Barking until fed

[Teresa1515]

Hi all,

Our lab is now 14 months old and is a treasure. We love him to bits. He has 2 x 1hour walks per day and regular training sessions for 10-15mins to keep him busy. We work from home so he is occupied all day long.
Sounds perfect, but he has this mad hour just before his dinner when he barks none stop until being fed. I have tried leaving the room where I work and he sits with me, barking still..I ignore him, he jumps up and is in my face barking louder, try playing with him barking louder, send him outside he gets mad continues to bark outside. I leave the room he is barking still.
Then I go to kitchen, (open plan to the living room) not to feed him, but its the only thing which stops the barking, then he sits there with a big smile waiting, if I leave the kitchen he is barking mad again! So I spend around 50mins loitering around in the kitchen cleaning, finding things to do until his meal time..., (I must have the cleanest kitchen around lol) and he is just sat there smiling until being fed.

Once eaten off he trots to his usual place quiet and happy as anything. I have tried changing routines, longer walks, later walks, earlier walks, as soon as we get home from PM walk its barking until being fed. Lol. Any ideas is much appreciated.

 

[Selina27]

Hi @Teresa1515 , first of all welcome to MLF!

Sounds like you have quite a problem! I can't think of any answers, but I wondered does he have to be fed at a specific time everyday? And does he have only one meal a day?
Do you ever use kongs? I wonder if giving him one to occupy himself when his mealtime is approaching would help? Perhaps he is genuinely hungry

 

[edzbird]

Hello & welcome @Teresa1515 . I might try giving his dinner earlier, but in a puzzle feeder like a Kong Wobbler (or something less noisy), then the next day maybe a bit later in his bowl, just mixing up the times and delivery methods.
I'm lucky with ours, I just get the hard, silent stare.

 

[edzbird]

Sorry...What's your boy's name?

 

[kateincornwall]

I was also thinking hunger ? Do you feed once a day because if so , try twice a day which is really the best way for growing dogs Welcome from me and my two x

 

[SwampDonkey]

When do you fed him? Maybe he is hungry. Is he getting enough food? It's an age were they are slower at growing but still rushing around and building more bulk so he maybe feeling less full. They do love their food it's really important to them. I feed at 4am 4pm and then we all have super at 8pm. You could split his food and feed earlier giving the meal in 2 1/2, it seems to be the anticipation that builds the Barking
My youngest is still on 3 meals a day and he's nearly 3. It's suits him and it's been hard to put weight on such an active dog. Whatever you decide to do you will have to be careful as he will just try barking to get it on demand. Food is just so important.

 

[Cath]

Hello @Teresa1515 and welcome to the forum. I feed Fred and Annie at 12 am and then again at 5 pm. They don't bark before hand, but they do sit
and stare at me about 10 mins before they get their meal.

 

[Teresa1515]

Hi everyone and thank you for your advice.. Its great to find this forum ..I forgot to mention his name is Wilson He is fed at 6:30am and then his barking sessions start at 2-2:30pm usually after his lunchtime walk. I usually try and feed him around 3:30pm any earlier and he is awake at 4am barking. There is no way I could attempt to leave him any longer than half past 3. We tried walking him for a third time, and he kept stopping, and pulling home. Lol. Is it usually 10 hours between meals to feed?

We have on your suggestion brought a puzzle, which we have not yet tried. The mats, kongs etc last him only a few minutes. He is a very active dog so I could try and feed him 3 times a day. His food is a cooked packed meal suitable for his weight and activeness, twice a day 500g each, so he requires 1kg for his weight. I could split this into 3? but I do give him his old kibble for kongs, puzzles etc. I might have to increase this I suppose. I guess trial different things. Attached is a picture of wilson when his food is being prepared right after barking none stop. Hahaha.

 

[Teresa1515]

Sorry...What's your boy's name?

Wilson

 

[Stacia]

I feed my Lab at 9am and about 6pm. He has three dog biscuits to go to bed. This sounds quite hard, but as soon as Wilson starts barking, stop preparing his food, the moment he stops, start again, may take ages but it will work as he will realise that barking means you stop.

