Help with the Bin Raking Flabrador Please

tubby1

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looking for some help . I'm at the end of my tether with my golden Lab , he's a lovely boy but I really struggle with his weight He is huge. I feed him on Arden Grange light and no treats, he is walked regularly but can't seem to shift the weight. My biggest problem is he will eat anything , he rakes the bins, would sell his soul for a sweetie wrapper, eats his own poo. He recently ate all my daughters Halloween sweets including wrappers and glow sticks to the point he was unwell. I don't work so he has company . I just don't know what else to do with him. I'm embarrassed by his size . He just seems constantly hungry. Help
 

Dobiegirl

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Im fostering a black Labrador who came in obese at 40kg, he came to me a week before Christmas and I took him back to the vet this week and he now weighs 33.7kg, being so fat I haven't overdone the exercise but given him 2/3 walks a day on lead. He is being fed on Burns Senior Weight Control Chicken & Oats and Ive always found with Burns that dogs dont put weight on fed this. He gets 1 small biscuit at night and thats it, he is fed twice a day a 1/3 of a mug. The vet is delighted with his weight loss and although he has a home lined up for him he wont be rehomed until I can get some more weight off him, I still cant feel his ribs but I can see he is a boy now that he has lost some weight.

I cant leave him alone with the kitchen bin as he would be in there and if he was off lead and picking up rubbish then I would muzzle him. Tubby1 you have to be firm and man up, you really have to be cruel to be kind, no treats unless its carrots or a slice of apple. Is your family feeding him on the side? perhaps you should get a stairgate so he can no longer access your daughter room and steal sweets.

What food are you feeding your Lab? the thing is when dogs get to be really obese then thats an awful strain on their heart and their joints, I am very aware he could have done a cruciate so I have to be really focussed and dedicated to get him losing weight.

If you do all that Ive suggested and there is no weight loss then you need to take him to the vets to get him checked in case its a medical problem. I measured my dog from day one, his neck,chest & waist and weekly then after so I could check he was losing weight.
 

Apercrumbie

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We also have a very greedy dog so I feel your pain. Unfortunately with the stealing, the only answer is to be super vigilant. Put your bin in a cupboard, if it's too big then you need to get a smaller bin that can be put away so he simply can't get to it. NO food left out at all, which I know is difficult with children but if there is temptation they will take it. How long/often are your walks? I think many of us underestimate how much exercise a dog needs, particularly with one like ours who isn't trying to run off, he just trots along with us. Does he enjoy fetch? If your daughter is old enough, encouraging her to play with him would be lovely for both of them.
 

twiggy2

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looking for some help . I'm at the end of my tether with my golden Lab , he's a lovely boy but I really struggle with his weight He is huge. I feed him on Arden Grange light and no treats, he is walked regularly but can't seem to shift the weight. My biggest problem is he will eat anything , he rakes the bins, would sell his soul for a sweetie wrapper, eats his own poo. He recently ate all my daughters Halloween sweets including wrappers and glow sticks to the point he was unwell. I don't work so he has company . I just don't know what else to do with him. I'm embarrassed by his size . He just seems constantly hungry. Help

pop to your vets and get him weighed, reduce his food by 20% (you should be feeding to his ideal weight not his actual weight) and weigh it out every morning and do not add to it, increase his walking by 3 x 5mins of brisk walking each day, go back and weigh him in 4 weeks, if he has not lost a substantial amount of weight make an appointment with the vet-there are a few conditions that can prevent weight loss
 

tubby1

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Thankyou for all your replies. Definitely going to up the exercise regime. Just wondered what are the opinions on Arden Grange. Should I change his food ?
 

Goldenstar

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I feel your pain .
I have labs and one eats any thing .
You have to stay one step ahead ,I have my bin a bolted cuboard I forget to do the bolt she in .
If you don't click the pantry door properly she in ,she opened the fridge a couple of times .
I strictly diet her all the time she's not fat but if took my eye off the ball she would be .
You have to take control the dog can't steal food if you leave nothing about .
I have never seen a do eat poo that had a good diet at one point my parents used a cheap all in one dog food and they had two labs that did this , they changed foods and it stopped , perhaps the food lacks something he's after.
Again the dog can only eat poo if you leave it there for the dog to get at.
Having a very food focused lab is quite hard work I could write a page on mines exploits.
 

Apercrumbie

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Thankyou for all your replies. Definitely going to up the exercise regime. Just wondered what are the opinions on Arden Grange. Should I change his food ?

How much is the dog already getting? I've never used Arden Grange so can't comment. We are on Burns atm which is doing us nicely. You definitely need to weigh out exactly the recommended amount - it is far, far less than you would imagine.
 

