Back in November of 2007, we took in a dog as a foster for the local Golden Retriever Rescue. He was called Boomer. Boomer is 8 years old and is an 80 pound Golden Retriever with red fur and a grey face. Some Goldens resemble Irish setters, others resemble labs. Boomer is the lab type. He’s stocky looking with an almost barrel-chested frame.

How we got Boomer
Boomer was turned in by his owner for one reason or another. While the rescue looked for a place to foster Boomer, Boomer spent a couple of days with another family. They’d had him groomed but they couldn’t do much with what they had. The family already had a bunch of other Goldens and Boomer seemed to get more and more nervous with them.

Boomer’s initial condition
Boomer was in pretty bad shape. He wouldn’t eat. He jumped at the slightest unexpected sound. His fur was a mess. He had a bald spot on his back just above his tail. The rest of his fur was short and brittle. Instead of having a Golden’s tail with luxurious flowing fur, it looked more like a rat-tail.
When we got Boomer, we took him to the vet to see why Boomer wouldn’t eat. None of the tests pointed to anything. The vet did notice that Boomer had some rotten teeth that had to go. We couldn’t do anything about the teeth until he got his strength back. The vet showed me how to force-feed Boomer and Boomer responded and got better.

How to force feed a dog

1. Use a syringe with a hole about 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch and add a bunch of really mushy wet dog food.
2. Hold the syringe in one hand.
3. The dog is going to try to turn his head away from the syringe, so put the other hand behind his head to keep the head in place.
4. The dog will then try to back away from you, so use another hand to stop the dog from walking back.
5. Then the dog will try to move sideways from you. Use another hand to stop that.

By this point, you’ll have used about 4 hands, so I used this alternate scheme:

1. Place the dog next to a wall in a corner – dog’s tush in the corner, head facing away from the corner.
2. Hold the syringe in one hand.
3. Put your shin beside the dog’s tush to prevent a back-away-around-the-corner escape.
4. Put your chest against the dog’s body to prevent a bend-back-and-around-the-corner escape.
5. Put you free hand around the dog’s body and up to hold the dog’s head to prevent a turn-head-and-twist-to-stop-force-feeding escape.
6. Tilt the dog’s head up.
7. Insert the end of the syringe in the corner of the dog’s mouth.
8. Push plunger slowly to allow the dog a chance to swallow and prevent the mush from glopping back out and all over your clothing.

Boomer’s Recovery
After a few days, Boomer started eating on his own. (Some think that this was because he was sick of having a syringe shoved into his mouth). He eventually was able to have the same diet as any other golden that we’ve had. His bald spot filled in. His fur became softer and fuller. His tail started to look like a Golden’s tail.

Adopting Boomer
I’ve gotten pretty attached to Boomer. When we first got Boomer, he and I spent a lot of time together going to and from the vet’s, sitting and waiting at the vet’s, shoveling food down his throat.
During this initial period I spent a lot of time talking to him to get him used to me. Or maybe just to get him to calm down. He was a really nervous-looking dog. “Wassup dawg?”. “What’s the good word? Not talkin’ huh?”
I also started playing with his name because “Boomer” is a pretty stupid name. I tried things like “Badda-bing Badda-boomer”, “Bing Bang Boomer”. I finally settled on Bing Bang. Yes, it’s still a stupid name but I like it and little Bing Bang responds to it.

Looking back, it was probably the combination of the bad teeth and Boomer’s skittishness that killed his appetite. He never got the appetite that we expect from other Goldens. Other Goldens suck down food in a way that makes a Hoover jealous.
We’re in the process of adpoting Little Bing Bang and we hope to keep him for a few years.