Chapter 3 · Food and weight
The waist test
Show-type Labradors are stocky, and owners mistake fat for build. Here is how to see the difference.
LeanWaist visible from above, tuck behind the chest, ribs easy to feel under a thin cover. Keep it here.
HeavyStraight sides, no tuck, ribs need pressure. Cut ten per cent and re-weigh in a month.
PortionsMeasure every meal. Treats come out of the ration, not on top of it. Use kibble for training.
The POMC geneMany Labradors never feel full. The look is not hunger; it's genetics. You are the off switch.
Lean Labradors live around two years longer. That is the whole argument.
Sample page · The Labrador Handbook
Chapter 4 · Hips, elbows and joints
Exercise by age
Growth plates close at twelve to eighteen months. What you do before then decides the hips at eight.
- Puppy: five minutes per month of age, twice a day, plus free play on grass
- No bike runs, hikes, stairs at speed or jumping off furniture until 12–18 months
- Adult: 1.5–2 hours a day, varied: walks, swimming, retrieving with rules, scent games
- Avoid endless ball on hard ground with skidding stops: that's how cruciates tear
- Senior: shorter, more often, swimming for the joints
- Any limp over a day, or sudden back-leg lameness after play: vet
Stiff after rest and fine after a few minutes is arthritis, not age. It is very treatable.
Sample page · The Labrador Handbook
Chapter 5 · The mouth
The swap
The single most important Labrador skill, and it takes a week to teach.
- Item in mouth: you offer a treat
- Dog drops: you say 'drop', dog gets the treat
- Often, give the item back: dropping isn't losing
- Practise with boring things so it works with exciting things
- Never chase, never grab: that's the best game in the house
- A dog who drops anything never learns to guard, and can be saved from surgery
A Labrador greeting you with a shoe is not stealing. Give them a toy to carry instead and the jumping stops too.
Sample page · The Labrador Handbook
Chapter 6 · Adolescence
Six months to three years
The recall vanishes, the manners go, the energy doubles. It is normal, it is temporary, and it is long.
DoLong line everywhere the recall isn't perfect. Go back a step and pay better. A job every day: scent, retrieving with rules, training. Protect sleep.
Don'tPunish the recall when they finally come. Add hours of running. Give up on classes. Neuter to fix it.
Fear periodsSuddenly scared of the bin lorry? Let them look from a distance, pay, move on. It passes.
When it endsBetween two and three, gradually. Everything you did in the hard months is what that dog is made of.
Most Labradors in rescue are eighteen months old. Their owners didn't know this chapter was coming.
Sample page · The Labrador Handbook
Sample pages are shortened for the web. The handbook goes deeper on every one, and every chapter has a tool to tap, slide or tick.
