Hello, I am not new here but haven't been for a couple of years. Anyway, this is actually about a friend's dog. He is a golden retriever and a lovely friendly dog, but my friend always struggled to keep him from eating food in the park, like bread some people leave for birds. The dog, Sammy, used to walk off lead all the time and she did have some trouble recalling him. Then a few weeks ago the vet told her Sammy was overweight and he was put on light food. That's when the real problems started. Sammy now goes to the park with only one intention: to find food. And if there isn't any in the park he will actually run out of the park and cross roads to get to rubish bags he noticed before, on the way to the park. My friend nearly had a heart attack when Sammy was almost run over. He is now on the lead full time and my friend doesn't know if she can ever trust him again off the lead. I suggested she gets him back to normal food but less of it. Sammy did lose a lot of weight, and, to be honest, I never thought he was overweight before as he's a big dog and very hairy, but I am not a vet, so...Is there any hope for Sammy? My friend does take treats for him but it doen't stop him from looking for food everywhere.
I'll be gone for a bit but will be back later, thanks in advance.
Val

I would switch back to his usual food as well, just less of it like you say and maybe bulked out with low calorie foods like vegetables (if he'll eat them - sounds like it though :D). I would go back to basics regarding being off the lead - perhaps start off with a long line and practice recalls, or play with a toy if he's into those. Is there somewhere else local she could initially walk him to get him out of the habit of running over to the rubbish bags near that particular park. It doesn't really help that there's rubbish and food dropped everywhere though does it! I would definitely make sure he doesn't go off the lead when he might be hungry, so I'd feed him before a walk rather than after (by before I mean at least one or two hours before so he's not running on a full tummy).

As he is so food orientated doesn't carrying very tasty treats work?  She could start by treating him in the house so that he gets treats every time she calls him. Feeding treats won't make him fat if the owner adjusts his meals accordingly

With my last golden who had bad hips, we were conscious of excess weight on his joints; although the vet never told us that he needed to lose weight we were careful about him gaining too much.  The best thing we did was to stop all doggie treats and just give small pieces of cooked liver occasionally, much less fattening than the treats you buy in pet shops.

Our golden puppy is fed raw and this does seem to keep him lean, we have never given him treats other than small amounts of cooked liver.

Maybe your friend could put a muzzle on her dog on walks?  But if he doesn't pay attention on recall then it's best not to let him off the lead in my opinion until she is confident that he will come back!

Hope this is of some help!

I think the best bet would be to work on his recall and also the command 'Leave' . I use this if I see my lot go  towards what looks like food or something dead. It works a treat but you have to be on the ball ;)

They can quite happily sit at the pond whilst we feed the ducks without launching themselves in for a snack :D

Hello all, she used to muzzle Sammy, doesn't do it now he's on the lead, not sure it'd stop him running away. Will tell her about the liver treats, he will probably love it! Hopefully then with the tasty treat and, basicaly, plenty of trainning he will be able to be off lead again. Forgot to say Sammy is 3 yo. Many thanks! Val

Also will tell her about vegetables and feeding Sammy a couple of hours before taking him out. Many thanks! Val

My American cocker used to do this, running out of the park (onto a pretty busy road!) and ignoring my calls. Have you ever taught the 'emergency down' or 'stop your dog' exercise? It can help when a recall command fails, at least to slow him down if not to completely stop him. Experts will be able to tell you how, I can't immediately remember how to do it from scratch.

Anyway, the thing that cured my Yankee was that I went to the park as usual, but my OH followed in the other car 10 minutes later and lurked just outside the gates. When George ignored me and ran out of the gates, my OH leapt out and roared 'what are you doing! NO!!!'. I was too far away to hear or see it alas, but apparently George stopped dead, looking completely horrified, and slunk back in the park with an 'oh my god, busted!!' expression, where I caught him and walked him up and down on a very short lead for a few minutes. He does still run off sometimes within the park and scavenges, but 2 years on he has never yet dared venture outside the gates again. Doesn't cure the scavenging problem I know, but at least I don't worry so much that he'll get run over!!

LOL at George!!!!
I can just imagine the shock he got! What a great idea :D

Hello all,

My MIL has a rescue Lab that is a terrible scrounger too. As we don't know all of her history, we think that Ceri was not fed every day and that is why she's always on the lookout.
The way we solved this may not work for all but did for us - We divided her daily food into 2 bags and fed her on walks, and ONLY on walks.

This may seem a bit mean, but it worked with her. I suppose it helps that she is fed on dry kibble (slightly moistened), but as she lives 2 doors down from a school, she was running off to raid their bins.  We found that getting her used to being fed on walks got her to focus much more. She now gets fed a token amount on walks and the rest at normal dinnertimes and is improving.

Might be worth a try.

Ali

p.s At first she was not too interested in the food, but by the next walk was already more focused.

She should vary the treats too if she can - say liver, chicken, maybe fish (carrying a tiny tupperware tub can help with fish, so the dog can clean it out when he recalls), sausage as a rare treat.  Even the tastiest treats get samey if you use them too much, I notice this with my own dogs - if I use the same thing for too long (say, a week) their recall goes downhill.  Change the treats and it improves again.

Also, she may need to change the recall cue - dogs are quick to realise they can get away with ignoring a command if they get enough opportunities (say, one or two for mine... :rolleyes:) so it may be worth using a new word (or whistle maybe?) for the retraining.

As far as Sammy's concerned of course, he's hunting diligently and successfully and he has no worries about where the food comes from!

My dogs are optimistic scavengers and one in particular just loves a bin bag.  However, it might be worth keeping in mind that weight gain and obsessive or extreme scavenging can be signs of a health problem. 

Hopefully Sammy has nothing more than a healthy appetite!