Today’s post is about a dog named Murphy. Murphy is a yellow lab who sometimes goes to daycare with Sampson and Delilah.
When I first met Murphy I thought she was about seven or eight years old. Why? Because Murphy looks like she is much older. For one thing, she has that spread that a lot of labs get in their later years. 🙁
Murphy’s mom (K) absolutely adores Murphy, so she denies her nothing. K told me that Murphy only gets one cup of kibble twice per day, but her problem is the treats. When Murphy comes to K for food, K gives her treats.
K and her husband are both older folks, I can’t guess people’s ages anymore but I would say K is somewhere in her 60’s. K has absolutely no control over Murphy because Murphy has K wrapped around her tail.
About 6 weeks ago I found out K had been cited for not keeping Murphy under control.
When I ran into K at daycare she told me what happened. K was walking Murphy and she saw a woman with a dog approaching. She could tell by the ‘look of the dog’ it was a pit bull, and she is terrified of pit bulls, so she froze.
The approaching woman sensed her panic and said, “Perhaps we should cross the street,” which she did.
As the woman and her dog crossed the street, K isn’t really sure what happened but Murphy took off after and bit the other dog. So K got a ticket and was warned about Murphy’s aggression.
I always want to be respectful of other people and their dogs, so I said, “Can I be honest with you?”
“Oh yes, of course” was her response.
I outright told her that Murphy is overweight and perhaps because she is overweight she doesn’t feel well. K acknowledged Murphy was overweight and that is when she told me her problem with treats.
We discussed K bringing Murphy to our Thursday night drop in obedience class, so K could get some help with managing Murphy.
K said she would try to get Murphy to class but they only have one car and her husband has activities on Thursday nights.
We never saw K at class.
During last week’s Thursday night obedience class I was filling Sara in on my little New Year’s Eve fall. Sara had a story of her own to share.
K was in the hospital with a fractured skull because Murphy had knocked her down on one of their walks. Apparently Murphy stayed right next to K on the sidewalk until someone came along and K was able to stay conscious long enough to tell the good Samaritan where to take Murphy.
Last I heard she was expected to be released soon, and the Dr. has told her she can no longer walk Murphy. I wonder what will happen and if this fall is enough of a wake-up call for K.
Do you have any thoughts or suggestions that might encourage K to do the right thing for Murphy? I really think she’s a sweet dog.
Hmmmm … it’s always a tough situation when an older owner(s) has a young dog with behavioral issues that need to be worked on. Is there a private trainer that you could recommend to her to work with managing Murphy and building effective handling skills? Does she use a head collar or an Easy Walk harness when walking Murphy? Those tools are effective if used properly – could you recommend one of those to her? And as far as the treats/overfeeding goes, I would talk to her about cutting down meal feeding amounts if she is going to continually feed treats so that the calories are cut back somewhere.
Wow, sad story Jodi. I didn’t realize that being overweight could make a dog aggressive. Glad we have Queenie staying trim. It doesn’t sound like K will be able to keep Murphy but maybe the husband will step up.
I don’t know what to recommend except what you have already said: get Murphy on a diet.
Everything comes down to money. Can she afford a trainer? Can she afford a dog walker? She may not have come to obedience classes because of the cost and hid behind her husband’s “activities” as an excuse.
I am really sorry your friend got hurt, Big dogs can be hard to handle. Maybe needs to rehome Murphy and get a Yorkie.
This is such a sad story Jodi and the first suggestion I would make is to get Murphy on a diet straight away. Reducing Murphy’s meals to balance the treats would be a start, if K would keep to this regime. Can the husband walk Murphy instead of K?
Sad to say, but the best thing for Murphy might be a new home where she can be looked after properly, but I do feel for her present owners as they obviously love her.
A sad story. What is her husband doing to help?
Oh so sad. It seems maybe Murphy is too much dog for K but some good obedience training might change that. The fact that Murphy stayed by her side when she was injured and appears did not have aggression towards the good samaritan tells me there is a good obedient dog in there. And definately if she is over weight she needs to be on a strict diet. Sounds like K could use some help from an experienced person.
An observation on the bite incident, maybe Murphy reacted to the fear that K obviously has towards pit bulls, she may have sensed that and felt she was protecting K. I get the impression since she is in day care she does get along with other dogs.
I wonder if Murphy will end up in rescue? That dog is obviously too much for those people. There is also the problem with the dog aggression Murphy has shown which will make him an unattractive rescue.
Unless they really want to buckle down on that dog’s obedience, they might think of re-homing him. It is a shame.
that’s a tough situation. It doesn’t sound like much training happened beforehand, and the situation has gotten to the point that it really depends on Mr. K, and how willing he is to put in the effort to keep Murphy. K has been told ‘no walking the dog’, so Mr. K would probably need to be the primary person involved in training and such. Hopefully, once she’s fully recovered, K can be re-integrated into the walking and training, once murphy is a bit more under control.
One thing I’ve heard of people doing, in terms of diet is to give the dog only a portion of their morning meal, and use the rest of it as the treats throughout the day. If the dog is at all food driven, they don’t care if the treat they get for training is a piece of kibble they didn’t get earlier.
Oh, poor K. I hope she’s on the mend.
Firstly, I would have thought that it was essential that Murphy was always walked on a lead. In addition, I would be at obedience classes at every opportunity. Flo pulled me over once as she lunged for a fence when a dog on the other side started barking – after that I bought a ‘Gentle Leader’ and the difference is astonishing. She walks so well on a lead now that I barely have to hold on to it at all, perhaps she could try one of those… having said that, in the presence of other dogs she still tries to pull (because she wants to play with thema all), but as the pressure goes on to the noseband she keeps on walking.
With the dog aggression, there are a lot of signals that pass between dogs without us always seeing them… for some reason Murphy has attacked the other dog – whether it was a percieved threat or whatever… I think they’d have to get a behaviouralist to look and see if there is a fear element or dominance issue…
I know I haven’t anywhere near the dog-owning experience as most people who will be able to offer advice, but one thing I knew before I got a large breed was that you have to be able to control them, for their sake, so I hope she can find a solution that enables her to keep her dog.