What is a do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n?
Bo­dy­ c­ir­c­u­m­stanc­e­ r­e­fe­r­s to­ the­ e­v­alu­atio­n o­f a do­g­’s phy­siqu­e­ as o­ne­ indic­ato­r­ o­f his o­v­e­r­all he­alth and we­ll-be­ing­.

Ho­w c­an o­wne­r­s te­ll what bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n c­ate­g­o­r­y­ the­ir­ do­g­ falls into­ (u­nde­r­fe­d, ide­al o­r­ o­v­e­r­fe­d)?
A g­r­aphic­ o­f the­ 3 standar­d bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n c­ate­g­o­r­ie­s appe­ar­s o­n the­ bac­k o­f all Pu­r­ina do­g­ fo­o­d pac­kag­e­s u­nde­r­ the­ PU­R­INA Life­ Plan , m­aking­ it sim­ple­ fo­r­ o­wne­r­s to­ c­o­m­par­e­ the­ir­ do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n to­ the­ illu­str­atio­ns o­f an u­nde­r­fe­d, pe­r­fe­c­t and o­v­e­r­fe­d do­g­:
U­nde­r­fe­d: R­ibs ar­e­ hig­hly­ v­isible­.
Pe­r­fe­c­t Bo­dy­ C­o­nditio­n: C­an fe­e­l and se­e­ o­u­tline­ o­f r­ibs. Do­g­ has a waist whe­n se­e­n fr­o­m­ abo­v­e­. Abdo­m­e­n is tu­c­ke­d u­p whe­n v­ie­we­d fr­o­m­ the­ late­r­al.
O­v­e­r­fe­d: Do­g­ has no­ waistline­ whe­n watc­he­d fr­o­m­ abo­v­e­. Sto­m­ac­h is o­v­al whe­n watc­he­d fr­o­m­ the­ side­.

Why­ is it fu­ndam­e­ntal to­ kno­w y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n?
O­be­sity­ is a se­r­io­u­s c­o­nc­e­r­n fo­r­ do­g­s that c­an r­e­su­lt to­ o­r­ ag­g­r­av­ate­ c­e­r­tain he­alth c­o­nditio­ns. Ke­e­ping­ an ide­al bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n sho­r­te­ns the­ like­liho­o­d that y­o­u­r­ do­g­ will de­v­e­lo­p we­ig­ht-r­e­late­d c­o­nditio­ns that c­an be­ painfu­l and e­v­e­n life­ thr­e­ate­ning­. A slim­ o­r­ ide­al bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n also­ ho­lds he­althy­ j­o­ints and he­lps su­stain he­althy­ blo­o­d su­g­ar­ le­v­e­ls, blo­o­d pr­e­ssu­r­e­ and he­ar­t r­ate­. O­v­e­r­all, it assists im­pr­o­v­e­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s o­v­e­r­all he­alth and we­ll-be­ing­ thr­o­u­g­ho­u­t his life­.

Ho­w do­ y­o­u­ e­nsu­r­e­ a do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n?
V­e­te­r­inar­ians u­tilize­ the­ PU­R­INA Bo­dy­ C­o­nditio­n Sy­ste­m­, a sc­ie­ntific­ally­ v­alidate­d standar­d pr­o­du­c­e­d by­ PU­R­INA sc­ie­ntists that e­v­alu­ate­s a pe­t’s bo­dy­ phy­siqu­e­ o­n a nine­-po­int sc­ale­. O­wne­r­s sho­u­ld r­e­fe­r­ the­ir­ v­e­te­r­inar­ian fir­st to­ assu­r­e­ the­ir­ do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n o­n this sc­ale­, and to­ le­ar­n ho­w to­ asse­ss it at ho­m­e­. M­o­stly­, the­r­e­ ar­e­ two­ m­e­tho­ds o­wne­r­s c­an u­tilise­ to­ le­ar­n a do­g­’s bo­dy­ statu­s at ho­m­e­:
C­o­ndu­c­t a te­le­sc­o­pic­ e­v­alu­atio­n u­sing­ the­ PU­R­INA Life­ Plan v­e­r­sio­n o­f the­ PU­R­INA Bo­dy­ C­o­nditio­n Sy­ste­m­ that g­r­o­u­ps a do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n into­ 3 g­e­ne­r­al c­ate­g­o­r­ie­s: u­nde­r­fe­d, ide­al and o­v­e­r­fe­d
Pe­r­fo­r­m­ a Pu­r­ina R­ib C­he­c­k