 

[HAH]

Wilson is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the photo From what you've said I think he's probaby fairly hungry by 2pm, and that's led to a sticky habit of barking for his dinner. Your suggestions are really good; splitting his meals into 3 or 4 would allow you to space them out a bit, and changing timings as they get older is not unusual. Lots of people feed twice a day, but I suspect as Wilson is an active youngster and still developing at the moment he needs a slightly higher frequency. It might well be you can drop back to twice a day in time if that's what you prefer.

We tend to feed our boy Kipper through the day, mainly around walks and games but with a breakfast scatter feed (or what we've developed as a 'sitting room sniffari' where I take a handful of biscuits, scatter a few on his bed in the kitchen as a diversion, then scamper into the sitting room and lay out the rest on the sofa, on a low coffee table, on the floor, on a cushion...) I realise this is a bit mad and labour intensive but just using it as an example of different activities - we've been on enforced reduced exercise with him for a long time, so I've been upping the enrichment at home and it also helps me observe his mobility and mood first thing in the morning. In the evening we tend to do a snuffle mat and play some games, which means he gets a small amount of food at around 9pm. When he was younger he tended to get very hungry overnight and was sometimes sick, so a later small feed has removed this completely.

 

[Selina27]

@Teresa1515 , Wilson is just so handsome, what a lovely boy.

With the amount of food he gets, is that what the manufacturers guidelines are? Sometimes they need tweaking for individuals. It might be better to give him more and see if he is satisfied, whilst assessing his condition by eye rather than weight. I'm not sure if we have the chart anywhere on here but it is a question of do they have a visible waist, how much backbone and ribs you can feel.

When you say he's active what do his walks consist of, do you play and games or do any training which engages his brain? This can lead to a more relaxed dog in the long run.

I think probably you will need a" multi pronged approach", with a bit of trial and error until you find what works I agree with @Jelinga, best he finds out that barking is not the answer!

 

[Jacqui-S]

Hi there @Teresa1515 and Wilson!
Welcome from me and Lilly, my 12 year old girl. We live in Scotland near St Andrew's.

Sounds like Wilson has you "on cue"
He looks a lovely boy.

twice a day 500g each

This sounds a lot of food to me. What is it you feed?
I'm a kibble feeder myself (I use Fish4Dogs). And feed any where between 90 to 100g per meal, twice a day. Depends on Lilly's activity level and appearance.

 

[Jacqui-S]

This is a version of the chart @Selina27 means



We often refer to fat coverage being like a Blanket, not a sheet (too thin) or duvet (too fat). Also when your dog turns, you should be able to see the bottom rib but not all the ribs.

Personally I am more a 13tog duvet, but working on a 4.5tog

 

[M.F.]

Wilson is gorgeous!

When we went through a stage when Snowie was hungry all the time (unfortunately it had to do with meds he was on then), we tried feeding three meals. But this didn’t work because no meal actually made him feel full and he was more hungry. We went back to two meals, with dinner being the biggest to keep him sleeping through the night. We feed raw food (whole raw bones and chunks of meat). Breakfast is between 6.30 and 7.30am, depends on when we wake up. Dinner is between 5.30 and 6.30pm, depends on the activities in the day.

But… confession time… Snowie gets tidbits all day!! Training treats. Bits of our meals. Lunch 3x a week with our cleaning lady who likes to share her lunch with him. And on the days our cleaning lady doesn’t come, at 3pm he’s gotten into the habit of asking for a dried venison ear—he goes to the place they’re kept and stares in their general direction, and sometimes gives a bark. I like that he can communicate with us! And if I have a work meeting (online) late afternoon and he’s niggling for his walk, I give him something to lick (like peanut butter).

Snowie is 10 years old. Weighs 35kg. Our vet remarked on how good his weight is, so all the tidbits aren’t bad thankfully! Just irritating for us, can’t eat a meal without slobber on your leg!!

I guess Wilson has found a way to communicate with you, which I think is wonderful. Perhaps you can find a way to change his communication method (something other than barking), but still let him know you know what he wants. I guess, though, he also has to know what you want! And you might not want to be a constant feeder!! I’m sorry we’ve let Snowie believe he’s entitled to beg at the table, but we’re not motivated enough at this stage to put in the training to change it.

