Adopting a 5 year old dog advice please!!

[NancyFrank]

Me and my fiance have been wanting a dog for a long time having both grown up with them in our family homes and are now in a position (owning a house with a garden and time to walk and spend time with them) to have one. A family friends neighbour recently passed and left a 5 year old chocolate labrador needing a home, we've visited him and are pretty set on rehoming him. He needs some work as he is definitely quite overweight and was also very friendly but did mouth our arms, I'm just looking for any advice on stopping the mouthing, helping him lose weight (obviously walking and sorting his food with the vet) and anything else anyone with experience with chocolate labs or just adopting dogs could offer!

What is mouthing ? I adopted an older dog, not a lab, she settled in very well and we would not be without her. Good luck

I adopted an abandoned 5 year old lab. She was overweight and had been on a puppy farm, so not house trained. She died last month at 14.
She was the most loyal, loving and greedy old girl.
She was on a strict diet with lots of exercise and the weight came off. I fed her raw meaty bones with some dry food.
One advantage of an adult dog is that health problems are more likely to have already been found rather than the unknowns of a puppy.

For mouthing train her to pick up a soft toy.

I'm sure she'll learn very quickly if a good reward is used

Sorry accountant I mean he sort of gently bit our hands and arms as we fussed him, clearly in a playful way but not something I'd ideally like him to do.
mayhew Lovely to hear such a positive story and I'm very sorry for your loss.
I'm slightly nervous but sure as we get to know him it will be lovely

Obviously you want to make the dog feel at home and loved but I've found it's best not to overdo the fussing to start with. I did with my first adopted dog and I'm sure it made her more clingy.
A good healthy routine of food and walks will help him feel secure. He's maybe not been exercised enough if his owner wasn't well.
I hope you're able to deal with the mouthing quickly. Good luck with him; I'm sure you'll be giving him a great new home.