my fat dog

pawsies

Seperate the dogs whenever they have a feed item (food/chew). It is not fair on Max to feel threatened by the westie and similarly the westie will be stressed and threatened by him. Remember we choose their family, they have no say.

Only feed twice a day, never leave the food down.

Encourage them to play with a tug toy or something to create a bond however don't force them into it. If either is possessive over toys then don't try this!

Management is your solution here

teddysmum

I used to have four cavaliers, but now have only two left. These two are greedy, but one of the others was really picky and would go for a couple of days on a Bonio and water. The other one of the four was a real gentleman, too, and would let anyone steal his food; the reason why I originally started separate feeding .


Monty, the gentleman, lived to just short of 14 , had a low grade murmur from middle age and a bad one for only about two years. Izzy had a bad murmur from middle age (came on suddenly) and died just short of 9, after two years of medication.


As I've mentioned, Joly (11 in March) has a very low grade and Teddy, at 10, has no murmur at all.

danih

Great to hear how older cav's are doing.

Both our dogs were rescues, never planned to get pedigree dogs. Previous owners has been given them as cute puppy presents, wanted rid once they got past the cute phase, and realised dogs don't toilet train themselves. I do wonder if this is a particular problem with pedigree dogs, or is this just our own limited experience of unwanted dogs.

anyhow, we hear a lot about health problems. So nice to hear about them hitting double figures and doing ok

RachRubyD

Why are cav's so greedy? mine's fussy in a sense she won't eat dry food unless its given to her in a treat way. She begs for them as treats (especially Eden) but if you put dry food down in a bowl walks away and won't eat them. It actually works out better for me because I can give her dry food as treats and then a smaller meal of raw . She also loves dry food in kongs. Won't eat veg or anything like that or eggs if given to her but loves to eat eggs when humans having them for breakfast.

Just can't resist those big eyes, how do people do it? I feel terrible saying no especially when they beg. They really struggle with their weight and I know they aren't the most active of dogs so you really need to get them moving more. I walk mine 2 miles every day. I find mine prefers to be off lead.

My little girl has a heart murmur, she is 5 now but had a very low grade murmur from puppy. I just hope it never gets worst, its such a worry.

I know they can be very possive of food, mine will bully our cat and steal its treats and if any of dog is being feed or having treats she pushes them out the way so she can get some. She bullies my boyfriends lab which is about 3x the size of her. I was told from her breeder that she had be seperated from her brothers and she bully them for food ,little madam she is. However she a very shy and timid dog.

teddysmum

I have one with 'the eyes' and a very cute sit up, but he has to be resisted.

danih

We spent ages teaching Max "paw" Now he does it in the hope of getting food! Cheeky boy!

trolleyrun

I'm so glad my dog doesn't beg I can even leave my dinner on the coffee table and walk away and she won't touch it. I haven't taught her to give paw either. She does know the words "biscuit" and "chicken". Chicken means any kind of treat, such as a bit of scrap meat. Biscuit means any kind of dog treat such as gravy bone or similar She would happily live on fillet steak, but there's no way that's going to happen :rotfl:

danih

We never leave our plates within reach of the dogs!

Except when we forget. A few mealtimes have ended with v grumpy mummy/daddy and a v happy doggy.

Max once stole a HUGE steak from bro in law's dinner plate, ran to bushes in garden, and ate whole thing. Barely moved for two days! He was sooo pleased with himself.