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Overweight Dobie

4K views 31 replies 16 participants last post by  Alienz8mypopcorn 
#1 ·
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!
 
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#3 ·
Exercise is very helpful but he can lose weight without exericse too by cutting his food back. Feed a good quality kibble and feed just enough to keep him lean. Just like with people :) it's basically about how many calories we need to stay lean. The better food we eat, the healthier we are. First thing I'd do is change foods and then start feeding less food (without starving him). Make sure to read the calorie amounts on the foods to compare. 1 cup doesn't always equal 1 cup of another food.
 
#4 ·
First, welcome from another Texan!

I think that you need to find a way to take Duke to the vet as there could be a medical reason for his obesity. You could plan for an appointment right as they open and talk to them about it ahead of time or something.

I also second getting him on a better food. Bluntly put, Beneful is crap. Yes, dogs can eat it for forever and live on it but, if you ask me, feeding your dog Beneful is the equivalent of feeding yourself McDonalds. You'll survive but not as well as you could otherwise. There are some phenomenal high quality dog foods but they will cost you. There are also some pretty good mid-ranged foods as well. Or, there's always a well balanced raw diet. Check out dogfoodadvisor.com as well as dogfoodanalysis.com to compare different foods. When you cut back his food, be it the Beneful and/or something better, cut back slowly. Don't suddenly start giving him only one cup (an example) but just give him slightly less every few days until you get to the amount that you want to feed him.

More exercise will help too.

Last, I think it's time you consult a trainer about his dog aggression. You need to find a way to manage it if, for no other reason, it's just to get him into the vet. San Antonio is incredibly dog friendly and I'm sure that it has a slew of great trainers. Hopefully some of the forum's members from that city will chime in.
 
#6 ·
First off, I would like to say thanks to everyone who reported back, and so quickly!

I had NO idea that Beneful was considered bad dog food. We got it BECAUSE of the "Healthy Weight" part. I'm really glad that I came on here to ask about it because we probably wouldn't have switched otherwise, and it's what we feed both of our dogs.

Also his exercise has gone up since now he has a huge backyard that we let the dogs run around in/play fetch with quite frequently, but we can definitely do more of that. After all, who doesn't have fun playing with their dogs out back? <3

As for dog training, we're working on that too. We initially took him to a dog training group that met for free on Saturdays, but we were EXTREMELY stressed out by the whole ordeal. The trainer advised us to wrap a red bandana around Duke's collar to indicate to other people there with their dogs that he's aggressive. Basically it's so other people know to keep their distance, so Duke can be introduced to the group gradually. The only problem was, that during break time, owners let their dogs run off of the leashes, and one of the pit bulls came VERY close to Duke. It was hot out, so Duke LUCKILY had his nose in a water dish, but had he noticed, the dog was definitely in biting range. We haven't been back to that one since.

He has gotten slightly better. It used to be that he couldn't even be within sight of another dog without flipping out. Now it's to the point where we can take him on walks as long as others give us a fairly wide berth, which we take care to ensure happens. But like I said, still definitely no way he can be in an enclosed environment with another dog. We do have a little mutt, that we got AFTER we got Duke, and we got her as a puppy, and he has no problems with her. But any other dogs he goes psycho.

Anyhow, yeah if anyone could make any good recommendations for trainers in these parts, or we're willing to drive to Austin/New Braunfels/Poteet/other surrounding areas on the weekends if need be, then that would be great! Google is giving me mixed results for dog aggression specific training. He already knows sit/stay/lay/shake and stuff, and we continue that regularly (making him sit and stay for his dinner, giving him a carrot for shaking.)

Once more though, THANK you guys for your quick responses! DT has yet to fail me on answering my questions!
 
#7 ·
I had NO idea that Beneful was considered bad dog food. We got it BECAUSE of the "Healthy Weight" part. I'm really glad that I came on here to ask about it because we probably wouldn't have switched otherwise, and it's what we feed both of our dogs.
The issue is that the companies advertise SO well and the vets know nothing.

To my understanding, nutrition isn't taught in vet school past what the sponsoring companies (Purina, Hills, etc) tell them so the cruddy food is all they know. The vets that do know about nutrition only know so because they took the extra effort and time to do their research.

When you go to those sites don't just compare the foods but read the articles also, they will be very eye opening!
 
#8 ·
Hey OP, welcome from a fellow San Antonian!

My girl's breeder recommended K9 Country Club for basic obedience training. She's highly particular and was very negative about some of the more popular training clubs in SA. K9 is North of San Antonio in Bulverde. I was REALLY pleased with them. In our class were a couple of pit bull rescues they worked wonders with. The training we did was outdoors.