Honey08

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We have labs too, one of whom is greedy and puts weight on easily. I find she needs very little food, she now gets much less than she used to (eats it in a couple of seconds!). She is banned from the stables (too much muck around) and the cat litter tray is barricaded away. On walks she goes back on the lead if eating sheep muck. I also take balls and she is fitter, more playful and slimmer at 9 than she was a couple of years ago.
 

Alec Swan

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Has he been castrated?

Apart from that, halve his daily food intake and feed only six days per week, up his exercise, and remove temptation from his way!

Alec.
 

Goldenstar

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I ended up forking out £70 for a lockable bin because my old beagle used to raid it for every morsel - I feel your pain!

My SILs huge lab broke her lockable bin during a raid she has to keep it in another room .
She also used to put things in the microwave as protection and thought she was going potty when they were not there until the window clearer texted here to say he saw the dog open the microwave with it's paw and remove the contents .
It went on to learn how to open an oven .
 

jakkibag

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My sisters huge black lab is also muzzled whilst walking in residential areas as he will smash through fences and steal bread and bird food (fat balls are his favourite) from people's bird tables! My mum also swears he opened the oven and took bacon from the grill pan, but he's never done it when sister has been there!
 

MileAMinute

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My SILs huge lab broke her lockable bin during a raid she has to keep it in another room .
She also used to put things in the microwave as protection and thought she was going potty when they were not there until the window clearer texted here to say he saw the dog open the microwave with it's paw and remove the contents .
It went on to learn how to open an oven .

Oh lord. Thankfully our new addition doesn't seem that bothered, his 'thing' is stealing the butter, biting the lid off and just licking a tiny piece of it so it's unusable.
 

yellowdun

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We have a stair gate on so the dogs cant get to the cat food. The kitchen is shut so they can't steal out of the bin (which they can be prone to), I turn the breadbin around as one of them can get it open with his paws. Other than that, lots of exercise off the lead of possible and as Alec says, feed only 6 days a week. It amazing how much weight they can drop quickly with a bit more exercise.
 

tubby1

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Thanks so much , lots of good ideas, I've been advised to give him Royal Canin food as this will make him feel less hungry, lockable bins ordered and picked up tommorow. All sweets from kids rooms locked away, and a new exercise programme started today. Hopefully start to see the weight drop off soon.
 

Dobiegirl

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Get him weighed first at the vets so you know what you have, measure his neck,girth and waist weekly so you can see if its working, dont overdo the exercise though as you could well have health problems (Cruciate etc) but rather work him up gradually as the weight starts to come off.
 

Bosworth

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Royal Canin is not good food despite what the vets say. They have little idea of a decent diet for a dog and are paid to stock Royal canin........... look at the food index post sticky above. Perhaps change him to a raw diet with plenty of raw bones to slow his eating down and make him work for every mouthful of food, put it in a kong, freeze the kong. Use his food as treats for his walks. I used to have my brother in laws lab to stay with me in the summer, and she arrived hugely fat and she left slim and muscled up, 2 small meals a day and not allowed to come in whilever I was outside working on the farm and my dogs were with me, she had to be with me, which meant I had her on a long line round my waist while I was mucking out, I made her come with me to poo pick. I took her to the beach when I rode on the beach. In fact I tired her out every single day, she ate her food and fell asleep. . She wasnt the brightest, so would follow my tractor as I topped paddocks round and round and round, it was brilliant, My own dogs would lie at the edge of the field and watch, the lab just followed. My bins were put in different rooms, no food left anywhere near her reach. Daily she got fitter, and slimmer, it was hard work, but hell it worked.
 

Alec Swan

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Royal Canin is not good food despite what the vets say. They have little idea of a decent diet for a dog and are paid to stock Royal canin........... .

^^^^ Correct. Vets are Vets, and very few are dieticians, beyond the average level of understanding of the common man. I'd prefer advice from here than the average Vet! On the rare occasions that I take a dog to the Vet, I'm appalled at the racks of dangerously high protein feeds which are on offer, with pressure being brought upon the clients whereby they feel guilty should they not be doing their 'best'(sic) for their dogs.

The cynic in me may wonder at the thought processes which will be behind offering such dangerous feeds, to young and growing dogs, and the eventual growth related problems which will require a return visit. Dieticians they may not be, but they're surely not stupid and will be VERY well aware of the problems associated with growth spurts in canines, and especially the larger breeds. With the expanding joint related issues which an ever greater number of dogs, by breed, seem to be acquiring, are these problems the result of high protein diets during the formative months? It's where my money would be put.

Alec.
 

tubby1

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Well new regime started today. Just waiting on new food arriving. Slightly tired looking Flabrador tonight . Hopefully be able to post some after pics soon
 
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