REAL LIFE: MONSTER MUTT: 'I'm putting my 20 stone dog on a diet'

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jan 23, 2005 | by As told to: Ella Buchan/Lara Kilner.

'As a breeder I've seen a lot of dogs in my time, but I've never owned one as big as Zollie. At two years old and 4ft long, he's already a massive 20 stone - and it'll be another year before he's fully grown.

Zollie joined our family in October 2003. He was just 10 months old and already weighed 13 stone, but he wasn't fat. Mastiffs are always big and heavy - they're known as the lion of dogs - but they also tend to be strong and healthy.

However, Zollie just kept piling on the pounds, and it was clear pretty quickly he was going to be much bigger than the 24 other mastiff dogs my husband, Ken, and I keep.

We feed the dogs with tripe from a big trough in one room because I've always been able to trust them to eat in moderation. But Zollie eats far more than the other dogs. My husband is a butcher, so thankfully we get the tripe at a discount rate - which is a good job, as Zollie polishes off at least 5lbs each time he's fed. He'd stay there all day if he could. You have to pull him away to stop him gobbling the lot. We've got 11 cats, and he even tries to scoff their food. He eats everything in sight.

Zollie's chest is a massive 52 inches and his shoulder height is 36 inches - he's the same height as a dining room table. If I put my arms around his chest, my fingers wouldn't come anywhere near meeting. And we never let him jump up - he'd easily be able to put his paws on my shoulders.

Zollie has got so big he has to be weighed on the industrial scales at Aberdeen Airport. And it's a mammoth task to get his huge frame in to the car - I had to buy a new one because I couldn't fit him in the old car. We've got quite a big garden, but Zollie needs to be forced to exercise so I take him out to the park for a walk. Other dog owners stare at him because they've never seen such a massive dog. Plus, his size is getting in the way of his love life - I can't breed him because he's too fat.

Now, I'm putting my foot down - Zollie's going on a diet. I'm sure he'll whine at me imploringly every time he sniffs a bit of food, but I'm not going to budge, because his weight could put a strain on his heart.

I'm feeding him away from all the other dogs, so I can give him a controlled amount of food. My four kids - Kate, 21, Rachel, 16, Lea, 13, and Craig, 11, - adore him, but they're going to have to be tough and not let him bully them into giving him crisps and cakes. He's probably going to have to be on some sort of diet for the rest of his life, because his appetite seems limitless.

I can't really explain Zollie's greediness. But he did come from a breeder in Australia and, before they brought him to Scotland, they didn't feed him much because they wanted to keep his weight low for the flight. I think that's why he's always so desperate to eat as much as possible in one sitting. He's suspicious the food's going to be taken away from him, and it makes him really competitive with the other dogs. They just move aside and let him get on with it. Plus, he's so big they don't want to get on the wrong side of him.

With Zollie's flabby figure, he's not much of a show dog. We've been breeding dogs, entering competitions and winning titles at Crufts and other dog shows since 1987. Zollie is unlikely to win anything. He's a bit too lazy for that.

Some breeders keep dogs just for shows, and if they don't win anything, or just get too old, they give them away. But I would never do that. Zollie's too fat to win prizes - unless they're in the heaviest dog category - but Zollie will always be a big part of our family...'

As told to: Ella Buchan/Lara Kilner. Pictures: Northscot Press Agency/ Solent News & Photo Agency/North News & Pictures/Express Syndication.

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