Reba's Recovery Page - Obese Dog Management

Obese Dog Management

Managing Reba in her current extremely obese state is probably the biggest challenge we face. She weighs so much she simply does not want to move very much at all. She will move however if she wants. It is a great effort for her though. If she does not want to move and we want her to, well she simply rolls on her side and refuses to budge. We can roll her back upright, but that's as far as it gets. She simply doesn't have what it takes to be more responsive and won't move. We can't just pick her up single handedly due to her weight either. She came with a GSD (German Shepherd Dog) harness to help encourage her to move when needed. Being so fat a collar simply slips off over her head and even the harness slips of over her legs easily, her body is so swollen. It's going to take a lot of love and a lot of patience to move her where we need her to go until she lightens up. We expect that as she loses weight she will become more and more mobile. This will greatly increase her wanting to come when called, etc...

7/25/98 - Reba is now much easier to handle. She's a smart girl, and quickly learned that we won't let her get away with that any more. She generally comes when called now, and when she doesn't a poke in the butt with our foot (no, we don't kick her!) will get her up and going. She hasn't worn her harness in almost a week now.

8/27/98 - Reba's is now generally obedient 100 percent of the time. As she has learned her place in our 'pack' her challenges of our authority have greatly diminished. She only needs an occasional reminder as to her place in the pack any more. She shows a genuine joy in pleasing us. We think she's going to be a very obedient, happy dog with some formal training. She has occasional relapses where she refuses to obey. But it doesn't seem challenging any more. It's almost as if she's had a bad experience in the past, and gets "spooked".