Greedy, free-loading dog

[justcly]

My best friend is working abroad for a year and I have agreed to foster her dog. We have dogs of our own, but they are small terrier types - a Maltese cross and a Poochon. This dog is a greyhound/labrador cross. Who is driving me nuts. He just hoovers up anything remotely edible - his own food is gone in seconds, then he steals our dogs' food, then the cats' (they are mightily unimpressed). He's a damn nuisance if anyone is eating (snatched a cheese and tomato sandwich out of DS's hand and swallowed it whole) and yesterday I found he'd managed to open the fridge and eat a massive chunk of Cheddar. I'm at a complete loss here. My friend feeds him custom food from tails.com (which she is having delivered here). Should I switch his food? I don't want to bother her and have her worrying, but at this rate she's going to come home to a massively fat dog. Sorry to sound so pathetic but my two just don't behave like this. He's called Arthur, btw. He's kind of adorable.

Not that I own a Labrador but if they are supposed to go out and sniff and search, how would you go freezing Problem Dog's dinner into an iceblock tray then scattering it around your back yard (I am assuming you have one of sorts as I am not in the UK). Then he can spend half an hour working for his dinner.

My border terrier loves, loves me throwing bits around for her to search for in the long grass, under shrubbery, behind pot plants etc. I have read of a trainer here in Aus who freezes her dogs dinner into blocks so they have to sit and really gnaw away to get their dinner.

We have a dachshund who is like a Hoover.. he has a slow feeding bowl,we don't eat near him,have to split him from our other pets at meal times and the children quickly learnt to eat up the table or things get stolen. Although when we first got him he would jump on the table and dive into plates of food! Some dogs are just pigs!

Thanks people. He's getting exactly the same amount of food he was given at home, and at roughly the same time. He was an only dog before coming to us, so I guess he's never had this much food temptation/opportunity before.

I always take all the food bowls up after feeding, and wash them, but that isn't the issue, since he is eating his own food in 5 seconds and then ploughing through everyone else's 🤣

My OH reckons my friend has "escaped" and won't be coming back 🤣

He's enrolled in classes, but honestly, apart from the food issue, he's pretty considerate for a young un. I think perhaps my expectations were a bit off, because our Maltese was a grownup at 15 months, and this guy clearly isn't.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep trying.

I remember when we fostered a greyhound and went on holiday for a few days, when we got back my mum said she'd been really naughty, pinching food off the work surfaces. We once came down in the morning and she'd turned the gas hob on whilst trying to get at something on the work surface, luckily we found out before we turned anything on! After that we had a childproof job protector fitted so she couldn't do that again.

Erm, where's the pics????

Sorry. Here he is.

What a gorgeous boy ❤️❤️😍😍😍😍😍

He's lovely, I was trying to picture him but couldn't

He's lovely!

If the food triggers him I think for the short term you need to feed him in a separate room until you have time to put the rest of the food away. What is his 'leave it' command like? It's worth strengthening that and developing it around many different food situations.

Oh what a lovely lad. I bet he is fast!
I find a carrot helps fill up my labrador as a mid day snack. Well I say fill up, she is a brown lab who is permanently hungry, but she enjoys crunching a big carrot and it keeps her interested for a few minutes. Kongs are good too. I sometimes sprinkle part of her kibble onto the garden which adds fun to meal times - and stops her inhaling her food in 10 seconds.

@Booboostwo:

His "leave it" response is not bad, trouble is the food is gone before you can get the words out

At the moment we are walking him whilst the others are fed, using a slow feed bowl and a Kong. I have also split his food into two separate meals, morning and evening. We also have locks on the fridge and the bin. Mind, last night he ate an entire cardboard egg carton from the recycling bin 🙄

Fostering for a year?
that is going to be hard after a year to give him back

or perhaps a great relief

He's beautiful! He is still growing so perhaps needs more food? My mum had a greyhound when I was young, they are lovely dogs. They love walks and sofas... maybe get him a big comfy dog basket with cushions?

We have our cats food up higher to stop this very thing. Our spaniel eats anything she sees, whether edible or not < not envy, but she wouldn’t snatch a sarnie out of someones hand. She will off a left plate of food, unless I say for her to leave it.
Slow feeding bowl might help. Has he been wormed recently?

Read more of the thread now. See you already have a slow feeder. I guess he might be feeling a bit out of sorts as he has gone from only him to a house full. I wonder if you could set up a food hunt for him, so instead of his food being in his bowl, you hide it around the room/s for him to find. We do this with treats for ours as its a good way to tire out them out mentally.

@BovaryX:

He has a big, comfy dog basket. The cats have been eyeing it.

Forgot to say he does look gorgeous. I don’t envy you handing him back in a year. Though, maybe you will be glad for him to go back if he is this full on for that whole time!

Got a feeling this might be permanent. He has properly bonded with me. Oh, and she went on 15th December, and has rung once, to say "Happy Christmas - oh, and how's the dog, by the way?" 😡

I think your plan of taking him out for a walk while the other animals are fed is a good plan. I’m laughing at him being mature at 18 months - our labs have all matured around 5 yrs! He’s gorgeous though.

@Honeyroar: I know. That's what comes from owning terriers. I'm not even convinced he's physically fully grown. Have you seen the size of those paws?

We had a lurcher that didn't understand whose food was whose! He got a whole ham once- I was quivering with rage. You had to guard your food while sat at the table, cos he could sneak in and whip your dinner out from under your elbow. Any child leaving the table to get a drink or use the loo said 'guard my food'.

He was a lovely old dog, much missed.

I’ve had a couple of lab crosses and other breeds that are known for being really into food... the concept of food existing that isn’t theirs has never really been accepted, lol.

Not stealing people’s food while they’re eating it, even a decent leave for dropped things, yes, but cat food, bins if we’re not in the room, nope, that’s always just putting things out of their way.

Our dog has slowly learnt how to steal the cat food and off the table when we aren't there and someone has accidentally left one of the chairs pulled out...

She knows she shouldn't but has got sneaky about it!

I know this is a zombie thread, if OP is still around, did you end up keeping him in the end?

We used to have a Lab and they are naturally very greedy, it is in their nature. We could never have left food out for cats or any other reason. BUT our dog would never have snatched a sandwich from our hands, that shows your friend never established boundaries with him in my opinion. He must think he is the alpha dog and has to be shown he isn’t. One way we trained our dog to understand this was to make him “Wait” (sit quietly) for his bowl of dog food before we would put it down. That showed him that we were in charge not him.
He was always an opportunist and like I say, you may always need to feed the cats in a separate room, but he should have manners around you and can learn to respect you.