Labrador - help

[User07]

Hi,
I've posted here before and been a long time follower.

My parents have a working labrador puppy, he is about 6.5 months. Hes a really good puppy and on the whole has been fantastic.

They are just experiencing a couple of problems at the moment. One is that he is extremely fussy with his food, they have tried him on a fair few different brands of dry food, wet food and raw food. The same thing happens every time, he eats for the first few days then stops and refuses all meals.
The second issue they have is that he barks at my mum a lot, an example would be that he went to puppy class then had a 45 mins walk on a field off lead but when they got home he started barking at her again.
She has tried giving a food toy, such as a kong or the balls you put biscuits in, shes tried ignoring him etc too.

Anyone have any advice?

Bumping. Thanks x

Stick to what you want to feed him, stop giving him the option. He will not starve himself.
Do they have a cage so he can have some downtime ?
Teach him to be quiet. My dog knows what ‘shhh’ means. Decide on what word you want to use, when he stops barking say the word and treat. Do this a couple of times and he will get it.
Remember that dogs need to have their minds tired out, not just their bodies, so daily brain training .
‘

Food routine:

• always feed at the same times of day;
• leave the bowl of food for max 20 min at the time (if he doesn't it eat it after 20 minutes, using the phrase ''finished?'', take it away and then offer fresh one at the next scheduled feed) - this might go on for about 2 days, eventually he will eat what is offered as he will be hungry;
• Try adding a bit of warm water.

45 minutes of walk for a 6 month old puppy is too much in my opinion.

Like other op said barking can be stopped by training. I taught my puppy not to bark at every noise and passerbys (I do allow to bark if someone is in the garden or knocking on the door). He already knew word ''no'' so I added word ''barking'' followed by ''sit'' (as he knew that after this sit command he will get a treat). After about a month I stopped using ''no barking sit'' and was just saying ''no barking'' - it worked for me.

Thank you.

I have given the same advice regarding food, she is just so worried he will go hungry. I should add they are not new dog owners, they have had dogs before but it has been about 8 years since their last dog.

He does have a crate which he does like to go in through the day.

We also know that the amount of exercise he gets is slightly too much when considering the rule of thumb of 5 mins per month but he is a big dog that needs to go out for walks. Shorter walks leave him clearly unsatisfied.

They do seek and find and other food related brain training types of things.

Thanks again

I would say that if he went to puppy class and then a 45 minute walk, that he was overtired. That’s just too much activity. My puppy is just shy of 5 months and our trainer only trains her for short blocks of time so that any training ends on a positive note. Shorter walks and pop him in the crate immediately on return with a decent chew for some downtime. Also, you could use a water pistol for the barking-quick spray gives a wee shock and stops the bark-click if you use clickers for training and treat.

And food as above-he won’t starve himself that’s for sure!

My dog went a bit off the dry food for a while - I tried wetting with a bit of warm water and it seemed to make it more interesting for him and eventually he ate it dry again.

Ignore/walk away when he barks?

Ah stubborn labradors, we have one too.

He went through a very similar stubborn phase where he wouldn't eat his food. Has us going round in circles and the vets and trying loads of different things, we couldn't even wait him out cos he would honestly go days with eating. We realised it was around the time we were obedience training him a lot with high value chicken/cheese - so normal kibble was too boring for him the little sod!

He settled about 2 months later when we started giving him both wet and dry food, rather than just dry 🤷🏼‍♀️

Our Lab is now 3yrs old nearly and still often barks at me if I'm not giving him any attention. Still haven't figured out a way to stop this..... he is a proper Velcro dog and just loves human attention.

but he is a big dog that needs to go out for walks.

Being a big, naturally heavy breed, is why you need to be very careful with exercise while bones are still developing.

Why not just alternate his food? Not a big deal.

Barking at your mum - does he want attention, to play? Eat? Fresh water even?

He will learn if she is consistent with him what is appropriate when. Discuss with puppy trainer to get a steer.

Don’t do one big walk, split it up into 2 or3 walks in a day to break up his day.

Please don’t over walk a lab whilst young. Even though we stuck to the rules whilst ours was young, she still suffers with her joints now (and was properly hip/elbow scored from breeders). You must be careful-it’s easy whilst they are young and on ever ready batteries but don’t over do it-it’s not fair later in life

For food - like PP have said, pick a food you want to feed him, have set meal times and stick to a routine. Put the food down, wait 20 minutes, then remove. If he doesn't eat, that's fine - no fuss, but no treats either, and feed again at the next meal time. He won't starve himself.

Mine went through a phase of being fussy and by pandering to him, we did him no favours. He now gets set mealtimes and has never once refused a meal in eighteen months now. We do feed a mixture of two good quality brands and several flavours, though, just to stop any potential boredom setting in!

As for walks, please don't over walk him! He's only young and labradors are especially prone to joint issues as it is. Puppy class plus a 45 minute walk is far, far too much. When mine was young, he only got a short morning walk on puppy class days. Barking and silly behaviour tends to mean they're over tired and need a nap.

Split the walks up into several shorter walks while he's young, and try a mixture of on-lead, off-lead and training so he gets something different every time. Also, try going to lots of new places so there are plenty o interesting smells. When he's fully grown, then you can get into the routine of a long walk if that's what your parents want to do.

Remember that the walk can be longer if you just sit down somewhere and watch the world go by. Pleasant and educational for the puppy, teaches patience, you can read a book or have a picnic. Win win.

Thank you everyone! I'll pass on all the tips.

With regards to exercise if we follow the rule of thumb (hes 6 months and 3 weeks exactly so very close to 7 months) so 35 mins of walkies...do you think 10 extra mins would be so bad for him? We of course dont want to damage his joint in anyway so interested to know if such a small amount would make such a difference?

It’s the fact that you’re doing it all in one walk. You need to split it up into two.

Ah right I see. Thank you!

Many (most?) dogs go through eating 'pickiness' at around this age. It's just par for the course. Stick to the feeding regime and he will grow out of it.

Walking: tbh I think the over walking business is a bit of a myth. I have not read a single scientific source that supports it and have read a few that dispute it - including a paper written by a number of top animal orthepedic surgeons whose belief was that it was movements, for which the dog doesn't yet have the muscle to support, that risked injury but otherwise, free running on grass etc was unlikely to ever cause a problem. The things you can do to support good bone growth most effectively is:

1. (most important) keep the dog lean during the growing years; excess weight now will cause problems later
2. feed a good quality diet with the right level of nutrients
3. consider putting off neutering until the dog is physically mature (2 years+)

Aside from your specific dog, if we are breeding animals that cannot cope with 45mins running on grass each day at 6 months old, then we need to seriously consider our breeding practices. That is a tiny amount of exercise compared to how much a wild/feral dog of the same age would get. That (along with so much else) is a gross reduction in quality of life as a result of breeding. If it's true, which I doubt.