I am currently boarding a young Golden (15 months) for a friend that I met and walk with most mornings at our park.
The owners are very nice people, they are both doctors. They are wonderful parents and committed 1st time dog owners. They really try to give this dog the best of the best- he eats raw, he gets lots of off leash walks, goes to daycare if they are both working etc etc
The Dad adores Rosie and Sammy, loves throwing frisbee for them, loves getting them to do tricks and asks me lots of questions about their training in OB and agility.
They have gone through a couple of sets of classes with the Golden - with a trainer I'm not especially fond of and IMO they have had relatively poor results. The dog is lovely but fat and very spoiled.
He pretty much does as he pleases and is under the misapprehension that the world revolves around him.
He was in for quite a shock when he came here and dicovered that dogs are expected to use good manners and that they don't get very far if they choose not to do as they are asked.
The dog had zero frustration tolerance and threw the closest thing I've ever seen to a fulll on tantrum when scratching at the door didn't immediately result in me opening it. I thought my door actually might get badly damaged.
In the last couple weeks he has learned that he needs to hold a down and be released with "ok" to get out of the crate. If he doesn't, the crate door just closes again and I walk away and try again later. At one point after he was doing his down pretty nicely, he decided to not down but instead just push past me and nearly sent me flying. The same goes for getting out of the van- he can now hold a sit until he is released but not until he discovered that if he didn't, the van door closed again and he got to sit there for 5 minutes while I played with Rosie and Sammy. He has learned to say please (offer and maintain a sit and eye contact) for petting, to get me to open the door to go out, to have a food bowl put down etc
After 4 long days of testing me-- he seemed just SURE that he didn't reeeally need to do these silly things I asked --he started just going with it. He is now listening well, has a fast pretty darned reliable recall is following cues even in fairly distracting environments. He was a star at manners class-- worked enthusiatically for 55 minutes. I was shocked. He can now maintain a sit at the door when people arrive. He's come a loong way very quickly- there's sure nothing wrong with this dogs brain. He is a pretty sweet guy too- he was just like a spoiled child that had been doted on, catered to, and not been taught manners so the result was a pushy, mouthy brat with no self control. They tried to teach him manners- they just didn't have much success.
This is a dog that when his owner would tell him No! and to quit humping Sammy, would obnoxiously bark in the owners face and grab/bite at his pants. He wouldn't drop a toy for them either, he just pulled for all he is worth- he now drops on cue very nicely. If the owner was standing talking to someone and ignoring the dog, the dog would bark and bite the owners his pants. The owner would put him on leash and walk away and the dog would look very pleased as if he had gotten his own way and trot along just happy to have all his owners attention. I'd never seen anything quite like it.
I have never physically corrected or hurt this dog, just imposed boundaries, put him on somewhat of an NILIF program, taught him polite default behaviors and not let him be rewarded by the rude pushy behaviors. Pushy mouthy behavior here just gets left alone and ignored. He has learned what works and what doesn't at my house. All I have to do is say "HEY" and he quits whatever he is doing:humping, chewing up something, harassing Rosie etc.
The other issue is that at 12 months, he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. He is obese-- he carries it remarkably well, but if you put your hands on him you can grab a good 3-4 inches of fat. You can't feel ribs or hips at all. His fat shakes from side to when he runs and he is exceptionally clumsy.
It pains me to see any dog this overweight, but to see it on a dog with such bad hips that he is getting monthly injections at such a young age- just kills me.
I am not feeding him nearly as much as the owners did (about 1/2)- he works for most of his food at my house, he also gets lots of treats. I wasn't sure how much to cut back his food since I knew he'd be getting lots of food rewards for working.
I knew he was slimming down a bit, but the other day we saw some people we haven't seen in a week and they were shocked at how much thinner he looked. I guess seeing him daily, I didn't notice it as much. I meant to weigh him when he arrived and never had the opportunity. I think based on his supplement dose he is well over 100 pounds and he's 27' at the withers. he's by no means slim yet, he has no waist, can't find hips or ribs on him.
So, the question:
How do I tell these people that they have a lovely dog, who can indeed listen and learn really well, but his problems are that he doesn't respect them as being in a position of leader or parent and that he is FAT ? Basically he is spoiled. I think thus far they have just chalked it up to him being young and feel he is stubborn / hard to train. Geoff nicknamed him "the prince" and has refered to his stay here as "brat camp". :lol-sign: It's pretty bad if Geoff notices it!
The owners know that CHD dogs should be slim (the Dad knows I think he's fat) but apparently the wife "doesn't have the heart" to cut back on the dog's food. I frankly can't understand that coming from doctors. Their vet advised them to take 5 pounds off him-- I'd probably do more like 10. I feel like it's cruel to keep a dog fat when it will further damage his hips. I bet his hips wouldn't be nearly this bad if he had been kept at a healthy weight as he grew.
I just can't figure out what I'm going to say or wether I should let this dog continue to lose weight.
Will they be pissed off if they come home in 3 weeks to a visibly slimmer dog ?
