Now I have always known labs are greedy, will eat anything and are a bottomless pit but I am in despair at the moment... Our pup is five months old and is just so greedy... Yesterday he vomited twice with undigested food and also swallowed a chew that was still about 4 inches long (we did rush him to the vet but he was ok) Every walk we go on is like a scavenger hunt and he is forever picking things up and eating them before I get the chance to stop him. He forever tries to eat his own poop so we have to be stood over him to pick it up. He is a healthy weight and full of energy but he is just a nightmare !!
Hi there Yes they are very greedy dogs. I read somewhere a while ago that dogs can have the gene similar to Prada-Willi Syndrome where there is no off switch. However this sounds very much like both my previous labs and can be trained out. Hopefully someone will give you ideas on that. Make sure you train a good “leave it” command and recall is spot on using high value smelly treats. In the meantime don’t give chews. They always try to swallow them when they are still too big and take a long time to break down in the stomach sometimes causing blockages. Use the black Kong smeared on the inside with peanut butter/ banana/ soaked kibble stuffed in which could also be frozen. Look at slow feeder bowls that have compartments so your pup can’t swallow too much in one go.
Completely agree with JD's reply above. Our lab puppy is 4 months old and he went through the same thing - a period of swallowing everything in sight! It can feel so stressful taking them for walks, and they're only trying to explore the world/understand what's around them. The problem was us, we were rushing in to grab things out of his mouth and I guess startling him so he'd swallow / chew whatever it was as fast as possible. We switched tactics. He still does pick things up in his mouth like twigs / leaves etc, but with some concentrated practice on "leave it!" in places he knows and new places, he will spit things out because he knows a treat is available. If I can see something ahead of me and he's having a good sniff around, I get him into "heel!" or "look at me" while we're moving and he'll usually just ignore whatever it is I thought we should avoid on the floor. We have a slow feeder bowl and Kong, used as JD said above. One further recommendation is the Nina Ottosson puzzle games. If you get the level 1, we use that for mental stimulation as well as feeding him a meal. And you can make it easy/slightly harder then progress onto higher difficulty games. You can find them second hand on FB marketplace sometimes or Amazon. Hope that helps a bit, and let us know how you get on
Thank you for the above advice... I know I really need to be more aware of everything, he is just so flipping quick.... I gave him a frozen carrot earlier to help with his teething but again, he swallowed that really quickly. when he was sick yesterday it was all un-chewed so I’m thinking maybe I need to only give him anything chopped up!! he has kongs, slow feeder bowl and puzzle games... I am just starting to think I need to literally pulp his food so he can’t swallow big chunks.... is worrying me so much!!
What about feed spreading in the garden? Take his entire meal and chuck it out in a space in the garden, see if that helps? He won't be able to inhale it so fast if he has to find it first If not, there's also those snuffle mats too that look like mop heads.
I like the idea of feed spreading but we have a garden with no grass and just gravel at the moment and he is forever picking up (not swallowing thankfully) stones as it is. Have got snuggle mat already ... thank you for advice .... we will be moving in a few months so we can try feed spreading then if my little piggy doesn’t improve x
