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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

My lab is ruining her own little life :(

65 replies

Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:07

Hi all,

We currently have 2, 1 year old labradors, chocolate boy (accident baby after we took him on when a friend couldn’t care for him anymore) and our black girl.

These are labradors 3 & 4 for us so we are pretty hot on all things lab.

Thing is, our girl is obsessed with food (not unusual) but it ruins her life. She spends all day waiting for her next food. So from about 2pm she is asking (loudly) for dinner due at 6pm! Every time we move she runs to the kitchen, she stares at us, cries and is just sad for hours every day waiting for dinner.

Her ‘brother’ loves his grub and will hover around the kitchen about 5pm but she is obsessed.

She is well exercised - we live in the countryside, massive garden, swimming a couple of times a week, down the stables etc, she is very well trained (including a couple of little clever tricks), she is really smart, loves to learn and was by far the easiest lab we have ever trained!

She was spayed in March 2022 and didn’t change this at all.

I work from home 3 days a week so they are rarely left alone (so we haven’t ever forgotten to feed her 🙄)

I honestly have never heard or seen anything like this!

We don’t want her wasting her life stressing about dinner - how can we help her?

OP posts:
LightningStar · 31/05/2022 19:09

Is she genuinely getting enough food?

I have a golden retriever and she is fed three times a day with a small biscuit after each walk and an evening chew. She has the same amount of food as if in two meals, but as we forgot to drop lunch when she was younger we carried on.

Mine will try asking for dinner 10-25 minutes early but hours is really Sad.

BiteyShark · 31/05/2022 19:12

What type of food are you feeding?

I think calorie for calorie wet food is far more 'bulkier' than kibble and would perhaps make her feel fuller?

Also maybe offer treats like raw carrots which might satisfy her in between meals.

Ihatethenewlook · 31/05/2022 19:14

Could you get her some really hard chews for her to keep her busy? I’ve got a greedy American bulldog. I’ve bought him frozen cow shanks, he’s a power chewer but even he can’t get through the bones when he’s got off the little bit of meat they have on them. When he feels he’s hungry though he’ll still spend a couple of hours gnawing on it. I’ve also bought ostrich legs out of pets at home for him which he can’t get through but still tries

Happenchance · 31/05/2022 19:15

Has she had a vet check to rule out a medical cause?

Hugasauras · 31/05/2022 19:15

Could you feed her less but three times a day? So she's having the same overall, just in three smaller meals, like you do with puppies?

Lovemusic33 · 31/05/2022 19:15

I had a lab x like this, he would cry for food and it used to drive me nuts. In the end I split his meals into 3 feeds and would scatter feed (as he ate way too fast from a bowl), we also used the lick mat with some peanut butter to keep him happy.

Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:18

@LightningStar yes I think so, feed raw but have recently added Lilly’s kitchen kibble on vet advise to bulk out instead of feeding more raw. She also has a frozen chicken wing at lunch time but honestly that goes in seconds!

I slightly reduced her food after she was spayed as she started to pork it on a bit but I could increase again a tiny bit.

oh yes, I’m used to being pestered up to 30mins before but this is extreme

OP posts:
Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:19

@BiteyShark raw fed with kibble additional now, in last month on vet advice

OP posts:
Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:19

@Ihatethenewlook good idea, will try that.

OP posts:
Mummymum38 · 31/05/2022 19:20

We had similar issues so split our labs food into 3 'meals' across the day instead of 2 . She gets exactly the same amount daily but it is split into 3 smaller portions. She has breakfast at 7.30, lunch between 12 noon and 1pm and dinner at 9pm. This keeps her much happier and she has an amazing internal clock and knows when to ask!

Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:20

@Happenchance no medical cause, she had a full set of bloods with her spay in March all fine, she then got stung badly by wasps a few weeks ago so was back at the vets and they love her, say she is in excellent health so don’t think it’s that.

OP posts:
Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:22

@Hugasauras i should have said in the post she has a frozen chicken wing at 12pm, breakfast at 7am. Couple of biscuits or abit of apple after a walk, and a Lilly’s kitchen bed time biscuit 🙄lol before bed about 10pm

OP posts:
Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:23

@Lovemusic33 yes she has to have a special bowl to stop her eating so quickly. But I may spread it on a lick mat to try and slow it down even more

OP posts:
HappyCup · 31/05/2022 19:24

Weren’t labs bred with a gene mutation that causes them to be food obsessed? Not the same at all really but they remind me in a way of people with Prader Willie’s Syndrome and I feel sorry that they rarely feel satisfied.

