Retriever Rescue

Molly is a scavenger. I don't suppose that surprises too many of you, does it?

Well, I know from monitorig my own waistline (very badly) that it's better to prevent excesses than try to get rid of them. So, rather than let her scavenge anything and everything now, and then have her on a diet in a year or two, I thought we should try to find a way to manage her constant scoffing.

Then I was talking to our neighbour who has a labrador with serious waistline expansion issues! The vet told him to give Shelly carrots because they take a bit of eating so they are providing a bit of a challenge as well as a bit of a snack. Molly loves carrots just fine. She likes to shred them then hoover up the bits. She also likes strawberries, oranges, grapes, apples, asparagus, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and celery. I know all this from one invasion of the fruit bowl and a series of leftover 'testers'.

I can't imagine there is a problem with what we call her "five-a-day addiction". We don't let her have potatoes or parsnips. And she won't touch leafy vegetables or peas.

Can anyone tell me if this is good, bad or indifferent for her, please?

Her toilet habits seem to be unaffected by any of the above samples or variations but I want to be sure it's not creating a problem for the future. Also, we have had her weighed at the pet shop every couple of weeks just to make sure we're getting the balance of food and exercise right and she seems pretty stable there.

Thank you.

Hi Julie
What do you feed Molly? Ella is on a complete dried food.
She puts weight on very easily despite having long walks twice a day, so we don't give her a great deal in the way of snacks, but in the last few months, we have found that she also loves veggies. Carrots, cucumber, celery, and she goes mad for lettuce, although she doesn't have them every day. No ill effects as yet. She is also weighed twice a month at the vet's'. He said if she starts to put on weight, cut down on her food a little.

She sounds a bundle of fun

Hi Ella's Mum!

Molly's on pedigree complete and she eats it quite happily. We had her on James Wellbeloved and then Pero but both left her full of wind - very whiffy wind! The pedigree seems to have settled the wind issue though. She eats her regular two meals a day quite happily but she is into the bin, the fruit bowl (which is not easy since it's at the back of a kitchen surface), and any and all plates left unattended for more than 10 seconds. On the beach she eats seaweed and any discarded food she can find when she's off the lead. Walks in town are a giant scavenger hunt if we are not vigilant and the elderly ladies in the park have even taken to bringing her treats. The only salvation there is for us to tell them she is on a diet and if they really want to give her something, could they please replace the meat and dog biscuits with carrots. That's the root of the question really.

The trouble is, she's so blessed endearing that nobody outside of the house can resist her charms. Of course, with the weather turning the problem ought to resolve itself for a while...... at least outside of the house.

I think that vegetables are good but apple pips have arsenic in them but I do believe you would have to eat a load for it to have any effect. Also grapes are not meant to be fed to dogs, not in great amounts anyway.

Mine always have some carrot while I am preparing tea.But I don't know how you can stop her eating anything that is lying about. My Tessa at 14 now still will eat anything left about on the field or in the woods. Old stale sandwiches half eaten . The other day she had a large balm cake stuffed in her mouth. It was too big for her to swallow whole so I managed to get it out.

Good Luck

Thanks for the reassurance.

Yesterday was apple crumble day - she thieved it from the counter top. I only realized she'd had it when I found the little bits of apple splattered up the kitchen splashbacks.

Today was clotted cream day. She pinched a third of a pot from the kitchen surface while I was cooking and absconded with it to eat it in the bathroom (very sneaky). By the time I turned around and looked for the cream it was inside the hound.

I'll just have to be more vigilant I suppose....and keep her off the apple pips....and give her carrots and other safe veggies whenever possible.

Do you think giving her the bits in her own bowl would be the best plan? As if the food is from me to her via her food source. Might that break the idea of her having my food? Blimey, this thinking like a dog is hard work after a few glasses of wine!

Yes I've got a big thievy treevie.... back in January Cobi 'liberated' a bowl of cooked chicken thighs and a week later it was a 10" dish of homemade lasagne(thankfully it was made of sillicon otherwise it would have knocked her out)... she has a tongue like a natterjack toad !!! both these items were right at the very back of the worktop....Dogs can't understand why food is left uneaten.

The vet told me to cut down on Cobi's food, and replace it with carrots, it still seems to work... she sometimes has a whole carrot... instead of a treat.

I give my two mashed carrot or carrot and swede. also sometimes a bit of mashed potato,but never grapes these should never be given to a dog,see link below. Pears they like also, but nothing else...

