Dear forum,
I came upon this website yesterday, find it to be very informative and helpful.
We have a 6 month old yellow Labrador and just lately he has become very peculiar in his eating habits.
He will eat some of his dinner, but then loses interest.

However! If we pick the bowl up and put it near his mouth, even give him spoonfuls he will eat it!.
I blame my partner as she started to let him lick his own spoon that she uses to dish out his meat with after he had eaten his meal.

We have varied his diet to make it more interesting, but on the whole we have to feed him with the spoon.

I'm almost embaressed to write this

cheers Banjo

Hi Banjo,

Don't blush - you'd be amazed at how many of us are all silly and gooey about our dogs :P  Well, a fussy Lab!  They're thin on the ground it has to be said ;) but I think perhaps between the spoon feeding and "varied diet to make it more interesting" you have very probably created a rod for your own back - again, something a few of us have indulged in before so don't feel alone out there.

How many times a day is he being fed?  It could be that he is ready to have one of his meals dropped - although to do this correctly you should increase the amount in the other meal(s) and adjust the time span between them too :)

If the above is irrelevant to your circumstances, providing he is otherwise well in himself (but if there are any other signs or problems a vet visit should be your first port of call) then you will simply have to be a lot firmer in how you handle his meal times.  Only put his food down in a bowl, no fingers :P for 10 minutes.  Work on the basis of what he doesn't eat he doesn't get until next time around and continue on that vein until such times as he realises that nothing fancy is going to happen by way of hand feeding or changing the contents of the bowl.  If you're steadfast with that for say two - three days (everyone in the household has to be on board here and NO titbits / treats at all) and don't see any improvement, then even without further symptoms or change in his behaviour I'd have him vet checked just to be on the safe side.

HTH, regards, Teri :) 

Thanks for the reply Teri,
We feed him in the morning and evening, we used to feed him at lunchtime but have stopped that now.

Well, you probably don't want to be dropping a meal in that case :)  Are both his meals the same size?  It may help to make his breakfast/early meal slightly smaller and include the reduced ration with his later meal.

I do think you have to put on your "strict caps" and be unwaivering in not allowing him to dictate the terms of how he eats his food and what menu he most fancies at any given time :P

Good luck, Teri
(ps who is still reeling from the fact that a Labrador can be fussy :D )

The last dog that I had was a Springer and boy was he different!

Thanks for the advice

We have 2 labs, one inhales what ever you put in front of him, the other has started looking at her bowl as if something is missing - I blame OH who has been adding an egg to her dinner and I think she is now looking for extras!

Are you SURE he is a labrador :D :D :D ?

I'm only kidding - we have labradors and have had more problems with them NOT being spoonfed (by themselves, from the table, if they got the chance!!).    Seriously, I think that your labrador has trained your OH very well - he gets attention AND food!

Persuade your OH that your poor ickle boy won't starve (how often do you see an underweight lab) if you just put his food down on the floor, leave it for 10 minutes - then take it away

He MIGHT resist for a couple of days - more likely just one day - then he will get the message and eat his food quick - before it is taken away.

Regards

Margot (labrador owner for over 50 yrs ;) )

Actually Margot My labs are very light for their size, you can definately feel ribs and they have a waist, which to my mind is how they should be, dispite being 'chockie labs' and the vets have to comment on how nice and slim they are every time they see them (I know that some show people like them heavier but with the level of hip problems in chockies I would much rather have them light). 

Truffle never has a problem with human food - except when it is out of reach, but she knows exactly how to press her 'dads' buttons :D Still with the shooting season comming up she will be getting more excercise so that should improve her appitite ;)

We try and keep our labs to the same standard as you - if I can't feel ribs, their rations get cut down slightly (they are well-exercised) - Gypsy and Freya haven't yet attained the "Purdey" standard of their own bacon baguettes :D - but at the same time, their ambition seems to become little labrador lardballs!!!

I've now had to move the feed bins from the utility room to the downstairs cloakroom - otherwise I've caught both of them, heads inside bins, going for "snacks"

Margot

LOL Ours spent the day in kennels for the first time on Sunday. When we went to collect them Hook came charging out, straigh past us and straight in to the kennel kitchen - found seconds later head in bag swallowing as fast as he could!

Own bacon baguette! Ours will be right round :D Still we did have problems when Hook used to ride in the back of the van when I was doing sales - took me ages to work out that while I was inside talking to the site manager, Hook was sat in his crate with the tail gate open scoffing as many biscuits as the men could find for him. Outragous really when you consider that i have seen fights start over alegedly stolen biscuits in site tea rooms! Oh and when we had the builders in they started bringing an extra sarnie for him <rolleyes> 

Right speaking of which I must go food shopping or it will be beans on toast again tonight.

<<Hook came charging out, straigh past us and straight in to the kennel kitchen - found seconds later head in bag swallowing as fast as he could!>>

See - labradors, like us, do "comfort" eat - he had to check that his food hadn't been moved too!

Margot

It was the way he didnt even stop to say he had missed me. I had missed him like mad. Still I will be happy to take them back for a few days over this weekend as they so obviously enjoyed themselves. We will be taking our own food this time and I hope that the owner remembers to keep her food well secured :D 

Have to get in on this one with a little bragging.  We have the typical voracious Lab, who, though kept slim and trim by diligence on my part, would prefer to be 20 pounds overweight.  Well OK, I let her have a few of the forbidden pleasures and last night she got to lick out the bowl after I made peanut butter pie for dessert.  BUT, we have three cats and there is cat food sitting in bowls on the floor all day and our Lab will not touch it.  She loves the stuff but will only eat what spills out of their bowls onto the floor.  And no, she does not "help" it to spill.

Margot - I'm emailing you off line as I'd value your advice on something.  Hope you don't mind me using your email address.
Thanks
Nicky

Must admit (hangs head in shame :p ) that I have resorted to spoon feeding Dudley a few times :D :D

She went through a stage at about the same age of not eating. She would stick her nose up at everything for a few days at a time. She got over it though and is a fully fledged scrounging tubby tummied Labrador :D :D

Never had a problem with any of the other especially Min :D

We do the same about feeling the ribs and ration when necessary

Lucy
xx

Yeah, have to admit to that with one of my boys (the other was always a walking stomach!) and the new puppy. In fact I was worse than spoon feeding, I sat down on the floor and let them eat a few bits at a time out of my hand!!! In the end I forced myself to throw away their food and after a few days they got the idea. Mind you, my first Cav refused to eat and then only ate half his food for about 6 months before I changed his diet and then he really took off and is now the fastest eater in the house!

Just seen your post Nicky - will find email!

Margot

>> I blame my partner as she started to let him lick his own spoon that she uses to dish out his meat with after he had eaten his meal.

We let our two lick our spoons after we have eaten a yoghurt or similar - it hasn't affected their eating habits (but they are veritable gannets anyway - except for raw fish which my boy turns his nose up at :rolleyes: )

>> In fact I was worse than spoon feeding, I sat down on the floor and let them eat a few bits at a time out of my hand!!!

I did that for our boy for a while but that was when he was ill and couldn't afford to lose any weight. I have no problems with my two finishing their food now :D

>>except for raw fish which my boy turns his nose up at

No problem with raw fish here - or indeed frozen scampi, frozen peas, or frozen chips if I drop them on the floor! Or hot scampi straight out of the oven - that was my dinner they had that time!!! :-)