Ravenous cocker spaniel - is this normal?

[Matchstickcathedral]

Any experienced cocker owners about ? 😬

We have a cocker spaniel who is 6 months old. He is, apparently, half show and have working cocker. We also have an older dog - a springer - who has never been particularly greedy, as a puppy he often left food in his bowl, and he is a bit particular about what he eats.

We we got the cocker spaniel puppy at 14 weeks he had constant diarrhoea and had to have several courses of worm treatment before it stopped.

He is now on cold pressed food (I am giving him slightly over the max for his weight) and seems well. He is growing well and not underweight (although on the small side for a cocker spaniel).

My worry is : He is always ravenously hungry. Ravenous is the right word, I have never seen anything like it.

He has learnt to leap really high (and very suddenly) and has managed to snatch food from people’s hands (and even from their mouths on a couple of occasions). He doesn’t do this with aggression, he just does it. We are putting him out of the kitchen when we eat, but he still grabs any opportunity if he spots a person with food. I can’t even have a cup of tea and a biscuit in his presence as he will appear to lie nicely when told but will then pounce when least expected.

He has broken into bin bags several time and managed to get left over food. He gulps things in one go (for example, nearly a whole banana, in its skin, recently). He doesn’t even look to see what it is really, just gulps it down.

Yesterday, he managed to get onto the kitchen table and get some leftover garlic bread (he shouldn’t have been able to get up as it was in middle of table, our much bigger springer wouldn’t be able to get there but the cocker leaps at height and just flew over). He was vomiting through the night but it is bright and sprightly now.

Is there something wrong with him? Or is this normal and we were just lucky before? He isn’t due to be wormed again yet.

He is generally a lovely dog and is very well behaved on walks with great recall. He has enough exercise and isn’t left alone very often. He has learned to sit and lie down, but “stay” seems beyond him at the moment.

You could try a slow feeder to slow his feeding down. What food is it you are feeding, you could try some dry food mixed in, this expands when eaten so fills them up more. We have a border collie who was a counter surfer, fortunately he now knows that this is not ok, but I now don’t leave any food out or if I do the kitchen door stays shut. He’s 4 years old, but even yesterday I son got up from table to get remote, dog jumped up on his seat and would gladly have finished his meal.

Our cocker is 16 months and will steal anything, often food. He's had banana skins, oranges, rice cakes (we have a 4 yo). I think it's greediness mixed with attention seeking. And yes, like yours he can jump surprisingly high - I can hear him when he's attempting to get something, and will have to dash into the kitchen 🙄

He's got a bit better over time in that if you are actually eating the food he will just stare at you hopefully, rather than grab it from your hand.

We have learned to just manage the situation - nothing left on counters/ tables, we sit with our DD when she eats to stop any opportunism, or he is put in another room, especially if something is being eaten that's poisonous for dogs.

Things have got better very slowly over time, and I'm hopeful that as he matures the attention seeking will subside a bit. But I think really it's down to mitigating it.

Maybe someone smarter will come along with actual advice to stop it, which I'll gladly listen to!

Also, following on from PP, ours absolutely wolfs down his food, so he it usually given it in a slow feeder/ frozen/ in a snuffle mat. Anything to slow him down and tire his brain!

We have to use a slow feeder for ours - we also make him wait for his food. So start getting him to sit and wait for permission to eat

You need to start teaching leave it too

Ours is 2 now and when we are in his presence he's ok but the minute he thinks we aren't looking he will go for food. I did a bbq last week and buttered the rolls inside and left them on the kitchen surface (against the wall so not near the edge) and went back to the bbq. When I came back he was sitting on the floor innocently but there were now 2 rolls left instead of 4!

Last night on his off lead walk he found some prawn crackers on the ground and had scoffed them before I told him not to. He will wait to eat if you are close but if he thinks he can get away with it he will.

Incidentally you may see cockers with muzzles on - quite often it is to stop them eating food when out rather than them being biters. We are in a v heavy cocker area and we know quite a few of them! So it's not that uncommon unfortunately

He is hitting that age at 6 months where they push boundaries, test your patience and sanity. Be consistent with everything, training, boundaries, exercise, mentally stimulate & enrich him, hide & seek games that sort of thing. Look at his diet, check the protein & fat content, is it enough?
I have 2 working cockers and both mine have always been hungry, one being especially hungry. They are 12.5 now and still that way try and eat anything & everything, ask for their dinner a while before time, wolf it down. They have breakfast & dinner & afternoon tea now to stretch meal times. Daily Food allowance divided through the day. Always have to sit and wait for it. One is a very clever food thief, successfully stolen many an item over the years. The other has no shame about attempting to steal food and if not vigilant would have a biscuit out your hand. They have puzzle balls, kongs & snuffle mats to mentally stimulate & lessen the pestering before dinner time. A marrowbone once a week is the only thing that has ever helped. One of those in the day and they still are waiting for dinner but it’s not as manic. They eat a mixed kibble/raw diet. In my experience they are a hungry breed and opportunistic.

Ours learned not to steal food while we are looking. However, turn your back ror an instant and there will be nothing left to suggest the food ever existed.

I have a 3 year old working cocker and this is all very familiar! He eats as though he’s been starved for days despite being fed slightly over the recommended allowance and is very opportunistic around food, a PP mentioned about them swallowing foods whole - several worrying moments after him swallowing a whole dairy milk bar (wrapper and all) a bake well tart (foil included!)

For the first year or so we had to put him in another room when we ate as he would pounce and try to grab whatever you have, I remember a period of DP having his evening cup of tea and biscuits stood up 😂 he’s much better now and will just watch hopefully (although I find this too very annoying!)

Also everyone saying about how sneaky they are, mine does this too. He will inch closer and closer pretending he is playing with his toy and as soon as he thinks he can get away with it with take whatever is on the coffee table for example DS toast crusts.

8 year old cocker/springer cross food thief here too! Like a pp’s dog he now just watches intently when we are eating which is hugely annoying, but he is highly opportunistic and will eat anything except mushrooms and tomatoes.
I scatter his kibble in the garden at meal times to slow his eating down and get his mind working and am going to get a large slow feeder kong thing for bad weather days.
He liked frozen/snuffle mats but also ate the mat!

We have a Springer who is also food obsessed. He developed an extending neck and paw technique to reach food we thought out of reach. We also had to fence off our fruit and veg plot because he treated it like a pick your own farm. Even though he's blind he still can find raspberry bushes, tomato plants etc.
Now he's 14 and is getting even more impatient about food time, sits and stares at his food cupboard.
He eats everything in sight, except grapefruit and celery. And he is well fed, twice per day, slow feeder dish, enrichment etc
Some dogs are just gannets!

Yep - some dogs really are food-obsessed and will do absolutely anything to get at it.

My own beagle is dreadful. He's four and we still have a baby gate so he can't access the kitchen as well as child-locks on all the food cupboard doors, and on the cupboard where we keep the bin.

There's simply no way we could ever leave him in a room with food or with access to a bin or bin bags. No way. DH once left him in a room with a box of Bakewell tarts and he ate the lot - cardboard and tin foil cases included. That produced some spectacular vomit at the vets

Like yours, he can jump on the dining table from standing and he can even open doors so we've had to turn some of the handles upside down to keep him out of certain rooms.

It really is about environmental management. Keep him out of the room or on a tether while you're eating. Lock doors, locks on cupboards and use baby gates to keep him safe. Training is well and good and it does help, but it only really works if a) you're right there in the room and b) you have something more desirable than whatever it is they're trying to get.