Mark Vette’s Guide to Labradors

In general, labradors can be:

• People-oriented
• Friendly
• Sociable
• Loyal
• Intelligent
• Easy to train
• Playful (especially retrieve games like fetch!)
• Confident and outgoing
• Tolerant
• Highly food oriented (sometimes obsessed!)
• Strong and sturdy
• Exuberant and energetic
• Excellent swimmers

Along with their sociability, their confidence and ability to handle whatever life throws at them makes them very stable and easy family pets.

Potential challenges with Labradors

Like all dog breeds, there are breed dispositions that make Labradors more prone to certain behavioural challenges. Here are some to be aware of:

Over-exuberance

Because they are so social and lively, this can present as boisterous behaviours like pulling, jumping and being overexcited to greet others. Being big, heavy dogs, this can be challenging so if getting a Lab, invest plenty of time in training them to be calm! Always wait until they are sitting or at least have four feet on the ground before patting and giving your love and attention to prevent jumping up.

Mouthing 

Because they are bred to be retrievers, they love to use their mouths! The good news is that they’re typically gentle (soft-mouthed in order to protect the delicate birds they’re charged with collecting) and won’t typically bite or nip hard beyond early puppyhood, but they can be mouthy when meeting people, using their mouths to engage with peoples’ hands excessively.

You can use a “leave it” command or instead teach them a “touch” command as an alternative way to engage with people’s hands when meeting them. Or you can give them a toy to hold when greeting people - they love to have a toy to carry around in their mouth as they just naturally love to retrieve and carry things, and it can prevent inappropriate mouthing at times.

Hyperphagia (excessive hunger)

Labradors typically have an abnormally strong, incessant appetite and can put on excessive weight easily. This is linked to a gene mutation related to the POMC gene, which means they don’t seem to realise when they are full, so never feel satiated and will continue to look for food.

This can result in behaviours like stealing food, scavenging from rubbish bins, seeking out food in inappropriate places or eating dangerous items. This behaviour is particularly dangerous as Labs may steal dangerous human foods like chocolate or cooked chicken bones or they may consume inedible items like socks or packaging that food came in - both of which can result in serious outcomes or emergency surgery.

If you have a Labrador at home, it’s essential to keep any human foods and rubbish bins well out of reach, to teach a really effective “leave it” command and to do training that teaches your dog what they are and aren’t allowed to eat or chew.

You’ll also need to monitor their diet carefully to ensure they don’t put on excessive weight - they are very unlikely to self-regulate!

Exercise and trainability 

Labs are an active breed and need a moderate-high amount of exercise, around 1-2 hours per day. They are highly trainable and responsive to their owners, and their food drive certainly helps with this! They are generally easy enough to manage if they’re getting enough exercise and stimulation, and you invest some effort into early training.

Games

Give Labradors lots of toys to chew and opportunity for retrieve games! They love to fetch, and using tug toys is a great way to prevent mouthiness - especially if you understand it is mock prey. They are social creatures so provide plenty of opportunity for interactive play - both with family members and other dogs. They also typically love water, so include swims as part of their exercise and play routine, it’s very easy on the joints too! Paddling pools and sprinkler play are often also loved by Labs.

The final verdict

Labradors make an excellent all-around family pet, especially if you get them as a puppy and train them right!

I also like cross-breeds that include Labrador in the mix, to give that family-oriented nature and trainability (keeping in mind that of course, as with all dogs, it also comes down to their training and socialisation, doing the right thing at the right time when they are a puppy).

They’re big goofs and gluttons for food and love! They'll give as good as you give (plus 20%!). Their brains seem directly attached to their stomachs, so they’ll do anything for food (part of what makes them so trainable!). They love their family, but don’t tend to be overdependent and are typically resilient characters.

All in all, it’s a thumbs up from me.