Our Little Man Jasper got some distressing news at the Vet this past weekend – most distressing for a Golden Retriever anyway. The Little Man has gotten pudgy. Yup – pudgy, chubby…plump. The Vet was too kind to call him fat, but nevertheless he needs to lose a few pounds. It is hard to tell with Jasper when he gains weight, as he has that golden thick and poofy long coat – totally different than our other golden, Boo, who’s coat is also thick but shorter. Whenever we give Jasper a shower and we see him with a wet coat we are always surprised how small he actually is – he doesn’t even look like the same dog! People are also always surprised when we tell them that he weighs 65 pounds – they usually guess in the 75-80 pound range. 

For a golden – especially Jasper – the word D-I-E-T (yup, he knows this word – it is just safer to spell it even when I write it – you never know) can cause severe anxiety…even trauma. I am pretty sure J understood what the Vet said too. Everything was cool till she looked up from the LCD panel on the scale and quietly said, “He needs to lose a few pounds – get him down to 65”. All of a sudden his carefree, goldenboy attitude and demeanor changed. Up to this point he was totally focused on the jar of dog treats on the Vet’s counter. He immediately turned up to look me in the eye, took a couple of small steps backward, looked up at the Vet and then back at me like, ‘NOOOOOOO’! He then instinctively took a step toward me, leaned against me and nudged my hand as if to tell me, ‘She doesn’t know what she is talking about, Trish – don’t listen to her’. Judging by the look on his face, I’m sure the Little Man saw his evening frozen peanut butter Kong, mid-afternoon sliced banana snack and his 2^ndlate night dinner of pumpkin, sliced cucumbers or apples and raw goat’s milk flash before his eyes AND it was not pretty sight for the Little Man.

For some reason, J always seems to have more of a problem with winter weight than the other goldens I have had. Maybe his metabolism is more susceptible to less exercise than the other goldens or perhaps it is just his bear-like hibernating nature that comes about when it gets too cold outside for his sensitive tootsies.  

So is a D-I-E-T in J’s future? Definitely not. Jasper is the fourth golden I have had and I have to say I know better than even attempting to cut out his snacks. It won’t work – mostly because he would annoy his humans to the point of no end. Jasper’s day revolves around eating and I’ve come to believe that Golden Retrievers’ stomachs come with built-in alarm clocks when it comes to food. When 7pm comes around Jasper can be found in two places – 1) his head resting on one of my legs, whining and drooling all over my pants for his peanut butter Kong or 2) in the middle of a drool puddle on the floor anticipating his peanut butter Kong. It’s just not worth it. 

Every golden Mom or Dad knows a Golden Retriever’s top 10 list of life priorities/objectives:  

1. Food 
2. Food 
3. Food 
4. Food 
5. Food 
6. Peanut butter 
7. People 
8. Playing
9. Toys
10. Napping

J is no different. I would like to think that I come ahead of food and peanut butter, but alas…deep in my heart, I know I would just be fooling myself. Food rules with goldens. Period. 

So, the Little Man will keep his peanut butter and his numerous snacks throughout the day – his sliced bananas, cucumbers and apples – his green beans, carrots and sweet potatoes – and of course his beloved peanut butter. I have no doubt Jasper’s spare weight will come off with warmer weather and more activity. Now all we have to do is wait for the weather to warm up, the ice to go away and Jasper to stop sleeping 20 hours a day. We are more than ready for spring, especially after the polar vortex and snow this winter! The Little Man did manage to perk up a bit when the sun came out yesterday and willingly went out and played with his Frisbee in the backyard. Hopefully warmer weather and spring will be here soon. We can’t wait! 

Our Little Man, Jasper, has never liked the water. When he was a puppy we introduced him to a kiddie pool that was filled with a few inches of water. All he did was sniff the water – even as his big sister, Boo, also a Golden Retriever, played in it. At first he was curious about water sprinklers – until he got sprinkled with water and then he didn’t want anything to do with them. Likewise he wanted nothing to do with a running garden hose either – never mind a stream or bigger body of natural water.

When he was 1½, he eventually worked his way up to putting one paw, and then two paws in the kiddie pool on a really hot summer day. But he didn’t seem capable of going any further. He just stood there looking around with his two front paws in the water and his two rear paws on the grass. He didn’t seem to mind being splashed as Boo played in the water without him, or even being splashed by one of his humans, but he would not put all four paws in the water.

We thought we hit some progress when he started to shuffle sideways around the diameter of the pool – still two paws in, two paws out – until he got back to where he began and just innocently looked around again. I finally picked up his rear end and pushed him in the center of the pool and again he just stood there and looked at the water to his right, in front of him and to his left and back again and then took turns picking up and holding one paw out of the water at a time. I even stood in the water with him, but he just stood there and looked at the water around his legs. We eventually had to help him out of the water, as he seemed unable to find his way out of the kiddie pool on his own. The Little Man was paralyzed.

The following summer, when he was 2½, he started to ‘dig’ in the water from outside of the pool – three paws out and one ‘digging’ in the water. He seemed to enjoy splashing himself with the water and playing with one paw in it, but still refused to put all fours in the pool. That summer we made a point of taking him to natural bodies of water and letting him approach the water and see if he would go in, but he would just look at the water, sniff it and look around – not even touch the water with a paw.

It pretty much seemed as if Jasper, who is naturally a very curious and confident dog, just had a thing with water – even just three inches of it. Although he has never had a problem with going outside when it is raining – in fact, he seems to enjoy taking his time finding THE spot to take care of his business in a downpour while one if his humans stands nearby getting soaked. He also has no problem getting a bath or going to the groomer. It seemed as if getting wet wasn’t the problem – it was more of the how he got wet was the issue.

Yesterday we decided to check out a couple dog beaches on Lake Michigan and took Jasper with us. We thought he would just plant his Golden butt in the sand and watch the other dogs play in the water or since he is a very social pup would greet all the people on the beach and play with all the pups on terra firma and just watch them play in the water. That was pretty much what happened until one of his humans went into the water – the one that was holding his leash.

We were both surprised when Jasper willingly followed me into the water. All four paws too. We were even more surprised that he didn’t just stand there looking at the water around his legs and actually started to move around and play in the water. He looked bright and happy and was wagging his tail the whole time! We were so proud of our Little Man.

A short time later we were completely baffled – astounded – when he decided to go check out what was left of an old pier sticking vertically out of the water maybe 25 feet from shore. To get there he had to swim – yup, the Little Man went for his first swim! No kidding – he just started swimming for the piece of pier sticking out of the water. Now, he didn’t get very far because I was holding onto the end of his 16 foot retractable and I didn’t really feel like checking out the pier. But still he didn’t hesitate whatsoever – he just started swimming for the old piece of pier – and not this splashing, sloppy strokes that dogs who have never swum before tend to do. The Little Man looked like an experienced swimmer – a nice, graceful dog paddle with no splashing.

It was almost anticlimactic – it just seemed like the end of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries should have been blaring from the Heavens or a full orchestra should have appeared out of nowhere on the beach to celebrate this momentous event – this triumph, this victory! (That’s what happens in the movies, right?) Our Little Man went for his first swim! This was HUGE! Alas, no one else on the beach seemed to notice – they went about playing with their pups, reading or enjoying the fine weather. But that is life – we all have our little victories and triumphs as we journey through life – all of which are reasons to and should be celebrated, even if no one else notices. Go, Jasper, Go –– you can do it Little Man!