Max's Weight Loss Regime

Max's Weight and Fitness Program

How our overweight Retriever lost 5 kg.

Our Golden Retriever Max, 6 years of age having undergone the snip managed to achieve enough weight gain to push him to 44kgs.

The recommended weight for an Adult Male Golden Retriver is between 30 and 35 kgs. Every vet we saw would point out that he was grossly overweight and this could shorten his life span, and aggravate his genetic predisposition to hip problems.

We were given a great deal of conflciting advice. "He needs more exercise", "he needs this special expensive fat inhibiting fluid", "he needs this food for obese dogs"... it went on and on

What puzzled us was that he seemed extremely fit and active for a seemingly obese dog.

He enjoyed swimming and we took him on regular long country walks.

We cut down his food to two meals a day, the usual tinned food with a mixer that so many people feed their dogs plus the odd treat such as left over dinners. This seemed alright as he was getting so much exercise.

Admittedly he seemed a little larger but not obese?

After seeing yet another vet and being told yet again he was overweight we decided that something had to be done!
We tried various different foods for overweight dogs to no avail;he wouldn't actually eat some of them.
In the process of getting our new working English Springer, Skye we noticed the excellent condition that the breeder's dogs were in.

As an side Skye comes from an excellent Pedigree. Her father was Gaffer of EdgeGrove Gundogs -www.edgegrovegundogs.co.uk/.

Jeremy from Edgegrove had enthused about the litter of pups due from the breeder, Derek and Lynne from Bicester, sired by his dog Gaffer.
We asked them what they fed their Springers on and if it would help Max.

The advice we were given was that they fed their dogs on a Working dog mix and only one meal a day!

This didn't seem enough for a big dog like Max but we decided to give it a go.
Some weeks later Max has shed 5kgs and is still losing weight. He has his one meal in the evening which he eats slowly and with relish.
Apart from the obvious weight loss we've noticed a marked improvement in his energy and enthusiasm.
Recently he has being clearing fairly sizeable stone walls!
In conclusion it seems that dogs do not these huge quantities of food and titbits to be healthy and happy.
We would recommend a nutritious but restricted food supply with plenty of varied exercise.
Thanks to Lynne and Derek and to Jeremy of EdgeGrove for putting us in touch!

KF & FK - http://www.paws4walkscotswolds.co.uk/

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Sunday 20th January

Skye is showing promising signs as a gundog, we bought a toy pheasant and she enjoys retrieving it.

She still has not distinguished between a soft bit and a real bite! We have taken to wearing shoes in the house to protect our feet.

Our two year old daughter definitely has future potential in the field with her commands to Skye, she knows 'sit down', 'Skye no', and is training Skye to retrieve her toys.

The Skye Diary

The Skye Diary

Observations of a Working English Springer Spaniel

Name: SKYE Age: 8 weeks and a bit

Breed and Sex: Working English Springer Spaniel Bitch
08/01/08 - Skye has discovered how to squeeze past the stair gate and get upstairs. Hopefully she will be too big soon to do this. She has adopted Max our 6 year old Golden Retriever as her "big brother". She has also discovered gardening...

15/01/08 - Skye is growing fast and seems to have boundless energy. She has become adept at annoying Max. We're just trying to teach her to "soft mouth". That is softly bite/play and not clamp down hard on our hands!

18/01/08 - Skye has had an unfortunate accident. She was busy pestering our 6 year old Retriever who doubtless was fed up of her nipping at him constantly. He fired off a warning shot only to nip her right ear! A trip to the vet followed and she now has a Buster collar on and taking a course of antibiotics. She has taken this all in her stride though and still continues to harangue him although a little more cautiously. They are tough little dogs!