I used to know people who had Golden Retrievers - like Labradors and
they all had problems with being greedy for food.
They all needed a careful diet to stop obesity and
you couldn't leave food out anywhere or they would eat it -
even fruit on the table, plums or pears etc.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/03/labradors-could-be-genetically-h...Labradors may be genetically 'hard-wired' for greed
A study of labrador DNA revealed more than a fifth of the dogs carry a genetic variation
which could predispose them to food-seeking and weight gain.
Labrador dogs are well known for being fond of their food, but new research suggests their greedy nature could be down to genetic mutation.
Labrador retrievers are top dog in the UK, with 32,507 animals newly registered with the Kennel Club in 2015 alone. But the breed is well known for its tendency to develop a portly form, a concern given the variety of health problems - from diabetes to heart disease - linked to obesity.
An overweight dog
Owners must take the lead on canine obesity
To find out why the dogs are so food-focused, a team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Cambridge delved into the the dogs’ genetic make up. Their results revealed that more than a fifth of labradors carry a variation in their DNA that could predispose them to weight gain.
“There is some hard-wired biology behind that persistent food-seeking behaviour,” said Eleanor Raffan, a co-author of the research from the University of Cambridge.
For the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, Raffan, together with other scientists the UK, Sweden and the US, began by looking at differences in the DNA of 18 lean labradors and 15 obese dogs of the same breed. The team focused on examining the DNA sequences of three genes that had previously been linked to obesity in mice. Two of the genes are also linked to obesity in humans.
A single variation within one of the three genes was found to be more common in obese labradors than lean ones: the absence of a short stretch of DNA in a gene known as POMC. This mutation, the authors add, disrupts the formation of two chemicals: β-MSH, which is linked to the ability of an animal to sense the amount of fat it has stored, and β-endorphin, which is thought to be involved in the brain’s reward pathways.
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