I don't know what their philosophy is with dog-aggressive pups, but it's worth a call to them. They may even do one on one training.

K9 Country Club - Agility, Herding, Obedience and Boarding for your Pets Just North of San Antonio

If you PM me I can give you my breeder's email and she may be able to recommend additional training facilities that are closer to you.

Would love to see pics of your pups!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Anyhow, thanks for the link to K9! I poked around their website and didn't see anything about aggression training, but they DO offer one on one classes. I'm calling them TODAY to see if they can help, or at the very least, who/where they would recommend contacting next. You guys have ALL been so helpful. My husband and I have even been able to talk about the food we're going to switch too based on the reviews/ingredients breakdown on the websites you all provided. I think we're going with Wellness Core Reduced Fat. I'm so grateful for all of the advice I recieved today.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Yay! I'm glad that you guys are going to make a switch and CORE is a good food :] I know some dogs who do wonderfully on it. Now, with any food change (but especially such a drastic one) you'll have to switch him over slowly over a matter of days (or a few weeks). This guide shows a visual representation of what I mean. At first there may be some loose stools (which you can try to avoid using a gradual change) due to the difference in quality. Also, keep in mind that it takes about 6 weeks on a new food for a dog to really get use to it (if he's going to take to it) and for you to see change.


for walks I use a prong collar for correction- if you are worried about the way it looks put it on your arm, adjust the size and yank away, I wouldn't use it until I tried it- make him sit anytime there is a dog around and make him focus on you- this is best if you can find someone whit a non aggressive dog- hint call your shelter and tell them your problem and ask if you can come up there and socialize him. Ideally you want a fence between the dogs so no one is at risk- and any time he shows any agression correct immediately- walk him backwards, than back up to the fence and other dog- only give him attention when he does correct make him sit by the fence and look at you- you can also do this with no dogs around in a highly scented area, if it smells like other dogs you get a similar reaction, work with him in focusing on you- a muzzle may be a good option for everyone's safety until He learns to focus on you and ignore dogs. Don't give the other dog attention though or you fight jealousy as well.
As a dog owner that does use a prong collar - I would not do what you are suggesting. Correcting warning signs (such as a growl, for example) could cause the dog to cease taking those actions all together. Then you could end up with a dog that "attacks out of the blue." Also, the dog could associate the negative correction from the prong with the strange dog which will not help the situation any.

I am a much bigger fan of positive reinforcement (and hopefully the trainer that you find will train in such a way, OP) as I feel it is better for the owner/dog, trainer/dog, owner/trainer relationships. There is a really good game that you an start working on in your home, the Look at That (LAT) game that has proven to be very successful with reactive dogs.
Here is a link that speaks about the Look at That game - I know there are better ones but I'm feeling a little lazy (sorry!) so that's the first one that came up and looked right when I skimmed it.
 
#12 ·
First- quit benefit it is full of fillers! I feed exclusive brand they have an overweight food that has very little fat content- they use no fillers or by products either. Benefit is like junk food- as for walks I use a prong collar for correction- if you are worried about the way it looks put it on your arm, adjust the size and yank away, I wouldn't use it until I tried it- make him sit anytime there is a dog around and make him focus on you- this is best if you can find someone whit a non aggressive dog- hint call your shelter and tell them your problem and ask if you can come up there and socialize him. Ideally you want a fence between the dogs so no one is at risk- and any time he shows any agression correct immediately- walk him backwards, than back up to the fence and other dog- only give him attention when he does correct make him sit by the fence and look at you- you can also do this with no dogs around in a highly scented area, if it smells like other dogs you get a similar reaction, work with him in focusing on you- a muzzle may be a good option for everyone's safety until He learns to focus on you and ignore dogs. Don't give the other dog attention though or you fight jealousy as well. Just my 2 cents


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App
 
#26 ·
First- quit benefit it is full of fillers! I feed exclusive brand they have an overweight food that has very little fat content- they use no fillers or by products either. Benefit is like junk food
I agree completely as do the rest of us that Beneful is a crummy dog food. Rule of thumb- anything they sell in the human grocery store is normally cheap and over advertised. Cats and dogs could care less about color, shape and sizes. Plus as stated, Beneful has too many fillers, by-products and is LOADED with sugar.

SGranger Ph.d- What brand is it exactly that you feed your boy? Maybe OP is interested with your recommendations?

I am feeding FROMM to my boy- grain free and excellent ingredients IMO.
He was on Orijen Large Breed Puppy, but this food was recommended by another user and has been great!

