Backups who can hold him and resist him
Start with two people who can physically manage an adult Labrador and who understand that his pleading expression is not a feeding instruction. List their phone numbers in call order, state who can get into your home, and name who may authorise transport and veterinary treatment if you cannot be contacted.
A good Lab backup has walked him, knows he can pull hard toward food, water, and other dogs, and knows which collar or harness he normally wears. Note where that equipment hangs, where a spare lead lives, and whether he loads happily into a vehicle or needs to be lifted and steadied.
Veterinary contacts and his current facts
Place the regular practice first and the after-hours emergency clinic second, with both phone numbers written in full. Add his microchip number, vaccination status, a recent photo, his current weight from his last vet visit, and the date that weight was recorded.
Summarise confirmed information from his own records: medicines exactly as labelled, recorded allergies or food intolerances his vet has noted, and ongoing matters already under veterinary review, such as ear trouble after swimming, skin irritation, a limp seen after exercise, or a weight-management plan. Keep the wording factual. A helper needs to hand over history, not offer an opinion about what a new symptom means.
The food-security section a Lab plan cannot skip
Write in plain language that all human food, bins, recycling, laundry, and cleaning products stay closed and out of reach. Name the specific items your own dog has gone after before, whether that is cooked bones from a counter, corn cobs, socks, children's toys, or a handbag containing sugar-free gum or medicine belonging to people.
Tell the backup exactly what to do if something is missing or chewed: note the time, keep the packaging, and phone the veterinary practice or emergency clinic for advice immediately rather than waiting for symptoms. Add his normal feeding amount and schedule, where his food is stored, and an instruction not to give extra meals or treats during a disrupted day unless his vet directs it, since an overfed Lab can look perfectly content while his care record becomes unreliable.
Behaviour, exercise, and home details
Describe how he greets people, whether he jumps, mouths hands in excitement, or rushes doors, and give the commands and settling routine he actually responds to. Note his usual walk route and length, his love of water if it applies, and the towel and lead routine for bringing a wet dog back through the house.
Include sleeping arrangements, toilet breaks, crate use if any, and what frightens him. Secure-access details for the house, such as the key holder and any gate that must be latched before he is let into the garden, belong on the copy given to the trusted person who would collect him, not on a version left in a vehicle.
Urgent thresholds printed in advance
Close the care section with a short act-now list for this dog: suspected poisoning or a swallowed object, repeated vomiting or retching without bringing anything up, breathing trouble, collapse, uncontrolled bleeding, a seizure, or sudden inability to bear weight. The listed action should be to phone the emergency clinic and travel there, not to search the house for advice.
Refresh the plan when his weight, food, medicines, vet, or backups change, and after any incident that reveals a new object he will try to eat. Keep one copy at home and one with your first backup, and hold the full Labrador contact and record set in KinsLe's Pet Passport so it can move with him to a vet visit, a boarding handover, or a trip away.