So we got Duke 2 years ago at 4 years old, and he came to us at a whopping 120 lbs. He was VERY clearly overweight, and it was quite a struggle to get him to lose ANY initially. The first year we had him we lived in a tiny 3 bedroom apartment in Japan (We rescued him there-We were his 5th owners in 4 years because he has a dog aggression problem that no one wanted to deal with), and BECAUSE of his dog aggression issues, his walks were quick and infrequent at best. We are EXTREMELY inexperienced when it comes to Dobermans in general, Duke is our first, and even MORE inexperienced with dealing with Dog Aggression because neither my husband nor I had anti-social dogs growing up. So our solution was training twice a week with the only American trainer on the island, and "OMG WALK HIM AT TWO IN THE MORNING BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS AROUND AND GO QUICK QUICK QUICK!"
Since then, the military has re-located us to TX, and we've lived here for a little under a year. Duke has a HUGE privacy fenced yard that he LOVES to play in, fetch and whatnot, and he's lost SOME weight. He's still over 100 lbs though. He's at like 106-107. We WANT to take him to a vet/dietician, but his dog aggression hasn't really gone away to where he can be in an enclosed environment with dogs, and it was VERY difficult for us to find a place that would even let us rent with a Dobie. Unfortunately, even though he is a big cuddler/love-bug to people, his barking/snarling at other dogs doesn't exactly help this innate fear people have of the Dobie breed in general.
I guess what I'm trying to ask, is for advice on getting my now 6 year old baby to a healthier weight. I read online somewhere that Dobies are known to have bad heart problems as they get older in age, and my husband and I are VERY worried about this.
Right now he eats roughly 2 cups of Beneful's Healthy Weight mix in the morning before we leave for work, and then another 2 cups in the evening when we eat dinner. Every once and a while the dogs will get some meat table scraps (leftover turkey from T-Giving, or a piece of chicken), and then sometimes when I'm making a sandwich I'll split one thinly sliced piece of turkey/hard salami/ham-whatever we have, between the two dogs. For the most part though, the only *treats* he has on a regular basis are baby carrots. Duke is NUTSO about them.
Sorry for the long winded post. Just a super worried momma trying to help her baby!
Since then, the military has re-located us to TX, and we've lived here for a little under a year. Duke has a HUGE privacy fenced yard that he LOVES to play in, fetch and whatnot, and he's lost SOME weight. He's still over 100 lbs though. He's at like 106-107. We WANT to take him to a vet/dietician, but his dog aggression hasn't really gone away to where he can be in an enclosed environment with dogs, and it was VERY difficult for us to find a place that would even let us rent with a Dobie. Unfortunately, even though he is a big cuddler/love-bug to people, his barking/snarling at other dogs doesn't exactly help this innate fear people have of the Dobie breed in general.
I guess what I'm trying to ask, is for advice on getting my now 6 year old baby to a healthier weight. I read online somewhere that Dobies are known to have bad heart problems as they get older in age, and my husband and I are VERY worried about this.
Right now he eats roughly 2 cups of Beneful's Healthy Weight mix in the morning before we leave for work, and then another 2 cups in the evening when we eat dinner. Every once and a while the dogs will get some meat table scraps (leftover turkey from T-Giving, or a piece of chicken), and then sometimes when I'm making a sandwich I'll split one thinly sliced piece of turkey/hard salami/ham-whatever we have, between the two dogs. For the most part though, the only *treats* he has on a regular basis are baby carrots. Duke is NUTSO about them.
Sorry for the long winded post. Just a super worried momma trying to help her baby!