 

[Boogie]

Tatze used to start asking for her meal just after her walk so we gave her a filled Kong as soon as we got in.
That usually worked. We used distraction too and taught her ‘settle’ on her bed.
We started taking her a walk just before her evening meal and that works well as we walk in then feed her.

Wilson is lovely and welcome to our happy forum - mainly Labs with the occasional Doodle sneaking in!

I used to raise Guide Dog pups and Tatze, my black Lab, has been sister to eight. They are all very different and what works with one doesn’t always with others.

 

[Shaz82]

Welcome from me and Maisy, Wilson is a gorgeous boy says Maisy, I have to agree

Maisy gets breakfast at 9am ish, dinner at 5pm ish but has lunch and mid afternoon treats, she is pretty flexible but does occassionally bark to remind us she is hungry. We ignore her and I give her something to do (sit/lay down/stay) just so when she gets her dinner she doesn't think it is reward for her barking.

I always give her a bonio biscuit at bedtime/early evening so she is not sleeping on an empty stomach (morning bile which is another story), she knows exactly what time it is, even wakes up at the right time for her bedtime biscuit, I swear they have watches somewhere about their person.

 

[Teresa1515]

Thank you everyone . He is being fed Butternut box cooked meals 2 x 500g packs per day, his kibble for kongs, games etc is Wellness core puppy which he was on when he was younger.I just estimate a couple of handfuls. He seems a healthy weight 34kg now and on the chart which @Jacqui_S kindly sent, he looks normal.

I guess like you say Boogie, they are each to their own. Wilson activity time; he has one morning 1hr walk around woods and fields etc, at the moment there is livestock being moved around so this has caused a few detours which has been longer or shorter hahaha, and then 1 hr run around on the fields with ball, sit stay training, or if he is lucky and one of his friends may join us for a run around in the afternoon. I do mind training games throughout the day with kibble treats and other treats if he wakes up whilst I'm working. He does usually settle down after his first walk with a kong and then sleeps until his second walk.

He did bark today I ignored him completely until he stopped and then went to the kitchen, he never settled until after being fed. Now he is snoozing away!

What I was planning on doing is when he pauses barking, to praise and treat? I didn't do this before because I was worried about him being trained to bark. Hopefully I am not too late.

Thanks for the warm welcome to forum, Wilson is my first Labrador so I am looking forward to learning from you all.

 

[Beanwood]

Wilsons walks sound fairly arousing. Especially with ball play. Not a problem, but may be contributing to the overall context.

Is the barking for food usually after his lunchtime walk?

It does sound like he has associated "barking" with getting food, in addition, he has learnt that when he doesn't get his food straight away, he needs to bark for longer, then food happens. Eventually. We call this an "extinction burst" A bit like a toddler having a screaming fit in the supermarket, when the mum doesn't give in, the screaming simply gets worse.

This type of behaviour normally is taught by us.. as the dog owner. Initially puppy gives a cute bark combined with waggy bottom, and we go "ahhh!!! how sweet and plonk the food bowl down. So this is how the habit starts, and has been developing nicely for a quite a while now.

Ignoring until it stops is pretty tough on an adolescent labrador, when food is the centre of his universe, also, at that age, processing WHY the magic bowl hasn't arrived is also a bit of a tough cookie to swallow ( s'cuse the pun)

What would I do?

Change up the walks... maybe miss the lunch time walk, do something else instead. Give him a nice big lunch - or a kong and a chew - but NOT when he barks. He won't be expecting it, just pop his bowl down without a word.

Change a little bit about his day, each day, as long as he is OK with that, a bit of novelty at his age goes a long way in terms of resilience.

Give him breakfast, then a walk. In the evenings feed him a light tea, wait an hour, then take him for a calm sniffy walk ( no balls...) then give him a kong and a long lasting chew quickly as soon as you get in, with the aim of pre-empting barking.

 

[Teresa1515]

Thank you so much. In the past we did have to cave into barking a couple of times when my husband was on the phone working. I guess this kind of left, now we have the 2pm barking for food. I do like the idea of skipping the PM walk, it will work better for me too. I just thought it would prevent the barking? I will try as you suggest change his routine around a little and not the field run and see how we go. Thanks again much appreciate your time.