Also- DON'T LISTEN TO THE FEEDING INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PACKAGE!! Especially those BIG NAME BRANDS like BENEFUL! Purina IMO is a great company for their Veterinary Diets ONLY. Same goes for Royal Canin, IAMS and Hill's Science Diet -- Best products are the Veterinary Exclusive products for disease support.
 
#24 ·
Dobes are sort of known for ending up being hypothyroid (low thyroid function as they age) and one of the common symptoms is weight gain even when you cut food back.

I don't think it's safe nor any sort of a good idea to not have your dog seen on a fairly regular basis by a vet. The vet clinic where I work and nearly every vet clinic I've ever been too will make special arrangements for dog aggressive dogs to get in and be seen. For a new client with an aggressive dog we can do several things--we have separated cat and dog check in areas--if the owner tells us they have an aggressive dog we have them come in the cat door and move them into an exam room (no other dogs in the exam room) as soon as they arrive. The receptionist or tech will check them in in the exam room itself. We also have a back door and for a few of our really bad actors we have the client call us from our parking lot and send a tech out to bring them around to the back door--we clear the back area of dogs and take them into an exam room that way.

Talk to some of the people in your area and see who thinks they have a good vet and call and talk to them about the agression problem.

And in any major city there are usually vets who will do house calls--call any vet clinic near you and ask if they can give you the name of a house call vet.
 
#14 ·
My 7 year old girl was very over- weight. She has arthritic issue with one of her feet that makes long walks a real problem. Her excessive weight was my making only...i over fed her and i am truly ashamed of myself for letting that happen. She is on thyroid medicine. The pain and discomfort of her foot pain went a away when food was in play, so i played to that to see her move normal. (selfish me).
I found the highest quality food and gradually reduced her rate of feeding to 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup i the evening(she told me what she could tolerate)..treats were only carrots. With a minimum of exercise(she is not high energy to begin with) she would lose between 1/4 to half # a week. I do not think dogs are emotional eaters it calorie input and energy output.. its math.
My girl is very sweet but her rare bad behavior is over food, but i would be carful since your mentioned aggressive behavior and a reduction of rations may cause some new behavior to show in the short term.
 
#16 ·
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
Your vet should be totally capable of dealing with him. They see dog and even human aggressive dogs on a daily basis. We try to schedule clients like this during off/slower times, but it's mostly for the clients peace of mind. You can call ahead and ask if you can wait in an exam room. If that's not possible, you can go in without him and fill out the paperwork, then wait in your car until it's your turn and bring him straight into the exam room. You can get him a muzzle, or ask the office to loan you one for the visit. Having him examined is an important first step. Hypothyroidism can be ruled out, and he's at that age where he should be getting cardiac screens.

Ditto to all the advise regarding quantity/quality of his diet.
 
#17 ·
Yeah we're taking our little dog to the vet tonight because she lost an entire toenail. (I didn't even know that can happen!) We're going to try to talk to them about possibly scheduling him for a slower time/emptier time because he'll be due for rabies/heartworm shots in Feb. Perhaps we can also talk to them about getting him in for Thyroid tests and a cardiac screen. We've never been to this vet before, but the military one for personal pets closed down recently. They couldn't really offer scheduling assistance for his behavior, but perhaps a civilian one can.

Over in Japan when we HAD to use the military vets, getting him in and out was a nightmare. He has a leather basket muzzle that he grew comfortable in, but all of his barking and snarling coupled with the Hannibal Lector look had people shaking their heads, running away, and just understandly incredibly frightened. Once I even had someone mutter to me about "This is what you get when you purposely adopt an aggressive breed". I was devastated because I unintentionally helped perpetuate the ideology that breed bans are useful (I HATE BREED LEGISLATION) and I felt like an awful owner. I don't want people to be frightened of Dobies, Rotties, Pitts, German Sheppards, etc etc. Not to mention it's already illegal to have any of those breeds in military housing on any military installation be it AF, Army, Navy or Marines. We're worried that someone will call the police on our "super scary aggressive dangerous dog" and he'll have to be put down. I'm not sure how the laws are here in TX, but that is literally my worst fear because in MD, they just enacted legislation against Pitts for that. That's where I'm from, and I'll probably never go back because right now the law is basically, if your Pitt barks at someone wrong, then they say "I felt threatened" and then there can be negotiations of euthanasia. :( I don't want that to happen to Duke here.
 
#18 ·
Oh my, I can only imagine what a hulking/overweight and aggressive looking/sounding dobe in a basket muzzle would do to the unsuspecting public. I understand where you were at about taking him to the vet and why you avoided it.

