Bruce is coming up to 1 next week but about two weeks ago he started not wanting to eat his dinner or breakfast unless fed with a spoon he's not lost any weight and weighs around 33kg even not wanting to eat treats on walks. Is this normal behaviour? Or should I take him to the vets, he's happy in himself and seems content. Could he just be a not greedy Labrador?. Lee
Hi @leemyka Never hand feed your dog. Otherwise you will probably end up doing such full time. One exception. If your dog is ill. Since you say your dog is okay, then you should not be hand feeding. Put the food out and when your dog walks away even if the food is not finished, then take it away and use at next meal time.
It's about knowing what's 'normal' for the individual dog. If some of mine missed a meal, they would be straight to the vets as they are very greedy and I would suspect that something is seriously wrong. For two others though, I wouldn't be concerned. One (collie!) won't eat if anything is slightly different "you put my bowl in the wrong place", "you put so-and-so's dish down before i'd had my first bite"! etc. She misses meals regularly. She doesn't get hand fed. She'll eat when she's hungry enough. Another (labrador) won't eat if I'm away from home or if we have a bitch in season. He also won't eat away from home. He drops weight very easily so I will try to encourage him to eat, but would not be hand feeding him either. So for both of these, I would not be rushing to the vets if they aren't eating as it's 'normal' for them. If it is 'normal' for your dog, then I wouldn't be too concerned. If he is usually greedy and eats with gusto and this is a sudden change, then I'd pop him to the vets to check there is nothig wrong.
The thing is he used to be greedy when he was small even doing his dinner dance and us having to buy a slow feeder, but all that changed about November no dinner dance. Also, I've been working hard lately on recall and he's been getting some really tasty treats sardines, warm chicken, cat food and so on, dry treats he's just not bothered about, I thought all Labradors where greedy. Hears a couple oF pictures of him. https://imgur.com/gallery/Posjc1K https://imgur.com/gallery/oUfHoT9 Do you think he looks thin? Thanks Lee
Hi @leemyka Lee, did you check the details in the following thread/post? https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/posting-a-photo-from-imgur.12177/ Regards Michael
He looks quite overweight to me, although it's hard not being able to see him from the side. But you can see there is a roll of fat in front of his hips when sitting.... His head looks small in relation to his body. I wouldn't accept this attitude towards food, to be honest - I would see it as an emergency if one of my dogs behaved like that. They would get zero tasty treats for several days (and remain on a long-line so I don't need to recall them if necessary) and they would have literally a quarter the amount they usually eat, presented to them at breakfast and dinner and removed immediately they turned their noses up - with no further food offered until the next meal time. It sounds to me like, as I see so very, very, often - he is lacking food motivation because he is overweight....
Hi @leemyka Lee, can we see a bird's eye view and side on view of Bruce please? It's a bit hard to see the figure he cuts from the photograph.
I know the grass needs cutting, all but the one on the beach were taken this weekend, thanks for looking. He’s always been raw fed and would not touch his breakfast I took him on his walks with no treats today ill see if he eats his dinner later.
Hi @leemyka He is a lovely looking Lab. Although it is hard to tell from some of the photos, photos 4 and 5 offer a clearer view. I agree with Jo he looks overweight. https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-ideal-weight/ Have a look at the linked chart. Bruce should have a waist. I would reduce the amount he eats. Say 0.8 of a cup rather than 1 cup. And observe his profile after a week.
He doesn't look hideously overweight or as overweight as he did in the first pic, but he does look a bit overweight and not like he's going to die if you deprive him of food any time soon, so in the name of improving food motivation I'd be pretty hardcore... Here's a good link to start with: http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page39/ Once you've done that for a few days, you should be able to start to train with his food somehow. The problem, if you are raw feeding, is that this is often messy or unhygienic to do. So when I work with people whose dogs are raw fed and lack food motivation, I often get them to switch temporarily to Ziwipeak (which is air-dried raw you can handle), so we can train with the dog's meals and thereby improve food motivation. If the dog shows a lack of desire to 'earn' the food, then it goes back in the bag and no more food till next meal time. Once they've got food motivation re-established, they can then switch back to raw - but feeding probably less than they have been before. (To avoid re-creating the same problem.)
Thanks for the advice I've cut his food down by a quarter, and make the raw food in to golf size balls wearing gloves, he left one this morning but this evening he ate it all and was looking at me for more which he did not get. I've also cut down on the training treats, only treating for a really good recall. We also start gun dog training tomorrow night and forgot to ask if I should feed him before we go, we start at 7 for 1 hour, he usually eats at six and what treats to take if any?. Thanks Lee
I assume you are attending a positive reinforcement class. I would not feed him before you attend the class. You will need your dog to be very interested in the treats you have. He is probably going to be distracted by the other dogs. Your treats need to be more interesting than the other dogs. So I would take high value treats your dog does not normally receive. High value as judged by the dog, not you.
https://bbk9.co.uk/ This is who we are doing the training with. Also Bruce would not touch his breakfast only eating one golf ball size bit. Thanks Lee
@leemyka Lee, I looked at the website, but could not tell whether they train using positive reinforcement (conditioned reinforces). Perhaps after attending you will have a better idea. Did he eat lots of the treats while training, and did he eat his meal when you arrived home?
https://bbk9.co.uk/classes/fun-gun-dog-course/ If you read that Michael it says he does we haven't been yet its only 4 pm in the UK. Thanks Lee
This is where you will see why you need a dog that is motivated by food.... Enjoy the gundog training - but if he will not take food, then you will urgently need to work on that food motivation. Equally, the problem is that he may fill up on tasty training treats at class and be fine refusing his meals. In the long-term that's not great because only his regular food will have all the nutrients and vitamins he needs for a balanced diet...
