UPDATE — This article was reviewed by Dr. Mark Saraiva, DVM and updated with the latest canine weight research. Pawprint Wellness Protocol is available on the official Pawprint Lab site [HERE].
Updated on 8/6/2026
One owner put it perfectly. She said about ninety percent of the corgis she sees on social media are overweight — so as a first-time dog owner, she thought her own dog looked completely normal.
She was not being careless. She was doing what all of us do. She learned what her breed looks like from the pictures she saw, and almost every picture she saw was of a dog carrying extra weight.
That is the trap. If the version of your breed you have seen a thousand times is the heavy version, then a healthy one looks skinny to you. A vet says the word “overweight” and it lands like an accusation, because by the only standard you had, your dog looked fine.
There is a second layer to this, and it is the part almost nobody has been told. For some breeds, gaining easily is not just about food. It is partly written into the DNA. Researchers studying Labradors found a specific gene change that makes dogs hungrier and slower to burn energy at rest — and they found how common it is.
So before anyone tells you to just feed him less: it is worth knowing what breed you are actually working with.
If three or four of those landed, do not spiral. Do the rib test right now, on the floor, with your hands. You should be able to feel the ribs easily under a thin layer, the way you can feel the back of your own hand. If you have to hunt for them, that is information — not a verdict on you.
Now the breed part, and the two lanes matter.
If you have a Labrador or a Flat-Coated Retriever, there is real published genetics here. Cambridge researchers found a change in a gene called POMC that affects the “I have had enough” signal. Dogs with it are hungrier, weigh more, and a follow-up study found they burn less at rest too. It shows up in around one in eight Labradors, and in roughly six out of ten Flat-Coated Retrievers.
If you have a corgi, dachshund, bulldog, beagle, pug or golden, that specific gene has not been studied in your breed and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What is true is that these are breeds that gain easily and that vets see carrying extra weight constantly. Different claim, same practical problem.
Either way: your dog's healthy weight is a number your vet gives you, not a number from a breed chart on the internet.
Take two Labradors. Same house, same food, same walks, same portions. One stays lean. One does not. Most people explain that with willpower — someone must be sneaking him food.
The research says something more interesting.
In 2016, a team at Cambridge looked at obesity-prone Labradors and found a small deletion in the POMC gene. POMC helps produce the signals that tell a dog it has eaten enough. Dogs carrying one copy weighed measurably more and scored noticeably higher on food motivation — they were hungrier, more often, for longer. A follow-up study in 2024 added the second half of the picture: those dogs also have a lower resting metabolic rate. Hungrier and burning less.
It is common enough to matter. Around twelve percent of pet Labradors in that first study, and about sixty percent of Flat-Coated Retrievers. In a wider group of Labradors trained as assistance dogs, it was far higher still.
Then stack the ordinary things on top. Most pet dogs are neutered, and measured carefully, neutered dogs need roughly a quarter fewer calories than intact ones. Short legs on a long body — a corgi, a dachshund — mean extra weight is harder on the joints, so the dog moves less, so the weight is harder to shift.
None of that is a moral failing. It is a starting line that was never level.
It does not mean give up. It means stop using the wrong yardstick.
Get the number from your vet, not the internet. Ask for two things at the next visit: your dog's body condition score, and the healthy weight range for your individual dog. Breed averages are averages. Your dog is not.
Weigh, do not eyeball. If your dog is small enough, a bathroom scale works — plenty of owners weigh weekly and catch a creep of a pound before it becomes ten. Same scale, same day of the week, written down.
Measure food by weight. Cups vary more than people think. A kitchen scale removes the argument.
And stop asking food alone to fix a body problem. A dog carrying extra weight is not just carrying extra weight. In dogs, fat tissue behaves like an active gland, releasing signals that keep the inflammatory response switched on — which makes moving less comfortable, which makes the weight harder to shift. Supporting that side is a separate job from the bowl.
Pawprint Wellness Protocol is a daily liquid you mix into the food your dog already eats. It does not change your dog's breed and it does not change his genetics. It works alongside your feeding plan, not instead of it.
Ten actives, each with a job:
It is a liquid for a boring reason: dogs eat it. Pills come back up, chews get left in the bowl. Drops go on whatever you already feed — kibble, raw, fresh or home-cooked.
What it does not do: it does not make a dog feel full, it does not suppress appetite, and it will not move the scale by itself. For a breed that gains easily, the portions and the vet visit are still the main event.