Broccoili etc, a bit windy for them..

http://cdn.optmd.com/V2/75132/152961/in ... aisins.asp

Hi there!
Many years ago we went to a local vet to have our new Border Collie Zak vaccinated. The vet said "Do make sure you feed him plenty of vegetables and he will never ail anything!"
We did, for nine years, and we only ever had to take him for his annual boosters.
Then we got Meg, our first Golden, so I kept up the same practice, and she was fine until she was nine-and-a-half years old, when her back end gave up and we had to reluctantly let her go, as despite tests, the vet hospital could give us no definite reason, and the prognosis was poor. She was an unrepentant thief and would even snatch a sandwich out of my hand whilst I was watching T.V.
Now we have our rescue dog, Sam, of Sam's Story and Recipe Book fame!
When we first got him, we had almost to persuade him to eat, but now he shows much more enthusiasm for food. He never steals food - I can put food on the floor and say "Don't touch", and he touches not!! But he does like his vegetables - cooked only, though, not raw. Very fussy, our Sam! He likes, carrots, broccoli, (yes, a little smelly sometimes!), cauliflower, green beans, peas, sweetcorn in moderation, potatoes, sprouts (now banned!!)
and anything else in that line. He also loves fresh fruit salad - particularly melon, pineapple, strawberries and blueberries, but I only give him a very small amount of these.
So far, he is extremely healthy and full of life, and fun!
So the old vet, Mr. Swan, did seem to have the right idea.
Best wishes to you all - Samsmum.

If we have any veg left over after a meal (not sweetcorn though) Amber has it...but she will only eat cooked veg.

Always has a roast dinner of her own when ever we have one...instead of her own meal...as soon as she smells it cooking she's there...she's not a fruit eater though.

This is so interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share all these experiences.

Molly the Tea Leaf is still going strong - I suspect there will be no change there any time soon. Not at least until she's out of the terrible twos anyway. (Most recent 'acquisitions' include 1/3 of a pavlova, a tub of butter - thankfully not very much was left, leftover salmon, a lemon tart and godness knows what was in the rubbish bag she got into but her breath was abominable - FOUL CREATURE!)

I'm leaning towards more fruit and veg at this point. It can't be any worse than the rubbish bag even if she had 3 pounds of sprouts!

Why do they do it though? She KNOWS she shouldn't - as evidenced by the slinking away on her tummy looking lower than a snake's belly when I find her at it. That's why I thought she might be genuinely hungry. I'd think she had worms but the worm treatment suggests otherwise as does the size of her belly!

Hmmmm.....the musings continue.

Hi Julie,
I know I shouldn't, but I'm sat here laughing at Molly's antics.
It reminds me of when my grandson was going through the 'Terrible Two's'.
I have a picture in my mind of you and Molly fighting over the rubbish bin or a bag of veggies', you winning and Molly throwing herself on the floor in a strop, feet in the air
As Jan will say.....they get all unnecessary and flighty. I don't think they ever grow up, but thats part of their charm.
Seriously though, she's better on the veggies' than the sweet treats, you'll just have to ask he ladies to bring the carrots

Like Jean, am sat here chuckling, Oh the joys of Goldens. They have thieving down to a fine art.
Little Willow found a toffee paper, actually, she stole it out of my dressing gown pocket!!! Would
she part with it, like heck, a running battle followed. Could have understood it if there had still been
a sweetie inside
Oh, and she still likes to pinch the brocolli given half a chance, along with anything else she can
reach on the work top. Woody doesn't steal things, yet. He sits and guards, constantly giving you
the eye, "come on there's something up there"
Would we change them, no way. All in the tapestry of life.

enjoying reading all your posts about your little thieves. Aren't they wonderful. Most of you know of my thief and her major misdemeanour of eating 5lbs Quality Street so I wont go into that again.

Glad you're all having a good laugh. My little angel is lying on the floor in front of me looking terribly innocent just now. She has just had her first 24 hours without helping herself to anything at all. That's partly because I have invested in a trolley fuill of tupperware from sainsbury's and every scrap of edible stuff in the house is now imprisoned in plastic.

But I also gave her a little less dry food and taught her how to catch chickens instead.....no, hang on, that came out wrong. I taught her how to catch little pieces of chicken I threw to her. Someone told me she might be lacking stimulation and I should make her work for her food a bit more. I thought anything was worth a try so I picked all the bits off our mostly eaten chicken and put them in a bowl. Then we spent a highly amusing hour or so doing tricks and sit-stays to earn the chicken pieces. She seemed to have fun and she spent a lot of time very close to me probably wondering if there was any more to come, which obviously kept her out of the kitchen.

I don't know how long this wonderful transformation will last - the rehabilitation of offenders acts doesn't seem to apply to goldies.

Hee! NOW there's something to laugh about! I just read this post to her and said, "I'm writing about you, you pretty little tea leaf." She jumped up, ran to the kitchen and brought me a pair of socks that were drying on the radiator. I can see it in her eyes, "Write nice things about me and I'll give you presents!"

BRIBERY and CORRUPTION! She's too cute for words.

As said goldens are theives, the other night we decided to have some cumberland sausage hot dogs complete with onions, I cooked them and called hubby in and just turned for a second to put something in the dishwasher, he then came for his tea, and looked at me "Only 1 he said" ? I looked at his plate and said "I am sure I gave you two"? then it clicked Paddy was in the corner of the kitchen scoffing down the hot dog as quick as he could before anyone noticed! we had to laugh it was too late,but they are so quick at times...