After visiting the vet, it turns out my dog is a bit overweight due to being fed much more than she should have. To rectify this, in addition to a smaller portion of food, I have decided to begin taking responsibility of walking the dog and doing more often per day than what my family was doing before. I hope that with this plan in the next few months there will be benefits for my dog and for myself as we both embark (haha) on a path towards increased exercise.