OMG Punkin' -- He is too cute!! I love the pudgy belly.

My puppykins was a bit of a couch potato (just lkie her mommy

) before I got started on the road to a healthy me. I had noticed some pudge a few months ago and started to get a bit worried -- schnauzers are known to gain weight easily in middle age, but she is only 3!! So, now she goes on walks every evening and is slimming down nicely! She's always been "free fed," meaning I just leave dry food out for her all day. She actually goes through less than is recommended for her weight, so I knew that wasn't the problem. However, I realized one Saturday that she was getting (and insisting on) 3-5 treats a day plus little nibbles of stuff here and there

. That's a lot of extra food for a 15 lb dog!!! She's cut back to one treat when I leave in the morning plus some extra protein every once in a while (a bit of chicken or cheese) and a small spoonful of yogurt or cottage cheese on her food every other day (she LOVES her plain yogurt).
So where was I going with this???

Oh yeah (I digress, quite a bit actually) -- I don't know if you give him treats and other goodies, but I would change his eating habits in addition to the exercise... It's crazy how many extra cookies and stuff they get in a day (I never even realized that I was doing it). Also, it's certainly harder to keep track with more than one person giving the treats. To help them keep track, my mom and dad put two treats on the counter in the morning and break off pieces during the day for their dog, but when they are gone, they are gone -- no more for the rest of the day. This way both of them know how much she's already had (the darn dog was begging 3 and 4 treats from both of them, plus going down to my grandmother and getting a few!!).
BTW I would have him tested for diabetes in addition to the thyroid thing.
Good luck on the "doggy diet." It's rough when they want to eat and you have to cut them back.
Oh yeah -- just remembered -- a friend had a pleasantly plump pooch and her vet recommended cutting back on his regular food and then supplementing his diet with plain cooked veggies and pieces of fruit (some things are toxic to dogs -- like grapes) as well as lean proteins and rice. The vets reasoning was that the diet foods are full of fillers and generally processed junk. So rather than adding that kind of bulk, you should add bulk in the form of whole foods. Don't know what I think about cooking a better meal for my dog than myself, but I thought I'd pass on the info...