Really lovely dogs, but what you’ve described is one of the reasons I wouldn’t get one.

Raw bones is a great idea but a chicken wing is only teeny tiny for a mid/large lab. I second the idea of exploring various bones/chews.

Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:25

@Mummymum38 i may have to do this tnh, my husband is reluctant to ‘give in’ and feed her more often but I can’t have her wasting her little life like this.

we are still in touch with her breeder & all her litter mates and they all love their food but she does seem excessive. I do wonder if she is just so switched on, she is constantly waiting for what is next.

she would perform tricks or be out on a walk for 12 hours a day if we let her 🤣

OP posts:
Original poster
Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:26

@HappyCup they absolutely do have this you are right and all my labs have been very greedy but she is next level! And like she is obsessed with the ritual of being fed.

i think I may increase their wing to a leg or drumstick maybe

OP posts:
tothemoonandbackbuses · 31/05/2022 19:29

We had one of these many years ago.
she ate plenty of raw carrots and broccoli stalks. Carrots we ad lib. We didn’t give hard chews as she would bit chunks off and bolt them down.
We bulked out her food with cooked vegetables. She would also get scrambled eggs and other left overs such as porridge If you’re pushed for time use frozen mixed veg.
a kong stuffed with wet biscuits or peanut butter worked well. Sometimes we would put some of her food in a biscuit ball. Now you can get really complicated biscuit puzzles. Sometimes we would scatter the biscuits on the lawn and she would have to run round to find them and eat them.
we fed a mixture of chappie and low protein dog biscuits. For behaviour reasons it was vital to keep the protein levels down.
she never grew out of the food obsession

HappyCup · 31/05/2022 19:30

Narwhalelife · 31/05/2022 19:26

@HappyCup they absolutely do have this you are right and all my labs have been very greedy but she is next level! And like she is obsessed with the ritual of being fed.

i think I may increase their wing to a leg or drumstick maybe

Or a marrow bone or trachea? I’m sure you know already but Natures Menu do a good selection.

JR ostrich bones are good too. (Not the same as a raw chew, more like a long lasting antler.)

collieresponder88 · 31/05/2022 19:31

Could you give her some veg to tide her over at 2pm. Does she have breakfast?

Noelsjumper · 31/05/2022 19:37

Frozen carrots or straight from the fridge are good to keep them occupied for a bit.

If she's clever I wonder if you use doggy mind games to keep her occupied and distracted? We had a few for my collie (who wasn't food obsessed but would raid the bin when bored/anxious), she loved one that was a twisting puzzle with different pockets for treats but different levels and you could add in additional blocks to make it more difficult as they went on.

EinsteinaGogo · 31/05/2022 19:44

What else do you use to occupy her, OP?

We have a snuffle mat that we put tiny pieces of chicken in - our lab loves it.

We also have a giant wobbling Kong (like a massive weeble!) that we put kibble and/or tiny chopped up treats in. Occupies their brain which tires our lab out as much, if not more, than all the outdoor exercise he gets.

EinsteinaGogo · 31/05/2022 19:45

We also hide tiny bits of treat or chicken in the garden bushes - keeps our lab occupied for a while, trying to sniff them out.

Overthewine · 31/05/2022 19:46

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Mariposista · 31/05/2022 19:46

Awwwwww I have a labrador and this is heartbreaking - they are just so flipping cute, the idea of a labrador being sad is heartbreaking. We all know that labs would happily eat all day if we let them - our boy is very greedy. Could some of your girl's issues be boredom? If she sees you in the house but you aren't interacting with her (normal - they don't need 24/7 stimulation), she is begging for food? Ours tends to go and sit by his bowl if we are around, and associates us being in the kitchen with bowl filling, but if he is alone in the house he isn't distressed and hungry. Is she a good weight? If so, and the vet reckons she is getting enough, maybe try white noise in the rooms she is in would help (we leave the radio on for ours). Poor little sausage (oops - I said the S word'). Hope she calms down.

Ivedonethisthreetimealready · 31/05/2022 19:47

If she is the correct weight etc I would not look to give her more snacks or vegetables etc.

I would work on keeping her busy and using her brain so she is thinking of other things. Loads of scent work, lots of problem solving gmes, lots of controlled hunt work etc.