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Comment by Lauren + Winston on March 19, 2009 at 12:57pm

Well the reason Winston has been there is because my parents were not too happy about me moving back in with a dog... So it was either Winston went to my boyfriends or I had to get rid of him completely. I'm over there every day pretty much. Winston is rarely overfed when I'm with him... I'll give him just enough food to cover the bottom of his food bowl (its a small one.. like 6 inch bowl) and he'll eat that and be fine.. Of course he'll get treats but not an excessive amount and only if he's been good or did well on a walk. Any table scraps I give him are very very small... Nothing compared to the leftovers that are heaped onto his plate when the boyfriends parents are done eating dinner :\

Now that the weather is warmer, Winston is getting longer walks... I'm anemic so cold weather is very hard for me to handle but my boyfriend would try to give him as many walks as possible during winter and we would definitely play with him in the house for long periods of time to give him some exercise. I know it's not the best but it's what we could do... Ohio had the coldest winter ever this year haha. Anyways, do you know where I could get Orijen? I don't care about the cost, I just want Winston to have something healthy. I've been checking out the basic Purina dog foods, not Beneful but just the Purina healthy weight foods as well.

And Sam, you're right.. No one understands the bottomless pit of a stomach that a Corgi has until they have a Corgi...

Comment by Sam on March 19, 2009 at 9:50am

Orijen is the best food that I've found for Ein but its a little pricy. Just make sure that you go with a food that doesn't have corn in it. I would explain to your b/f's parents that they can't feed him any people food and perhaps use the above analogy "It's like parents giving children ice cream, chips and nuggets for dinner". I think it really puts things in perspective. Tell them that if they want to give him a treat then he needs to do something to work for it and his treats should be limited to a small piece of an apple or carrot. A corgi isn't a lab mix or something like a lot of people have had in the past which they basically feed anything and will stop eating when they are full. The vast vast majority of people know nothing about corgis and wouldn't know that they could eat themselves into oblivion if you let them.

Comment by DR, Nala & Simon on March 19, 2009 at 8:53am

You need to make a big effort and try really hard to get Winston out of there. Not because they are mean to him, but they are not doing him a favor either by not watching what he eats. It's like parents giving children ice cream, chips and nuggets for dinner and then wondering and even angry at the kid because he/she is fat. You are definitely have to go under "retrain" Winston in several aspects. Please have tons of patience. No matter what food you get, the important thing it's not overfeed them.

How is the neighborhood on your boyfriend's house? How many times you visit? Try to see if you can take Winston for a long walk. Exercise helps a lot. Buy a measuring cup, a plastic container for the food. Write his name on the container and the specific instructions for feeding. Winston might "protest" for several days, but as soon as he starts loosing his weight, he would start feeling better.

About telling your boyfriend's mom, just be as polite and pleasant as you can. Stand your ground with "diplomacy" always. It's hard, but you will earn mega points. Good luck, hope your situation gets solved easily.

Comment by Lou Ann Lemaster on March 19, 2009 at 8:45am

That is rather frustrating when someone who is taking care of your dog, won't be considerate to follow your directions on feeding. I know, I have that problem with my husband...he gives in to the dogs way too much.

Anyway, I don't think Beneful is a good brand of dog food, myself, but that is my opinion. But, I can't afford the higher brands of dog food either. I give Duncan Lassie's Natural Way, it's rated somewhere in the middle. He seems to have an allergy to corn or flour, so I avoid both. He's on the green bean diet himself right now. He needs to lose a ton of weight, again, some due to the husband and some due to not much exercise this winter. So I'm hoping between the green beans and the weather warming up, he'll lose some weight.

Good luck with Winston at your boyfriend's parents house....I hope he doesn't have to stay there much longer.