I have a 7 year old Lab and she is a fatty like most labs. We do a daily walk around the property (6 acres), she gets fed 2x a day with a highly rated brand of dog food - about 1-1/2 cups each meal, and she’s still at least 10 lbs. overweight. I need some diet ideas so she can dump some pounds.
This probably explains why. Cutting the food amount and upping exercise is always the recommendation but it’s a battle that will never end if she has that genetic trait. My friend in college had a Lab, he got a scant 1/2 cup of food a day and was a very active barn dog and still was a butterball.
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Different breed but the only way I got my beagle skinny was running. Like 3-5 miles a day and now he can eat whatever.
My lab was never overweight but she went swimming 4-5 days a week and dock diving 3-4 days a week. I didn’t really restrict her food.
Gotta up the exercise and make the food part more fun and take longer.
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Interesting article Cammie. No wonder Labs are so totally food driven, right now Luna is begging for some of my yogurt.
When I decreased food volume vet suggested add green beans for filler.
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Have you thought of raw or something like the Farmer’s Dog? Unfortunately, kibble is like feeding Lucky Charms…highly processed. Processed food doesn’t work for many people resulting in overweight/obesity and I see no reason why dogs are any different.
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I looked into it and the plan they suggested for her was cost prohibitive, over $250 per month.
My sister got her dog a slow feeder dog bowl, to make mealtime last longer.
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I’ve had Labs for 40+ years and the struggle is real.
Definitely use a slow feeder! My dogs get 1 cup of kibble AM and PM and that’s it for processed food. When I’m cooking I always share carrots, celery and other veggies, but I’m careful about portion control. I also make a little bit of whatever we’re having for dinner and share that.
No snacks from the boarders! That’s a tough one because they all want to share the horse treats, but that is a hard no. Too much sugar.
As far as exercise goes, everyday we are in the barn for several hours, mostly walking around and riding so the dogs self exercise. That’s about it. I’ve never had a fat Lab, but my parents sure did and their dogs paid the price health wise. I guess that’s why I am such a fanatic.
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Oh my goodness, this is a great idea for our fat little springer spaniel! She’s 13 and I’d like to keep her around longer.
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My female Australian Shepherd is 1" below breed standard. She weighs 30lbs, which my vet said is ideal for her size. My BO’s Aussie male is 3" taller and 65lbs and wobbles around. He’s 6 !! He is morbidly obese as is her Lab & Corgi. She gives them tidbits, they beg with sad eyes, so she gives them more. Her dogs live out all day. Mine is there maybe 3 hrs/day. If you’re not disciplined in feeding your animals, most do not self-regulate. Food is not love, and your pets will suffer for it 
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Portion control AND diet kibbles never worked for my lab mix. We finally made HUGE (20Lbs) progress with a keto kibble that is no longer made. IMO the low carb has been key. Since the keto kibble she was on is no more we’ve been feeding Wysong Epigen (which she doesn’t love) and now Orijen (which she does like but has lower protein and higher carbs and seems to make her bloat). I do supplement with raw sometimes and think it would be best if she could have all raw, but find it ungodly expensive (several hundred per month for one dog which is more than my horses combined cost per month).
Low carb is the way to go. Farmer’s Dog contains a lot of rice, making it super expensive for what it really is. If you can find a grain/carb-free kibble and supplement with at least raw toppers, it could make a difference. Or even one meal kibble, one raw. Actually you may be surprised at the amount of raw food your dog would require. My trainer’s Pyrs are huge and didn’t eat as much as you would think (they’re not active either). OTOH, my tiny ChiX with a higher metabolism eats more than the recommended 2%.
Steve’s Real Food is good quality and one of the less expensive ones; just get the frozen version and not freeze dried.
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Have one
Labs are tough!! My last dog was a lab and was about 5lb overweight. He was always looking for food. Poor guy.
I also suggest fresh food as some others have mentioned. Carbs are the worst for dogs as they burn them off last (protein 1st, fats 2nd and carbs 3rd, as opposed to us humans - protein 1st, carbs 2nd, fats 3rd). I recall reading a chapter in Dr. Morgan’s book about her helping an owner with a lab who was grossly overweight and was a guide dog of some sort, so the weight had to come off. The owner wanted to keep him on kibble so of course she cut it back, increased his walks (he could only go so far at first and just quit as he was in bad shape). She had him for months and could not get any weight off of him and was very disappointed and defeated - he was much fitter and walked for miles but she just couldn’t get any weight off. She switched one of his meals to raw and monitored and the weight started to come off. She had discussions with the owner on this and they decided to make the switch to raw and the dog lost a lot of weight and he was able to keep the dog in service.