You'll find that, for the most part, Texas is much friendlier towards "aggressive" breeds. Ear cropping and posting comments aside, 99% of the comments that I get about my dog are incredibly positive - even the ones about how is brain is going to outgrow his skull, lol
 
#19 ·
I'm grateful for that! It was still really hard to find a place to rent to us though with Duke when we were first moving here. But I'm glad that people will be a little more understanding here overall. Especially if they give us the chance to explain that YES we are trying to correct the problem, and no he's not trying to attack THEM.

I have noticed though, that when he was first starting to lose weight back in Japan, he was getting easier to manage at his lessons. I'm sure a big portion of it was the trainer, but I wonder if some of it had to do with his weight loss too. I know *I* feel crabby when I feel bloated. I'm sure he gets uncomfortable too. Hopefully this'll help a teeny bit. Also, he had gotten loads better after getting off the flight from Japan too. Maybe being forced into a cage that was surrounded by other barking dogs for 12 hours (I know it sounds inhumane, but I couldn't leave him!!! We knew if we did he'd just get passed around until he would ultimately have been put down) helped a little. I don't know, I just know that he's gotten loads better since we first got him.
 
#21 ·
Dobermans as a breed can be very dog aggressive, males even moreso than females. Some are not well suited to a dog park type environment, I know my girl gets really over stimulated there. But with training you should hopefully be able to learn how to control it, at least enough to get him in & out of the vets without any major meltdowns.

If his aggression was more unpredictable - not isolated to just other dogs he doesn't live with - I would think it could be a medical issue. But since it seems it's strange/new dogs only I lean toward it just being his mindset and not a health indicator.

But a full check-up and switch to quality food is ALWAYS a good place to start. :)
 
#23 ·
You may want to consider taking him to a board certified veterinary behaviorist. They will be very equipped to deal with a dog-aggressive dog and can likely recommend trainers, too. You can find a listing of all veterinary behaviorists here: Find a Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist ACVB If that isn't an option, I'd look for trainers that specialize in using either "Control Unleashed" methods (the Look at That link provided above is actually the blog of one of my trainers :) ) or BAT (behavioral adjustment therapy - Grisha Stewart's training). You want a trainer that is not going to use corrections to deal with this issue, as it will likely make your problems much worse. This is a good starting place to look for trainers: Search for Professionals

I agree with others that switching food will be a good start.
 
#25 ·
Thanks guys! I got him an appointment for just after the holidays for his annual shots and a thyroid test. We went to a vet in SA for the first time last night with our little dog, and we noticed immediately that no one was in the waiting room. I asked if that was typical traffic for the time period we went (6:00 p.m.) and they said yes. So I explained about Duke and asked about getting him an appointment at the same time. So yay! Hopefully I'll be able to rule out his thyroid.

Also, MeadowCat, that link was AMAZING. Apparently the second behaviorist down for TX works on the same military installation I do, AND because of my job, I'm ALWAYS in the building he apparently works at. I'll have to go over there and see if I can get a contact number for him. You guys are the greatest!

As for the flirt stick, it's a post-Xmas present for Duke heehee. I hope he likes it!!!
 
#31 ·
Good Luck on working things out! Like EmilyB said in one of her posts green beans are great to help him feel full and add some bulk in his tummy while losing. I don't know anything about the brand of food you have chosen but I know its better then the Beneful. Also, make sure that your vet does a COMPLETE thyroid panel, not just a free t3 or t4. You need a total picture of his thyroid, and the simple tests don't always give you that! Again good luck with him.
Mike Kelly
 
#32 ·
Update: Took Duke and his sister to the vet on Thursday, and got him UTD on all of his shots plus a Thyroid test (HOLY COW THOSE ARE EXPENSIVE!!!!) We'll get the results of his tests in a few weeks. Unfortunately he weighed in at 114 lbs and the vet rated his obesity on a scale of 1-9 at a 7. :(

We switched his food to Iams Naturals with Wholesome Chicken because right now we can't afford the other food. Based on dogfoodadvisor.com it's a three star food, and the Beneful was a one star, so we're hoping that's enough of a step up to help him until we can get the other food. We've downed his food from 4 cups a day to 3 1/2, and he doesn't get treats as much anymore. We've also been taking him on more walks lately, and we're going to try to stick to at least once a day on the weekdays, and twice on the weekends.

Anyhow, he goes back to the vet in about 3 weeks for his booster shot for Canine Influenza. I'm going to post pictures of his progress so if anyone has a quick moment on their hands, maybe they can offer some insight/tips to help. But thanks everyone for everyone's suggestions. We appreciate it.
 
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