Overweight Labrador Loses 60 Pounds, But Still Lives Life Large!

Lori Ennis
by Lori Ennis
An overweight Labrador who once was too fluffy to even finish a walk was adopted by a family committed to his health and has now lost a whopping 60 pounds!


There once was a dog who was too hefty…sounds like the making of a great limerick, right?


Actually, it’s the tale of a Labrador retriever who was morbidly overweight at 146 pounds–which is about twice what an average lab should weigh. When Heidi Fiore of Massachusetts saw a Facebook post that was looking for a new home for Shiloh, she wasn’t sure her family should look at him. They’d just lost their beloved family lab Jasper a few months before, but Fiore says that she saw something in Shiloh and thought she could help.


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So, they adopted him, falling in love with his personality and committed to getting his weight to a healthy one where he’d be engaged in ball-playing and dog-walking. According to Shiloh’s Facebook page, Keeping up With Shiloh, his previous owners simply “loved him too much” and indulged him in lots of treats. Though they did try to walk him twice a day, the weight kept adding up.


Fiore says that when they brought seven-year-old Shiloh home, they immediately slimmed his diet down and began working on an exercise routine for him. Much like many of us looking at a new diet and exercise, Shiloh wasn’t convinced it was for him. Fiore says that he’d just stop mid-walk and plop himself down, sometimes needing at least 30 minutes or more before he’d even attempt to move again.

But persistence paid off as slowly and surely, Shiloh started dropping pounds and moving more. He lost eight pounds in the first two weeks he was home, and now a year later? He’s lost a whopping 60 pounds and walks up to two miles a day! Fiore says that though Shiloh is slimmer and trimmer, he still likes to sneak into the trash or refrigerator if he can because he just loves food–they don’t think that’ll ever change. (Can we blame him?)

Related: Why Choosing Grain-Free Pet Food Isn’t Always the Healthiest Option


For now, Fiore says they are continuing to love on him and keep him healthy and happy. He’s gone from looking like a big bear or pig to his labrador-self, but all the while, kept a wagging tail. She is adamant that his previous owners loved him and had a hard time giving him up to be his healthiest self, and she can understand because he is such a love. While the loss has been amazingly transformative, his happy personality is what they love best!

Lori Ennis
Lori Ennis

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