Marley is an 8-year-old neutered male goof ball who can easily fit 3 tennis balls in his mouth without a struggle! Although he is “big-boned” by nature, he is also extremely overweight at 130 pounds — by far the highest weight in our 23-year record of Golden Retrievers! Although he has lost ten pounds in 3+ months while on his diet in foster care, our vets agree that he would be much healthier at closer to 80-90 pounds.

We don’t know a lot about Marley’s early life, but we suspect he was fat and happy with his male owner.  Sadly, toward the end of 2017 within a 4 month timeframe, Marley’s Dad got married and then suddenly passed away.  For reasons unknown to GRRCC and through no fault of his own, Marley was left abandoned in a house with no electricity for at least 3 nights.  Good Samaritan neighbors contacted a local rescue resource who contacted GRRCC on New Year’s Day 2018.  Since our area was experiencing several consecutive days of below freezing temperatures, we mobilized quickly to fold Marley into GRRCC’s program by providing him with a warm, safe foster home and expert medical care. He was brought up to date on his vaccines and had laser surgery for a benign cyst on his eye (iris), which is now healed perfectly. Other than his weight, medically-speaking Marley is “healthy as a horse” and ready for his forever home.

After some snooping into Marley’s past we learned that Marley has previously lived with 2 small dogs and has always been a hefty fellow.  He was 77 pounds as a puppy!  In 2013 he weighed 124 pounds (age 3) and came to GRRCC tipping the scales at 141!  Marley seems to accept the fact that he gets 1 cup of kibble twice a day and only a few treats for rewards.  He receives daily walks for exercise and does well on a leash, especially now that the weight is coming off.  He has not had any accidents in the house and loves to ride in the car.

He is madly in love with his Foster Dad.  They love to cuddle and wrestle together! One personality trait that we have noticed about Marley is that he tends to take ownership of things such as his Foster Dad, his sofa and his toys.  His Foster Family is working with him on his possessiveness and has made progress in helping Marley understand that THEY own the people, the house and the toys.   He is a sweet boy, but sometimes needs to be reminded as to who is the boss.  Everyone who has met Marley loves him and his big-boned, oversized heart of gold!

Marley’s Forever Home Requirements:

• A fenced yard
• Someone home most of the day
• His people would need to establish the hierarchy in the home and make sure Marley understands his place. For example, introduce toys and access to your sofa when YOU decide it’s allowed.  Once Marley knows YOU are the boss, he is free to be his happy, goofy self.
• Must adhere to Marley’s diet and exercise program to ensure that he gets to (and maintains!) a healthy weight. This means no excessive treats, doctor recommended food and quantities, NO people food.
• Marley gets along fine with other dogs, but would do best as the only dog in the home
• He LOVES his people ; any children must be age 15 or older

Check back for updates from Marley’s foster family