I do feed fresh as well with my new girl and her weight has been quite stable and I’m very happy with it. I do add cooked veggies and some fruits, but its mainly protein, fat and offal, no carbs except for the veggies/fruits, which is about 10% of her diet. My girl is 115lb and needs 1.5lb/day and is an active working breed (and on a farm). It honestly costs me a tad more than I was feeding my lab - who was fed a quality kibble.
I know fresh is not for everyone, but I just wanted to share my story.
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For those of you saying that raw is too expensive. K9 Naturals (I get it from Chewy) comes in an 8 lb bag and yes, its $245, but hear me out. I feed two dogs with one 8lb bag per month and mix with either kibble or additional raw freeze dried foods.
The puppy gets 50/50 diet; K9 Natural and Zignature kibble and she weights 60lbs and is 7 months old. She gets 1.25 cups of kibble and a cup of K9 Natural twice per day. She will get less and less kibble as she gets closer to her first birthday. The kibble is there to just “fill her slow feeder” and add volume. Puppy is a Lab Aussie cross. She also gets cucumber, berries, carrots, and any fresh foods I am preparing that she will eat as her training rewards.
While my 7.5 yr old, 105lb ridgeback gets 3 cups of K9 Natural a day (split into two meals) and 5 Primal nuggets in each feeding. And my pittie before he passed got the same thing the ridgeback ate. He was 65 lbs and solid as rock with muscle, not an ounce of fat on him.
A part from normal vax scheduled vet visits none of my dogs in the past 15+ yrs of feeding a raw or semi raw diet have had major health issues. Am I the norm? maybe, maybe not. The reason why I switched to non kibble food was because of my cushings dog I had 15+ yrs ago.
I don’t want to weight out organs, meats, and measure minerals and vits. I want to make it as easy for my DH and myself to feed the dogs. There are other solutions out there besides buying half a steer to feed your dogs. Just watch the carbs; which is why I do not like Ollie or the Farmers Dog. They do not list out the ingredients until you commit to a subscription.
Carbs (simple carbs) = sugar. Sugar = diabetes and cancer in my book.
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I started on the green bean diet yesterday - gave her 1/2 the amount of kibble and 1/2 a can of rinsed canned green beans. I’ll get a vit/min supp so she’s getting the proper amount with the decreased amount of chow. If she doesn’t start dropping pounds I’ll move on to trying a partially raw diet.
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Even if you can’t do raw/fresh/freeze dried, swapping out some kibble for canned dog food might help. As others have mentioned, even the high quality high protein/fat kibble can be higher in carbs and some dogs can’t handle carbs as well as others. So lowering the carbs might help.
Wet food doesn’t need carbs to help bind it together like kibble does, so they tend to be low carb. Also because of the moisture content it can help some dogs feel more satiated.
As always check the guaranteed analysis to get a rough estimate of the carb percentage because it can vary by brand/ingredients. Carbs aren’t required to be listed on the label, but some companies will put a calculation on their website. Otherwise here’s how to estimate the carb content: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/dog-food-carbohydrate-content/
Our lab was an outlier - she was the least food motivated dog ever (she wouldn’t even eat a potato/tortilla chip that fell on the floor) and never had a weight issue.
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I read through the thread and I had to come back to this. Be honest with yourself, is that really the only exercise your dog is getting? A daily walk around six acres? I live on 5 acres and we have a trail around it, that isn’t exercise for me, that certainly isn’t exercise for a middle aged working breed dog. That’s what my dog does before bed so I know she’s had lots of time to go to the bathroom.
My dog is 10, she gets at least an hour of dedicated walks off property, most days over 2 hours. When she was 7 she was still running and ski-joring with me.
Even if your dog is outside all the time it sounds like they aren’t self exercising. Can you find time at least a couple days a week to take the dog for a run or a hike? Or swimming?
As far as the food, you’ve gotten some good advice.
If I want to stretch out feed time I’ve got a snuffle mat and one of the kong balls that dispenses kibble as they roll it around. You could also pick up a couple slow feeder bowls, add veggies and some kibble (or raw if you go that way), top with water and freeze. Easy way to turn a 30 second meal into 30 minutes.
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She’s extremely active so when I say walking, she’s more likely to be moving pretty quickly , we go exploring in my woods and she’s constantly going up and down hills and running in the pasture. By the time we’re done, she’s panting and ready for a rest. I also throw the ball for her using one those Chuck Its.
I’ve been using a slow feeder bowl since she was a puppy.
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