How do I explain that he needs structure, boundaries, and to taught good manners and a diet without sounding offensive?
The owners are very nice people, they are both doctors. They are wonderful parents and committed 1st time dog owners. They really try to give this dog the best of the best- he eats raw, he gets lots of off leash walks, goes to daycare if they are both working etc etc
The Dad adores Rosie and Sammy, loves throwing frisbee for them, loves getting them to do tricks and asks me lots of questions about their training in OB and agility.
They have gone through a couple of sets of classes with the Golden - with a trainer I'm not especially fond of and IMO they have had relatively poor results. The dog is lovely but fat and very spoiled.
He pretty much does as he pleases and is under the misapprehension that the world revolves around him.
He was in for quite a shock when he came here and dicovered that dogs are expected to use good manners and that they don't get very far if they choose not to do as they are asked.
The dog had zero frustration tolerance and threw the closest thing I've ever seen to a fulll on tantrum when scratching at the door didn't immediately result in me opening it. I thought my door actually might get badly damaged.
In the last couple weeks he has learned that he needs to hold a down and be released with "ok" to get out of the crate. If he doesn't, the crate door just closes again and I walk away and try again later. At one point after he was doing his down pretty nicely, he decided to not down but instead just push past me and nearly sent me flying. The same goes for getting out of the van- he can now hold a sit until he is released but not until he discovered that if he didn't, the van door closed again and he got to sit there for 5 minutes while I played with Rosie and Sammy. He has learned to say please (offer and maintain a sit and eye contact) for petting, to get me to open the door to go out, to have a food bowl put down etc
After 4 long days of testing me-- he seemed just SURE that he didn't reeeally need to do these silly things I asked --he started just going with it. He is now listening well, has a fast pretty darned reliable recall is following cues even in fairly distracting environments. He was a star at manners class-- worked enthusiatically for 55 minutes. I was shocked. He can now maintain a sit at the door when people arrive. He's come a loong way very quickly- there's sure nothing wrong with this dogs brain. He is a pretty sweet guy too- he was just like a spoiled child that had been doted on, catered to, and not been taught manners so the result was a pushy, mouthy brat with no self control. They tried to teach him manners- they just didn't have much success.
This is a dog that when his owner would tell him No! and to quit humping Sammy, would obnoxiously bark in the owners face and grab/bite at his pants. He wouldn't drop a toy for them either, he just pulled for all he is worth- he now drops on cue very nicely. If the owner was standing talking to someone and ignoring the dog, the dog would bark and bite the owners his pants. The owner would put him on leash and walk away and the dog would look very pleased as if he had gotten his own way and trot along just happy to have all his owners attention. I'd never seen anything quite like it.
I have never physically corrected or hurt this dog, just imposed boundaries, put him on somewhat of an NILIF program, taught him polite default behaviors and not let him be rewarded by the rude pushy behaviors. Pushy mouthy behavior here just gets left alone and ignored. He has learned what works and what doesn't at my house. All I have to do is say "HEY" and he quits whatever he is doing:humping, chewing up something, harassing Rosie etc.
The other issue is that at 12 months, he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. He is obese-- he carries it remarkably well, but if you put your hands on him you can grab a good 3-4 inches of fat. You can't feel ribs or hips at all. His fat shakes from side to when he runs and he is exceptionally clumsy.
It pains me to see any dog this overweight, but to see it on a dog with such bad hips that he is getting monthly injections at such a young age- just kills me.
I am not feeding him nearly as much as the owners did (about 1/2)- he works for most of his food at my house, he also gets lots of treats. I wasn't sure how much to cut back his food since I knew he'd be getting lots of food rewards for working.
I knew he was slimming down a bit, but the other day we saw some people we haven't seen in a week and they were shocked at how much thinner he looked. I guess seeing him daily, I didn't notice it as much. I meant to weigh him when he arrived and never had the opportunity. I think based on his supplement dose he is well over 100 pounds and he's 27' at the withers. he's by no means slim yet, he has no waist, can't find hips or ribs on him.
So, the question:
How do I tell these people that they have a lovely dog, who can indeed listen and learn really well, but his problems are that he doesn't respect them as being in a position of leader or parent and that he is FAT ? Basically he is spoiled. I think thus far they have just chalked it up to him being young and feel he is stubborn / hard to train. Geoff nicknamed him "the prince" and has refered to his stay here as "brat camp". :lol-sign: It's pretty bad if Geoff notices it!
The owners know that CHD dogs should be slim (the Dad knows I think he's fat) but apparently the wife "doesn't have the heart" to cut back on the dog's food. I frankly can't understand that coming from doctors. Their vet advised them to take 5 pounds off him-- I'd probably do more like 10. I feel like it's cruel to keep a dog fat when it will further damage his hips. I bet his hips wouldn't be nearly this bad if he had been kept at a healthy weight as he grew.
I just can't figure out what I'm going to say or wether I should let this dog continue to lose weight.
Will they be pissed off if they come home in 3 weeks to a visibly slimmer dog ?
How do I explain that he needs structure, boundaries, and to taught good manners and a diet without sounding offensive?