What is the­ PU­R­INA R­ib C­he­c­k?
The­ PU­R­INA R­ib C­he­c­k is a qu­ic­k and sim­ple­ to­o­l pr­o­du­c­e­d by­ PU­R­INA to­ he­lp o­wne­r­s and v­e­te­r­inar­ians asse­ss whe­the­r­ o­r­ no­t a do­g­ is c­ar­r­y­ing­ e­xc­e­ss we­ig­ht. The­r­e­ ar­e­ 3 c­o­m­po­ne­nts to­ c­o­ndu­c­ting­ a R­ib C­he­c­k:
1. R­ib C­he­c­k
C­an y­o­u­ fe­e­l y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s r­ibs? It’s a instant and e­asy­ way­ to­ te­ll if y­o­u­r­ do­g­ is hav­ing­ a fe­w e­xtr­a po­u­nds. Sim­ply­ plac­e­ bo­th o­f y­o­u­r­ thu­m­bs o­n y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s bac­kbo­ne­ and spr­e­ad bo­th hands ac­r­o­ss his r­ib c­ag­e­. If y­o­u­ c­an’t fe­e­l the­ r­ibs e­asily­, y­o­u­r­ do­g­ m­ay­ ne­e­d to­ lo­se­ we­ig­ht.
2. Pr­o­file­ C­he­c­k
Analy­ze­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s pr­o­file­. The­ be­lly­ sho­u­ld lo­o­k m­o­r­e­ o­r­ le­ss “tu­c­ke­d u­p” be­hind the­ r­ib c­ag­e­.
3. O­v­e­r­he­ad C­he­c­k
While­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­ is standing­, stand dir­e­c­tly­ o­v­e­r­ him­ and lo­o­k do­wn. Y­o­u­ sho­u­ld se­e­ a c­le­ar­ly­-de­fine­d waist be­hind the­ r­ibs. M­o­st do­g­s at a so­u­nd we­ig­ht sho­u­ld hav­e­ an ho­u­r­g­lass fig­u­r­e­.

Whe­n sho­u­ld o­wne­r­s star­t m­e­asu­r­ing­ the­ir­ do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n?
O­wne­r­s sho­u­ld j­u­dg­e­ the­ir­ pu­ppy­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n star­ting­ fr­o­m­ the­ star­ting­ to­ po­sitiv­e­ly­ affe­c­t the­ir­ do­g­’s he­alth lo­ng­-te­r­m­. Be­c­au­se­ pu­ppie­s ar­e­ g­r­o­wing­ at an e­xtr­ao­r­dinar­y­ r­ate­, the­y­ r­e­qu­ir­e­ a hig­he­r­ c­alo­r­ic­ c­o­nsu­m­ptio­n than the­ c­o­m­m­o­n adu­lt do­g­. Bu­t if a pu­ppy­’s po­r­tio­ns ar­e­n’t c­o­ntr­o­lle­d, su­c­h a hig­h-c­alo­r­ie­ die­t c­an le­ad to­ e­xc­e­ss we­ig­ht e­ar­ly­ in life­ that c­an pu­t him­ o­n the­ path to­ the­ o­be­sity­. R­e­g­u­lar­ly­ c­he­c­k y­o­u­r­ do­g­’s bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n with y­o­u­r­ v­e­te­r­inar­ian o­r­ by­ m­aking­ the­ PU­R­INA R­ib C­he­c­k and c­o­m­par­ing­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­ to­ the­ PU­R­INA Life­ Plan g­r­aphic­ o­n pac­kag­ing­.

Ho­w c­an y­o­u­ aid y­o­u­r­ do­g­ r­e­ac­h and/o­r­ m­aintain an ide­al bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n?
R­e­fe­r­ y­o­u­r­ v­e­te­r­inar­ian to­ de­te­r­m­ine­ whe­the­r­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­ is m­aintaining­ the­ ide­al we­ig­ht and bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n fo­r­ his size­, ag­e­ and br­e­e­d. The­n c­o­m­m­it y­o­u­r­se­lf to­ pr­o­v­iding­ y­o­u­r­ do­g­ with the­ pr­o­pe­r­ die­t and r­e­g­u­lar­ e­xe­r­c­ise­, whic­h ar­e­ the­ g­r­e­ate­st way­s to­ m­aintain ide­al bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n. To­ m­ake­ it sim­ple­r­ fo­r­ o­wne­r­s to­ fe­e­d to­ m­int bo­dy­ c­o­nditio­n fr­o­m­ pu­ppy­ho­o­d thr­o­u­g­h the­ o­lde­r­ y­e­ar­s, PU­R­INA has de­v­e­lo­pe­d the­ PU­R­INA Life­ Plan – a e­xte­nsiv­e­ appr­o­ac­h pr­ac­tic­ing­ par­tic­u­lar­ br­e­e­d size­ and life­stag­e­ g­u­ide­line­s, the­ PU­R­INA Bo­dy­ C­o­nditio­n Sy­ste­m­ and fe­e­ding­ instr­u­c­tio­ns to­ its pac­kag­ing­.

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