Healthy weight change is slow — most vets aim for around one to two percent of body weight a week. For a breed that gains easily, expect months, not weeks. But the first changes owners notice are usually behaviour, not numbers. Here is the order they tend to show up in.
This is the boring, useful part. Weigh him, photograph him from above and from the side, and do the rib test so you know what today feels like. Write the number down. Owners who track weekly catch a change early; owners who go by eye do not, because you see your dog every day. Behaviour is usually the first thing to shift — more interest in the door, more interest in the toy.
For short-legged and heavy-set breeds this is the phase that matters most, because movement is the thing extra weight takes away first. Walks get a little longer before he wants the car. Stairs stop being a decision. Start short and build slowly, and check with your vet before adding distance if he has been stiff — for a long-backed breed that advice is not optional.
Take the same two photos you took in week one, from the same height, in the same spot. This is where owners of gain-prone breeds usually get their first real surprise, because the change is easier to see side by side than in the mirror of everyday life. Expect a flat patch on the scale somewhere in here too — that is normal, and it is not you.
By week twelve most owners have stopped comparing their dog to the dogs on their feed and started comparing him to his own photos. That is the whole shift this article is about.
Take your log back to your vet and agree what the next twelve weeks look like, because for a breed that gains easily, holding the line is the long game. If nothing here has happened for you, the 90-day money-back guarantee covers it — send the bottle back, even empty.
"I spent $2,200 on prescription diet food for 11 months. She lost 2 pounds. Then gained them back. 90 days on Pawprint Wellness — Bella is down 14 pounds and chases her ball again. I cried the first time she jumped on the couch."
"I tried 5 different things — Hill's Perfect Weight, Royal Canin Satiety, two supplements off Amazon, a fancy fresh-food subscription. Lost $400, gained nothing but frustration. This one finally worked, and the 90-day guarantee made it easy to actually try without the usual 'throw money in the trash' feeling."
"Rocky used to lay down while he ate because standing was too hard. Last week he trotted up the deck stairs and didn't even pause. He's down 12 pounds and the walks are real walks again. I didn't think I'd ever see him like this."
Instagram taught you what your breed looks like, and Instagram was working from a biased sample. That is not your failure of judgement. It is a bad reference photo, repeated ten thousand times.
Pawprint Wellness Protocol supports the movement-and-comfort half of the job while you and your vet handle the portions: omega-3s for a healthy inflammatory response and normal joint comfort, nutrients for a healthy metabolism and lean muscle, mixed into the food he already eats.
Some breeds are wired to gain. In Labradors and Flat-Coated Retrievers researchers can point to the gene. In corgis, dachshunds, bulldogs, beagles and pugs it has not been studied — but every vet has seen the pattern.
Either way the practical job is the same, and it is not just the bowl. Pawprint Wellness Protocol supports a healthy inflammatory response, normal joint comfort, a healthy metabolism and lean muscle, in a liquid your dog will actually eat. It works alongside your feeding plan, not instead of it.
If it is not doing anything for your dog, send it back within 90 days — even empty — and we refund you. Individual results may vary. Get your dog's healthy weight range from your vet.
[1] Raffan, E. et al. A Deletion in the Canine POMC Gene Is Associated with Weight and Appetite in Obesity-Prone Labrador Retriever Dogs. Cell Metabolism, 2016;23(5):893–900.
[2] Dittmann, M.T. et al. Low resting metabolic rate and increased hunger due to β-MSH and β-endorphin deletion in a canine model. Science Advances, 2024.
[3] Bermingham, E.N. et al. Energy requirements of adult dogs: a meta-analysis. PLoS ONE / maintenance energy requirement data, 2014.
[4] Ryan, V.H. et al. Adipokine expression and secretion by canine adipocytes. Pflügers Archiv – European Journal of Physiology, 2010.
[5] Marshall, W.G. et al. The effect of weight loss on lameness in obese dogs with osteoarthritis. Veterinary Research Communications, 2010;34(3):241–253.
[6] Fritsch, D.A. et al. A multicenter study of the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 2010;24(5):1020–1026.
[7] German, A.J. The growing problem of obesity in dogs and cats. The Journal of Nutrition, 2006.
[8] Laflamme, D.P. Understanding and managing obesity in dogs and cats. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 2006.
