yards, the backyard was turned into a massive asphalted off street parking area, not by us, I think someone before us didn't like to mow. Anyways, as my neighbors see me out there with the peke pup, they've come over to talk and I've gotten loads of 'advice.' Most of it outdated or cruel in my opinion. I'm in South County, but I'm sure there are lots of "eccentric" people everywhere. My neighbor asked me how big was Auriel going to get, and I said hopefully around 10 lbs.
He replied, "That's big."
I stated, "The AKC breed standard is no more than 14 lbs." He then goes to tell me about his daughter's chihuahua. I suppose it was his only experience with small dogs. He owns a "91 lbs. collie mix" (his words not mine) but he doesn't walk her, he has one of those fenced in backyards.
Reading your stories here is preparing me for what I'm most likely going to come across too.

 

[LazyZoe]

As far as I can tell I'm the only one who 'actively' walks the dog on our block.

I live in a mobile home park, and with the exception of the neighbor next to us (who does have a beagle, and walks him on a regular basis) pretty much every home I see has their dog tied out in the yard. I never see anyone actually taking their dogs for walks. In fact, aside from this one incident, whenever I do walk Zoe a lot of times I get dirty looks and snide comments when their dogs start barking up a storm as we pass in front of their homes. Like, really? It's my fault your dogs aren't better trained?

Oh, and another funny story...we do have a lead in our yard that we let Zoe out on for brief periods. Apparently some random dog came into our yard and tried to mount Zoe this morning (she is spayed, thank God) and my husband had to chase him off. Have no idea if he was a stray or someone's wayward dog. Poor Zoe, first getting insulted for her weight, and then suffering unwanted advances from a strange man. :redface:

 

[LazyZoe]

Just figured I'd post some pictures of Zoe for those who are curious. Gave her a bath earlier and managed to get some halfway decent full body shots.

And bonus of Zoe with our 2 year old son.

 

[InkedMarie]

Zoe is beautiful! She looks little for a coonhound, how much does she weigh? Nice you're getting your son training nice & early to be a groomer

 

[Willowy]

She's obviously had pups and has "lost her figure", but she doesn't look fat.

 

[LazyZoe]

Zoe is beautiful! She looks little for a coonhound, how much does she weigh?

We adopted her in early March and before she was spayed she weighed about 43 lbs. I think by the time she had the last of her staples removed a couple weeks later she was up to 47. I think she may be right around 50 lbs. now, but we haven't had her weighed recently.

She's obviously had pups and has "lost her figure", but she doesn't look fat.

I find it hilarious that you noticed that, because I have always thought the same thing. Her previous owner swore up and down that she had never been bred (I had asked if she was spayed or not), but when we picked her up I noticed that her nipples were HUGE, bigger than they are now, and thought that was odd if she'd never had pups. But I wasn't 100% sure because I've never had an intact female dog before, and she's about 3 years old. I did think that if her skin wasn't so loose around her abdomen that she would have more of a defined figure.

 

[HollowHeaven]

She's obviously had pups and has "lost her figure", but she doesn't look fat.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[NozOnyCalAur]

Oh she's a very beautiful dog!

 

[Hambonez]

That's not a fat dog! It's no greyhound, but that's because it's a coonhound My dog is "thick" but if anything, a little on the thin side. He's really muscular and squat and sturdy, but you can easily palpate his ribs.