The body condition score is used in veterinary medicine but what about the dogs that are on the extremes like greyhounds or mastiffs? How would you tell if the greyhound is too skinny or the mastiff is too fat?
Couldn’t speak about mastiffs but I’ve been rescuing, evaluating and placing greyhounds for more than 10 years now. There’s one sleeping on my (!!!) pillow about 10 feet from me right now.
Greyhounds are on the extreme thin side of the curve, it’s true. A non-racing (retired or never raced) dog can have some ribs showing lightly and MAY have hip points that are prominent to a small extent.
One with all ribs showing distinctly and very sharp hip points will be too skinny. Especially with there’s a lack of muscle mass.
Note that dogs just off the track will show the above signs but have ENORMOUS muscle mass.