Food Obsessed Labrador!

by Nicole
(Italy)

Question

Hi, Should you have an answer or a solution it would be much appreciated....my labrador is obsessed with food.

If she sees someone eating food, she will just stare and drool, and has developed this really bad habit of eating so quickly that she throws up straight away and then eats what she threw up - eeww!

Unfortunately my husband used to excite her when it was time to eat so she developed this habit of jumping when it was dinner time, but in the last few days we have stopped that and wait until she is (remotely) calm in order to give her her food.

But she still eats very quickly and doesnt chew.
If you have any suggestions, we would be so grateful.

Thanks, Nicole

Answer

Hi Nicole, I'm just wondering, has your lab always had these eating habits or is it a new thing?

It is very good that you have started on the right track by waiting for her to calm down before feeding her. A very excited dog is more likely to eat fast and then possibly throw up.

Some simple ways to make your lab slow down when eating is by making the food less easy to gulp down. There are some pet bowls
specifically designed to do this.

There are 2 different ones to buy from amazon, there is one which is a plastic dog bowl, however when reading one of the reviews, even though all of them are positive as they really do work in slowing eating time down, I came across a review which complained about the material which isn't very durable. After another search I came across a metal dog bowl which would sort this problem out.

I hope this helps!