Labrador owners/experts. Please read...

[IndigoSpritz]

The Labrador is one of my favourite dog breeds. Apparently they have a reputation for greediness. Is this reputation deserved or is it another urban myth ? I've seen plenty of fat dogs in my time but not necessarily Labs more than any other breed. Thankyou.

PS. Feel free to post pictures of your sleek, athletic Labs in order to puncture the myth !

Please excuse the expression on her face, she was caught mid-stick grab! I try to keep my girl at around 28kg, but once she hits 30kgs she’s on a strict diet! She would happily eat anything put in front of her and is VERY responsive to treats for training 😆. Sadly she has had some pretty hefty spinal surgery and has lost a lot of muscle tissue around her shoulders. This seems to have left her with a sort of flabby neck ruff, while the rest of her body is in pretty good shape. She’s not bad for a 7 year old 💓

My last dog was a chocolate lab and as much as he was my baby, he was a greedy bugger and you couldn't leave food unattended round him or he'd have it. So literally pushed well back off kitchen work surfaces, don't put your sandwich down and nip out the room that kind of thing.

If you were there he wouldn't do it, but if you weren't and the food was available to him he'd have it.

He always knew when it was dinner time and woild attempt to give me the sad eyes for about thirty mins before hand, then he'd try to get on my knee, and he was a big breed, then he'd turn away and stare at the wall whilst sitting on me, to show his displeasure at not being fed.

He'd stay with his head on the top of the couch staring at the wall till he was fed. He wouldn't respond to his name or anything till I got up to feed him. It was very comical. 😁

Our darling girl was a very chunky chocolate lab, we rescued her but she'd come from a puppy farm sadly and had horrendous hips/elbows. She started with her arthritis at 7 but somehow on a wing and a prayer made it to 2 days past her 13th birthday.

She was OBSESSED with food!! She had to have a slow feeder as she'd bolt her food, throw it up and then eat it again. Having 3 DDs was a nightmare as they'd throw her food constantly and it was a nightmare trying to keep her weight down. She shed hair constantly, was like a moulting brown bear but she was the gentlest and most loving dog ever.

Our cocker spaniel is the complete opposite.... I spend my life trying to get the little sod to eat, he's not remotely interested in it and I spend my life worrying about his complete lack of body fat

They don't get fat because I don't let them but you do have to be a bit hard hearted. They love food and have big soulful chocolate brown eyes that look sadly up at you as you eat the people food and refuse to share it with them. 😢

My lab Fletcher is 4 and he weighs in at a teeny 19.6kg. He would eat all day long if he was allowed and as he is such a small lab I have to monitor his food intake very closely. On the weekend he ended up in the emergency vet for 24 hours after eating mouldy bread left out at the park 😡 he had severe gastroenteritis and was pooing blood. Luckily he’s fine now (my purse isn’t......£850! Thank god for insurance)

There was a study a few years back that found labs have a "greedy" gene as a result of being bred to be easy to train.
People are so used to seeing fat labs that they think that's how they are supposed to look - I have field-type labs who do agility and I have actually been accused of starving them as they are so trim (as they should be).

I love Labs. We lost our chocolate girl at the brilliant age of 14 in May. We kept her well exercised and fed her dog food, the odd treat but not our food (well.... Maybe the odd crust). Like others said she would have eaten everything she could get her chompers on. It's up to the owner to keep their dog trim. We've now got a Fox Red Labrador, we just love him and he loves us, he's so good. He's very slim and athletic that people don't know what breed he is and is confused with a vizlar often. We intend to keep him trim and athletic, it's up to us.

My gorgeous brown lab was the greediest girl in the world, she would literally eat anything. The most famous story was when I had to leave her on her own for 1 hour just before Christmas. She shoulder charged the spare room door & managed to eat 4 boxes of chocolates. I took her straight to the vets, he gave her an injection to make her sick, there were whole chocolates still in their wrappers! She’d just inhaled the lot! We lost her 18 months ago at the ripe old age of 14, I miss her every day, especially the drooling at meal times.

They are absolute gannets! This is a very funny book about a food addicted labrador

www.amazon.co.uk/Adventures-Hugo-David-Anton/dp/1916458904/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=adventures+with+hugo&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1540502394&sr=8-1

I have child locks on cupboards and the bin He’s not the brightest with the exception of food.

He is the Einstein of dogs for opening cupboards and packaging. I imagine it’s like mission impossible while I’m out of the house. Bloody nightmare dog.

