Attention Barking and Gas

Question
I actually have two questions (hopefully that is OK).  :-)

My dog (Moose) is a 5 month old male Chocolate Lab.  He has not been fixed yet, but will be as soon as the vet recommeds.

The first is how do I stop "attention barking"?  Moose barks when we sit down to watch TV and sometimes when we are eating dinner.  We always make sure he has been outside and has food/water/toys.  All of his "needs" have been met.  I want to correct this so he does not learn to bark for attention.

The second question is what dog food do you recommend?  Is there a particular brand that is better than another?  Currently Moose is on Purina One Large Breed Puppy.  He is going to be a very big dog.  At 5 months he weighs 60lbs, but is not overweight (he still has a waist and you can feel but not see his ribs).  Lately he has been a bit gassy and I thought trying another food would be a good idea.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer
Make sure it has a den to live in. If you are not using a crate, buy one. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.

Having a good pack structure reduces such problems. The dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ As top dog, you have the right to crate him. It is his place to wait quietly for your return. At his age, keep sessions short, a few minutes for several repetitions. Steal a few minutes several times a day, and in a month people will be marveling what a good little puppy.

The above are fundamental techniques I suggest for almost all behavior problems and should help with barking too. The truth is, Labs usually don't bark that much and I don't have methods of controlling barking that I have been successful using. It isn't even in the manual for them. The manual does have a suggested reading list. One I have read is The Other End of the Leash by Patrica McConnell.

She suggests the first step is not to yell at the dog. After all, usually if one dog starts to bark, any others around will to. So yell at your dog when it barks and it is happy to have you bark with it. Quietly tell it enough and walk over to it with a treat, doesn't need to be very big. Let him know you have it and use it to lure him away from what he is barking at if anything, and praise him as he shifts his attention to the treat and away from barking. Once away from where he was barking, give him the treat.

Unlike much of my other advice, this is not something I have tried and found works. It does come from a reliable source and I would trust it more than something I found on a website I know little about. I just hope he isn't smart enough to figure out if he barks, he gets a treat plus your attention.

As for the gas, start by having the vet check a stool sample.  If he has worms or other parasites, changing food won't help.  

I would change food now to an adult chow.  The Purina 1 is as good as anything, but some dogs have problems with some ingredients.  Some people go through a half dozen chows to find one right for their dog.  My Golden, Tux, is doing fine on the Purina 1 lamb and rice he was eating when I got him 3 weeks ago.  So read the label on the Purina 1, and then select something with different ingredients.  One thing is as likely as the next to work.  

Continue keeping him lean and change to the new chow over about a week, mixing in more and more of the new.  That will slow his growth and give him more time to develop sturdy joints before reaching his final size.  The bigger the dog, the more important that is.