My lab is ruining her own little life :(

[Narwhalelife]

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?

I was going to say the same, don’t some Labs have a gene mutation where they are hungry all the time and never feel full? It must be awful for them.

Oh god mine would eat the entire 25 kg bag if I let them. They are thin and hungry continuously. People moan about the really solid raw hide bones but it keeps mine occupied. Tiny bit of peanut butter in a large kong and this is frozen in the summer. When I make a cup of tea they get a cup too 😱😂mine are in fine health but peanut butter smeared in a kong is your best bet

My dad did this with his lab. Worked well along with splitting meals.

This is what we have, and fill it with tiny pieces of chopped up treat - or larger pieces of healthy treat that only just fit through the hole.

Hours of nose and paw pushing!

We stick a few bits of kibble into a Kong with peanut butter and it keeps our girl occupied for ages. Then she brings it to you at the end and you have to check it’s empty and tell her All Gone (DH taught her to do that 😄).

Frozen banana and peanut butter kong.

Highly recommend the licky bowl - wobbly and more ‘work’ than the mat.

As the owner of a relentlessly scavenging, begging, thieving, dangerously food-obsessed dog (who is utterly lovely in every other way), I feel your pain!

We ended up reverting to three small meals a day, which had a slight calming effect in that he knows he doesn’t have too long to wait until his next one. And I agree that large bones, ‘difficult’ chews and puzzle toys are all good ways of keeping them occupied when food is their only motivation.

I’ve also read that if you have a safe space to do it, scattering kibble outside and letting them hunt for it can work as it slows them down and satisfies other instincts as well as hunger. Might be worth a try for some meals?

We had a similar issue for a different reason. Our dog was an ex stray who was used to having to constantly find food.

We found the cut up Antlers really good. He would demolish everything else but these would last him ages and he'd love trying to get the middle bit and chewing the outer for ages.

Have you tried buffalo ears and antlers?

I use wet food and split the dinner into five meals. Are you sure she’s genuinely getting enough food? Is she ok weight wise?
What about a filled kong?

Oh, also forgot to mention - food obsessed dogs are gratified by the act of eating, they don’t care what, so we often give extra treats in the form of vegetables. He loves ends of carrot, courgette & cucumber, stumps of lettuce, etc. Any veg can be a healthy substitute for more calorific snacks, just check it’s ok for dogs.

My Lab has an antler too!

Frozen kong lasts about 30 minutes here - mix kibble with fruit/veg purée and freeze. I buy baby food pouches. He loves it.

absolutely bones. My friends spaniel is food obsessed and a nice Juicy bone keeps him happy for hours. Not just having a chew on it but also taking it for little walks around the house and chuntering to it ( wish i had a video I could share as it is very funny, almost like he's giving a tour of the house to his new pal)

Oh you need some long lasting tasty distractions
Antlers!
The ostrich products from JR pet foods are great
Yakkers bars
And kongs full of frozen natural yoghurt, i plug the little hole with a bit of carrot then sit it upright in a shot glass, fill full of yoghurt (or water soaked kibble) and freeze it.

Ours used to chunter too battleostrich 🥰

We used to use brussel sprout stalks for ours to gnaw on and also scatter feeding dry food,, throw the food in a massive arch in the garden, preferably around long plants and grass and it takes ages to find every bit of kibble

Try raw feeding. Regulates their blood sugar. Ensure 80/10/10. I recommend Naturaw or Cotswold Raw

The dog is raw fed already

If she's healthy and the right weight would the vet consider doing any tests to see if she has the gene mutation? Or even an appetite suppressant? Crying for food for hours is extreme even for a lab. It must be torture

Placemarking for me. Do they do human kongs? 🧐

If she has previously put on weight and is getting the right amount of food for her size, I wouldn't add extra food to her day.

As has been said, some labs have a "mutant" gene that means they are constantly starving - no amount of extra food will satisfy them and if you try and fill them up, you will just end up with a very overweight dog.

I would be looking to change how you feed her so her food allowance lasts longer. So, freeze her raw food into kongs or mush it on a lick-mat so she has to work for it - or stuff it into cows hooves or hollowed out trachea for her to eat that way. Put the kibble in a snuffle mat or scatter it in the garden for her to find - get her to use her brain and work for every single piece of food. So, ditch the bowls completely and make her work for everything. It will keep meals interesting (and unpredictable) and will have the bonus of tiring her out too.

Long lasting natural chews are fab too but make sure you cut down her main meals to allow for the increased food.

We had a lab who was food obsessed to the point you would come home after doing the shopping and he would have the contents of the bin all over the place! We tried kong and splitting meals but found got to point even when we were eating he was a nightmare and drooling like he never got fed lol
we eventually got him a big nylabone bacon they claim to be indestructible and true compared to other bones which lasted 10 minutes but he would chomp on the nylabone and getting the flavour so he felt he was eating plus fighting for the food because the bone doesn’t give anything up to the point he would get tired and nap it out it really did work!

I'd give her more and split it into 3 meals. Find vegetables she likes and use these to.bulk out her meals. You can buy kongs and fill with food, to keep her busy.

Flatcoats can have the gene mutation too:

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/03/labradors-could-be-genetically-hard-wired-for-greed