I know that chocolate ones have a gene that the others don't have re weight gain so its super tricky to keep their weight down. Those fox reds are fab. We were looking for one when our old dog died but ended up with a black one because of timing etc. I wanted a puppy during the good weather to make training easier and also the rest of the family couldn't wait much longer.

I thought - great a black lab, one of the most intelligent dogs around and they lead blind people so we are going to have the dog you can only dream of.

We have the 'Daffy Duck' of the dog world. He has eaten his bed many times, now has a plastic bed, pulled out the towels I got from the charity shop and eaten them too so now sleeps on the plastic. The front door mat has been replaced many times. Now get ones from Aldi. He doenst chew them all of the time but has phases. He doesn't swallow the bits, just leaves them at the side of the mat.

I have 2 labs, my yellow girl is a bit bigger built but neither have ever been fat.

They get plenty of exercise & controlled meals. They still get left over bits of sandwich crusts, bits of carrot, cucumber etc.

They were pretty easy to train as will do most things for a treat! They both have excellent recall (I keep treats in my pocket )

I look after a lab 4 days a week, she's definitely the greeiest breed I've known. But with food measurements and control she's at a healthy weight, going into town is a nightmare as she's constantly trying to pick up food and bones

Our lab would eat a potato more than a pig if we let her. We don’t, so she has stayed trim and muscular. Has a decent working dog food, plenty of exercise and is the working type.
I’ll admit to giving her the odd crisp at a pub or picnic but we’re usually stopping off on a long walk then anyway.
She has good teeth for her age too.
You have to manage their food expectations from being a puppy if you don’t want them stuck to your knee giving you the Pleading Eyes. If we are eating and she tries it on we give her the Away command and she goes in her bed. Table scraps are just not happening.
I see a lot of overweight labs out and about and in online groups. The owners often say they have joint problems and while some are hereditary due to bad breeding being overweight doesn’t help..

Ok dog lovers. Which is greedier, Labrador or Beagle? Difficult choice but I think the beagle just edges it, the flying leap across the dinner plate, mouth open, ears extended, whole chicken seized, is a favourite. I think beagles plan more

We’ve had a lab and a springer.

The lab was massively food orientated and would have been extremely overweight if he had his way. The springer is not food orientated at all - but will do anything for tennis balls

We had to be extremely strict with the lab as if there was ever unattended food he’d inhale it. He perfected the ‘please feed me, my owners starve me’ look and would do the rounds of the kids bedrooms every night before bed in the hope of finding a forgotten biscuit or packed lunch in a school bag. Couldn’t leave anything to cool on the kitchen worktop

The springer never begs or steals. We can even leave the cat food bowls on the kitchen floor and he won’t nick it

Longwayoff in my experience Labradors are more food orientated than beagles (although it is a close call). However, as you implied, Beagles are way more crafty and plain naughty that Labradors- so they probably steal more food.

Apologies to the owners of any non-naughty Beagles and super intelligent Labradors!

They are greedy little sods - our vet says it’s genetic and that they don’t know when they’re full. Here’s a couple of pictures of our gorgeous boy - lots of excercise keeps him trim.

I saw a black Labrador being walked past a fish and chip shop earlier today. Needless to say his nose twitched and his head turned but he walked past without any trouble. He was, however, probably bursting to break away and storm the counter !

I agree startingafresh, beagles are the Artful Dodgers of the dog world whereas Labradors are more Oliver Twist now I give it more thought. Beagle thief in action, google beagle chicken nuggets. I heart dogs.

This is my 11yo working bred fox red (born before they got fashionable).

Fed by eye, has lost some muscle as he's got older and arthritic toes reducing his level of exercise. Still demands 3 walks a day!

If DH and I could control our diets like we control his we'd be a lot slimmer and more toned.

Has been used as an example of what a stocky lab should look like, people often think he's too skinny!

He's a naughty sneak thief since he got caught in the act with his jaws around a pizza, now he checks we're not lurking before raiding the kitchen. Has stolen sausages and bacon off a grill (while being cooked), duck food and can open most doors unless locked - his food is now kept in a locked cupboard! He would like to be fat, just not allowed!

@randomsabreuse waves to a fellow FRL owner. FairfaxDog was home bred and I liked her personality as much as her colour

There is a video on Twitter today of a yellow Labrador leaping out of the back of a car and hurling itself into an enormous pile of leaves. It's only six seconds long but is on a loop. I'd share it here if I knew how. Sorry !

One good thing is that if a dog is food oriented, they are easy to train. Golden Retrievers are also greedy, ours is.