I also agree that putting your hands on a dog is necessary to truly evaluate whether the dog is overweight. Too much coat and too much overall substance do look like fat. But too many people put their hands on obese dogs and still think they are at a healthy, athletic weight. I don't understand this actually. But, your eye gets used to what you see all the time and I guess that works for fingers too!
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The key words here are "too much" - everyone seems to be on board with not rewarding "too little" (and evidently decisions on traits that do not appear to be enough CAN be determined without actually putting hands on a dog since those comments are made all of the time and accepted), but "too much" seems to be desirable. This breed should not "appear" heavy due to too much weight, too much coat or too much bone. Too much is just that, TOO MUCH. Putting one's hands on a dog can tell one if the reason the dog looks heavy/overly substantial is due to actually being overweight. But regardless if it is weight or having another characteristic that throws off its balance, the dog still isn't the picture of a moderate working dog.
