My lab could be left with a plate of food on the floor in front of her for 5 minutes when I as out of the room without touching it. She might drool all over it, but wouldn’t take it until I gave her the command. That takes a lot of training however – another way to tire them out and means they chew less as well.
Not sure I agree about teaching them out of stealing food, mine will wait in a room alone for a really long time (30 mins +) with his food in a bowl if he’s told to leave it and won’t take it until I (and only I) says “go on”, and if I forget he will give up after tens of minutes and go back to his bed to wait. However leave him in a position where he can steal food and nobody is around and he grabs it.
Our last Lab cost us £1.2k over 11 years ago after being ran over, our current Border Terrier swallowed a bouncy ball and cost us best part of £800. We’ve had him 4 year so really would have worked out the same but we didn’t have the savings so hit us hard at the time.
Our second lab cost the best part of £2K, as she was starved and had a damaged tail, so we ended up having nearly weekly vet visits and a bit of pipe insulation taped to her tail.
Insurance is well worth it.
