As most of you know I rescued an English springer spaniel named Samantha.

Well, Samie girl has brought quite a few problems. Took her to the vet yesterday for:

Ear infection - both ears
Weight - cant lose weight
behavior

As for the ear infection, yeah that's a spaniel thing she has them every other week it seems.

Weight - Samie weighed in at a whopping 80 lbs. - I changed her food amount etc - she keeps gaining dont get it she gets more exercise than she did before I had her. The vet recommended Science Diet r/d. your thoughts on this one - she needs to lose atleast 20-25 lbs. although she takes after her father who was a large springer she is lg for her breed being just a couple inches shorter than my lab seneca.

Anyways, been searching online and everyone has science diet but I dont see the r/d. Suggestions on starting her on this diet or using this brand will be helpful.

Behavior - as I've mentioned before Samie girl can turn very nasty, she finds a corner and if you go to go pet her she comes at you like she's rabid. When she's eating dont go near her. This isnt all the time just in some instances but seems to be she's getting like this more frequently. Our vet told us its a dominant thing and you have to dominate her. How can you dominate something that's coming at you like a rabid beast???He suggests a behaviorilist (sp) I dont have the funds really and looking for an alternative - the vet said if it gets to bad or too frequent you'll probably have to put her down - that's not an option for me at this point I told him - only if she went after Seneca (my lab) but Seneca has shown her from the start on who the alpha dog is in his house. Anyways, suggestions on this one would be appreciated also.

As my husband says: samie is high maintenance, seneca is a low maintenance perfect puppy (he's not slighted is he):D

Sorry so long

thanks

I have my 1 year old black lab on R/D diet food. I get it at my vets office and it's working. The reason Abbie got heavy in the first place was I was feeding her the amount recommended on the bag - she was eating large breed puppy and got way too heavy. I have cut her back to 2 cups daily (1 AM, 1 PM) and I mix a few slices of carrots or green beans in with the food and a little water. Have you had your dog's thyroid checked? Sometimes that can cause weight gain . Anyway, RD seems to be working for me & Abbie! Good luck - it's a difficult struggle.

one thing I was told was to exercise dominance over your dog consistently at feeding time. Don't spoon or pour the dog food into the bowl while it's on the floor. Instead, prepare the dog food bowl on the counter and then make the dog SIT and stay sitting a few feet away from the feeding spot before you put the bowl on the floor. Only after you say "go get it" is the dog allowed to get the food. If he tries to go after the bowl while you are halfway down, you stand up again and put the bowl on the counter until he sits again. No sit, no food. The dog is never supposed to get food or treats unless he obeys a command by a human.

Lisa,

Back on May 5th Abbie was 11 months and 80 lbs. Today she weighed in at 75 lbs. WOOHOO!!! She gets a cup of RD in the AM with a couple small baby carrots diced or some green beans in it and a little water. Same in the PM. It's working and I'm thrilled - you really should try it. Even if it's not RD food, just cutting back the amount they eat will work.