Help! our new vet says our dog is overweight!

Question
Hello, I am hoping to hear a second opinion from you regarding our dog's weight and diet.

We have a 4 year old, male/neutered, very big-boned Golden Retriever.  My husband bought him from a local family back in his home State, and remembers just how big his father-dog was, and looking at the size of our dog's paws, we just knew that he was going to be bigger than average for a golden.

Up until 1/2-1yr ago, he weighed about 85 lbs.  We then moved to another town about 4 months back, and recently visited a neighborhood vet because of his skin problems (he has skin allergies and gets itchy very frequently).  Aside from getting meds for his itchy skin, they weighed him on the scale and to my horror, said he now weighed 104 lbs!

He used to get 3 cups of food daily, walk 2x daily, including some play-fetch & running around with other dogs at the park.  That has not changed after the move either.

We are really unsure of what caused such drastic weight gain, but the nurse told us to put him on a diet.  We used to feed him 3 cups of Natural Balance Fish & Potato dry food once per day, but was told that that was still too much and that we had to reduce the amount, feed him twice a day instead of once, and switch to a food that has a fat content of less than 7%.  

Now, I have a dilemma.  I've looked around on sites like petco.com for light/weight control foods with less than 7% fat, but only found 3 or 4, which the "minimum fat" was less than 7%, but "maximum fat", if shown, was always more than 7%.  Plus all weight loss or light foods commercially available does not seem to be allergy friendly like the Natural Balance LID line or other limited ingredients brands.  

We reluctantly purchased a bag of Natural Balance Reduced Calorie food, which has a minimum crude fat of 6% (max. is not shown), in hopes to gradually slide to, and in hopes that our dog's allergies won't be aggravated, but we are worried.  

All the allergy-friendly dry foods we've found has always had way more than 7% fat, and every general dog food I've seen so far were way beyond 7% fat.  Some "diet" foods still showed very high fat %s too.  So we are puzzled as to whether this new vet/nurse knew of particular dry foods that fit all the criteria when they specified the fat %.  The nurse also suggested the possibility on putting him on raw food diet, which I'm sure is the ultimate best option, however with the sheer time and money needed to do that, we just do not feel that that option is right for us.

What's equally puzzling is that besides our dog being big-boned, when we rub around his back and sides, we don't find him fat at all.  He is definitely not "skin & bones", but we can still feel some rib bones on the sides, and it feels as though the majority of his "mass" is inside the ribcage or organs.  And yet he is not constipated, and personally I find his daily amt. of food (3 cups before, now down to 2~2.5 cups) already pretty low for his size.  My mother and I used to breed golden retrievers in my home country (Japan) and our current dog is the third adult golden I've cared for, but he eats way less than how much my late dogs ate, and my late dogs weren't at all obese either.

This nurse told me that we need to stop by routinely to weigh him in, and if he doesn't seem to be responding to the weight control, they might need to run some tests i.e. for thyroid problems.  

I apologize terribly for such a long explanation of our situation.  I guess to summarize, what I am hoping to hear from you is:
1)Your opinion on our new vet's recommendations
2)Your opinion on our dog's weight condition
3)Your recommendation on how we should go about his weight loss, and recommendations on available dog food brands/line, if any, that might work for both weightloss and allergies.

Thank you so much for your time and I am hoping to hear back from you soon!

Answer
Your dog definitely should be narrower at the waist than the hips and chest. You should be able to easily feel the ribs, but not see them. Each dog is different. Standard recommendations are a good place to start, but each dog must have its food and exercise adjusted to its individual needs. Here is a link to a good illustrated guide, http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx  3 cups doesn't seem out of line for a big golden.  My moderate sized Labs get that much or more.  I wonder if the new vet's scale is off?  I seldom weigh my dogs, depending on feeling their ribs to keep them lean and healthy.  I suggest you do the same.  

I would find a different vet.  Any practice that suggests raw is out of touch with the rest of the profession.  Raw is very difficult to get right, and the consequences if not, harsh.  Many dog seem to do well on it for a time, showing no symptoms of pancreatitus until it is too late.  It is expensive, time consuming, and dangerous to both the dog and owner.  For a mainstream, scientific view of it, see http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jan05/050115ww.asp

If you dog is overweight according to my first link, I would stick with the chow that is working, just feed less, exercise more, or both.  You might also see what another vet says.  Overweight is a serious health problem and may even add to the allergy problems.