Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11
  1. #1
    Real Retriever alixb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Vancouver B.C.
    Posts
    337
    Thanked: 178

    Completely Food Obsessed

    Might sound obvious to any Lab owner but Sunny is getting more & more food obsessed. Can't open the fridge, open a package without her running to see if their is food involved.
    She is very well fed, but not over fed,her weight is pretty consistent, she gets bones & a few treats everyday. She love duck poop & any kind of animal poop she can find.We were at a booth at the Pet Lovers Expo last weekend, she is in a blood donor program here in BC. For a lot of the time she was fixated on where the treats were.
    Is there anything I can do to "modify" this a bit?

    -blood-donor-jpg

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    3,947
    Thanked: 2421
    Scientists discovered that Labradors have a gluttony gene a couple years ago. Here is the article in case you didn't see it. Maybe she is kinda bored and needs more training (mental stimulation) and additional physical exercise -- the kind where she gets to run and sniff and be a dog? There are all kinds of fun, some non-competitive things you can do, that require training but not as much of a commitment as obedience or agility or field work (though I hear nose work is addicting). Tricks, dock diving, barn hunt, and nose work come to mind.

  3. #3
    Real Retriever alixb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Vancouver B.C.
    Posts
    337
    Thanked: 178
    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    Scientists discovered that Labradors have a gluttony gene a couple years ago. Here is the article in case you didn't see it. Maybe she is kinda bored and needs more training (mental stimulation) and additional physical exercise -- the kind where she gets to run and sniff and be a dog? There are all kinds of fun, some non-competitive things you can do, that require training but not as much of a commitment as obedience or agility or field work (though I hear nose work is addicting). Tricks, dock diving, barn hunt, and nose work come to mind.
    Good point but she has 3 - 4 walks a day. You might be right though. She does like to do stuff. We do training a couple times a week, woods walking, swimming in the ocean, and as you mentioned the kind where she gets to run and sniff and be a dog. She is with me all day at work where we do a short morning walk, a coffee break walk & then a good lunch time walk in the woods. After work is at least one hour walking, playing etc. She is limited on athletic stuff due to having osteochondritis dissecan. Maybe scent work would be fun for her. She does have a good nose.

  4. #4
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    3,947
    Thanked: 2421
    Quote Originally Posted by Alix B View Post
    Good point but she has 3 - 4 walks a day. You might be right though. She does like to do stuff. We do training a couple times a week, woods walking, swimming in the ocean, and as you mentioned the kind where she gets to run and sniff and be a dog. She is with me all day at work where we do a short morning walk, a coffee break walk & then a good lunch time walk in the woods. After work is at least one hour walking, playing etc. She is limited on athletic stuff due to having osteochondritis dissecan. Maybe scent work would be fun for her. She does have a good nose.
    Maybe up the training to 2-3 times, 5 minutes each time daily? Scent work would be great for her, especially because it is low impact physically; high impact mentally. And, maybe she is hungry? Have you tried adding green beans to her food to help fill her up?

  5. #5
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Eastern Ontario Canada
    Posts
    3,336
    Thanked: 2070
    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    Maybe up the training to 2-3 times, 5 minutes each time daily? Scent work would be great for her, especially because it is low impact physically; high impact mentally. And, maybe she is hungry? Have you tried adding green beans to her food to help fill her up?
    I would add training and food should be fed via puzzles /games / food toys so they take longer.

    are walk on leash? off leash? how long? how often are the wood walks/swimming?

  6. #6
    Senior Dog Sue-Ram's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,457
    Thanked: 1094
    My dog was the same as Sunny with respect to the fridge and any noise that sounded like a package was being opened. We have fixed that issue with a lot of training. In fact, he doesn't even get off the couch now when I go in the kitchen because I have been fully trained to bring him a bite of whatever I have.
    Hidden Content

    Ram - Adopted @ 6 y/o - 7/18/2011 - 7/4/2019
    CGN - 6/10/2013


  7. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Sue-Ram For This Useful Post:

    Jeff (02-28-2018), Jollymolly (02-27-2018), Labradorks (02-28-2018), smartrock (02-27-2018), SunDance (02-27-2018), Tanya (02-27-2018), zd262 (02-27-2018)

  8. #7
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
    Posts
    1,816
    Thanked: 2198
    Quote Originally Posted by Sue-Ram View Post
    My dog was the same as Sunny with respect to the fridge and any noise that sounded like a package was being opened. We have fixed that issue with a lot of training. In fact, he doesn't even get off the couch now when I go in the kitchen because I have been fully trained to bring him a bite of whatever I have.
    LOL, same with Hemi, I have been full trained to bring him a bite. I sometimes wonder when this training happened. I don't really recall it but I don't remember how it started or why but now it must be done.

  9. #8
    Real Retriever alixb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Vancouver B.C.
    Posts
    337
    Thanked: 178
    Quote Originally Posted by Tanya View Post
    I would add training and food should be fed via puzzles /games / food toys so they take longer.

    are walk on leash? off leash? how long? how often are the wood walks/swimming?
    I really don't think exercise is the issue. She has 3 walks a day at least. One is 1/2 hour, one is an hour and the other is like 15 minutes when I usually do some kind of training. The walks are usually off leas but it depends. If we are at the beach it's minimum an hour but usually longer. She does have osteochondritis dissecans so I have to modify her exercise a bit.
    I like the puzzle idea though. I will see if I can find one.

  10. #9
    Real Retriever alixb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Vancouver B.C.
    Posts
    337
    Thanked: 178
    I think I'm with you Sue-Ram & Jeff.

  11. #10
    Best Friend Retriever silverfz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Land of Holes
    Posts
    618
    Thanked: 182
    Gigi is the same way . She was a bit after about cat poop as a puppy. But leave it command fixed a lot of things. I do work from home and she is spoiled as I do feed her during lunch and breakfast a piece of what ever I eat. She used to be bad about road kill . But again she is 2 and her leave it once solid she is alot better.
    She is different as she will skip meals . Like yesterday she did not eat her morning food. So in the evening she was hungry early but will not touch the food in her bowl. So we have to physically pick it up and put it down and tell her to eat . Then she will eat it.

    Strange pups.

    Now she just drolls when me and wife eat.... But not rhe kids.

    Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •