Black Lab questions?

Question

I have a 4-yr old Black Lab that I adopted from the Humane Society about 2 yrs ago and I have a couple of question about him.

What is the average weight suppose to be for an Indoor Black Lab <the vet says he is healthy except for some sort of allergy and has him on Benadryll and says that he is a bit too large at 100 pounds>? He does get a little bit of exercise in the backyard, but when he goes out, he pretty much wants to come right back in and I don't want him to scratch up our new patio door.

We don't take him out in the car too often because he is able to get out of his regular collar (and weexcitabled he will get lost), so I went out and bought a nylon shoulder harness for him. The problem I have is that because he is so excitable and wild that I find it difficult to put it on him. Is there an easy way to do this? <I also always forget how to put it on him...the small collar goes over his head, but can you refresh my memory about the rest, please?>

The last things I want to ask about are...I was using Royal Canin/Lab formula and buying the large bag, but it has now gone up to $52/bag, what is a good option instead of this brand? Science Diet even for the Sensitive Stomach gives him <NASTY AND BAD> gas. He also is a big drooler.

Any answers would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Weight for black labs:  male- 60-75 pounds     female- 55-70 pounds

try going to a fenced in field like a baseball diamond and just letting him run around. laborador retrievers are active dogs and your killing him by not letting him run and be active. get a dog walker or something!

as for the collar train him to be still or sit when you are doing it! its not that hard because they have a very high obedience level and will pick up quickly.    the small part goes over the head then you must take one of his paws and put it through, then you just clip the harness on the other side. &lt; sry if that didn&#039;t help.

try purina or pedigree. my dog also was eating royal canin but got to expensive we give him dog food from Blue Seal&lt;the store. and i mix in pedigree dog food.  

Answer 2

Taking him to obedience school is going to teach you how to control him, which seems to be the root of most of the problems you&#039;ve mentioned.  If you can control him, you can exercise him easily and enjoyably.

I&#039;ll let others comment about diet, but Science Diet isn&#039;t known for good quality engredients, despite the word &quot;science&quot; in the name :P

Answer 3

Hi, I used to have a yellow female purebred Lab. We got her when she was a puppy. A breeder saw her when I was down at the park running with her. She was about 90-95 pounds, but no fat. Just sleek and well muscled. He said she was the biggest female Lab he had ever seen. But I used to go down to the park and run with her all the time. It sounds like your dog probably needs some company in the backyard to play with him, Labs are usually full of energy.

As for a collar, I&#039;ve never been fond of harnesses. I had taken my dog to Hal Wheelers school. They don&#039;t train the dog, they have you train the dog in the class. They had everyone use a close linked choke chain of the proper size for the dog while walking the dog and a leather collar for the normal collar. You want close linked so that the loop the chain goes through moves smoothly over the links. To put the choke collar on properly, you normally walk a dog on your left side for heeling. The loop should be coming from underneath the dogs neck so that when you lower the leash the collar will automatically loosen. When you walk the dog it should be placed just behind the ears, you will feel a bump in back of the ears on the neck. The collar sits just in front of that. That&#039;s the best for walking a dog, very easy to control, and no, your not really choking your dog.

I don&#039;t remember what we used to feed her, this was almost 20 years ago.

From the AKC Website:

Size, Proportion and Substance

Size--The height at the withers for a dog is 22½ to 24½ inches; for a ***** is 21½ to 23½ inches. Any variance greater than ½ inch above or below these heights is a disqualification. Approximate weight of dogs and b*****s in working condition: dogs 65 to 80 pounds; b*****s 55 to 70 pounds.

Answer 4

70-75 pounds is about as heavy as they need to be unless its winter and they live outside.  they get heavier in the winter to stay warm.  

the nylon harness goes one leg through and around the neck then you snap it so the other leg is through.  use a magic marker and draw arrows on it pointing foward once you have it right.  it is much easier that way.  if you stand over him and straddle him with you both facing the same direction, you can use your thigh muscles to hold him in one place while you put it on.  its the only way we can get ours on our pit.  

we feed all of ours blue buffalo from petsmart.  its about $35 or 40 for a 30 pound bag (get the large breed formula for labs), but they eat less than they do with most brands.  our 70 pound pit and 40 pound border collie/st bernard pup each eat 3 1/2 cups a day of it.  our 50 pound shar-pei is old so he only eats 2 1/2 cups.  so it is cheaper than the cheap stuff!  it doesn&#039;t have fillers and is made from the same quality food as humans eat so it is better on their system.  you have to gradually switch their diet, do 1/4 new food 3/4 old food 4 days, then half and half 4 days, then 3/4 new 1/4 old 4 days, then just the new from then on. you can go to their site below  

Answer 5

Obedience training sounds like an excellent idea.  Black labs aren&#039;t the greatest candidates for obedience because they tend to be a little hyper, but they are very eager to please dogs and, with some work, can do well.   They aren&#039;t the greatest candidates for being an inside dog either as they tend to need  a pretty fair amount of exercise.

The weight depends more on the frame of the dog rather than just some arbitrary number.  My last black lab was good in the 85 - 90 pound range, but he was a pretty big dog.  I&#039;ve seen labs that can be anywhere from 50 - 110 pounds as an ideal weight.  It just depends on their height and length and body type, just like humans.  Just look at him objectively.  If there is no shape in his gut and hindquarters, he&#039;s probably overweight.  Losing weight now will also help prevent, or at least delay hip problems in the future.  Every lab I&#039;ve had ended up with some pretty serious hip issues in their later years.  Keeping them thin helped delay it.  Fat dogs are far more susceptable.

I&#039;ve always had good luck with Science Diet, but it is a little &quot;hot&quot;.  If your dog doesn&#039;t get a lot of exercise, you might want to go with something else.

Answer 6

100 pounds is too heavy, labs tend to get fat when they get older, due to a lack of excercise. My 2Yr old indoor lab x boxer is 70 pounds and out vet told us thats a good weight.

It sounds like your dog has too much energy, if you put him in the backyard, dont let him just sit there, offcourse he will want to come straight back in, he is probably bored all by himself! Play fetch with him in the backgarden, if possible about 2 x 20 mins a day (see how long he lasts to begin with)

Im not sure how your harnass works, but if you find it difficult to get it on, leave it on him in the house as well. Or put it on him every time you let him out in the garden (he will soon realise that nothing special is about to happen when you put it on)

I dont really know about the food, the expensive stuff isnt always better. We give our dogs a muesli dryfood, to which you add a little bit of (hot) water, it costs €20,- for 20 Kilo&#039;s. Remember that if you switch food your dog will have to get used to the different brand, good chance that the gas will get less after a while.

Labs are not known for their drooling. (some type of dogs tend to drool easier than others, depending on the shape of their lips)  Drooling is usually caused by feeding your dog snacks in between meals, its common among dogs that get rewarded for begging.

Answer 7

I am sure that the average weight of a lab can vary. Your 100 pound black lab is probably fine because it depends on how tall he is and stuff. My black lab is kind of short and weighs about a 75 to 80 pounds.

Answer 8

So in other words you have a couch potato that gets no excercise or anything because you did not bother to obedience train him when you got him?

You need a head harness, not a shoulder harness. That way you have complete control over his head. He can&#039;t do to much like pull or take off if you have control of his head now can he.

He is a dog let him stay outside...cheez... I am pretty sure he is not a vampire and the sun is not going to kill him.

If you don&#039;t want him to scratch up your door then why do you have a dog.

Teach him to use a door bell. My dog does. I just got one of the door bell chimes that you plug into a recepticle and put the door bell button near my door at her level and everytime I went to go take my dog outside I pushed it and showed her how to do it also. Now she hits it with her nose when she goes out.

You just do the opposite, put the chime inside and the button outside and teach your dog how to use it.

It is a Black Lab, which happens to be a very smart dog and highly trainable.

Answer 9

He definitely needs some obedience training. My Lab weighs 100 lbs and isn&#039;t fat at all. Does your dog look muscular? Is he tall? Does he have fat rolls? He isn&#039;t going to exercise himself outside. Labs love human attention. Go outside and play with him. Some things my Lab likes to do is for me to kick a soccer ball, throw tennis balls, throw frisbees, swim. Labs are prone to be overweight if under exercised. You owe it to your guy to keep him healthy and exercise is a vital part of that.

Foods...I wouldn&#039;t feed Science Diet. Both my dogs eat Canidae All Life Stages. It costs me $42 for a 40 lb. bag. I feed the ALS because I have a small breed dog, too, who weighs only 9.5 pounds. With the ALS, they can both eat the same food. Eli ate Blue Buffalo Large Breed for 6 months and did wonderfully on it. He is always getting compliments on how shiny his coat is.

There is nothing you can do for the drooling. My boy is a huge slobber monster. He gets water everywhere when he drinks.

Here&#039;s my Eli:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27420575@N0...

Add: 100 lbs is more than breed standard for Labs. The breed standard max is 80 lbs, I think. However, Eli is taller than what the b.s. is, so, I don&#039;t worry about it. Also, he isn&#039;t a show dog, so, it doesn&#039;t matter to me if he is a perfect representation of breed standard or not.