Food First: A Week Measured Out, Plus a Spare Day
Start with the bowl. Labradors are famously food-driven, and a sitter faced with a hopeful Labrador face needs numbers, not judgement calls. Measure his usual food into daily portions, or leave the scoop he knows with the exact number of scoops per meal written on the tub, and pack for seven days plus one spare in case your return slips. Include the treats he normally has, with a daily maximum, and name the chews he can safely be given when supervised, because a kind sitter improvising rich extras can produce a Labrador with an upset stomach by day three.
Write down the foods that are banned outright in your house, where his food is stored, and how he is fed relative to exercise. If he eats from a slow feeder, puzzle bowl, or raised stand, pack it: familiar equipment keeps mealtimes calm and stops a fast-eating Labrador bolting food from a strange shallow dish.
Walking Kit That Survives a Strong, Cheerful Dog
Pack the collar he wears daily, with an ID tag carrying your number, plus his usual lead and harness, and then pack a spare lead. Labradors chew, roll, and plunge, and a lead chewed through on day two leaves a sitter improvising with something unsafe for a strong dog. Add a generous roll of poo bags, a towel reserved for him, and wet-weather sense: Labradors treat mud and water as features, not hazards, so the sitter needs the towel by the door, not in a cupboard hunt.
Pack a ball or retrieving toy he loves for garden games, grooming basics, meaning his brush and any coat or ear wipes he is used to after swimming, and a note of his usual walk routes and the places he pulls toward, such as a pond or ducks.
Comfort and Entertainment for Seven Evenings
Send his own bedding or blanket unwashed, so it smells of home, and one item of your worn clothing for the early nights. Add two or three durable toys he already knows, a lick mat or puzzle feeder if that is part of his routine, and the chew he settles with in the evening.
Write the Labrador-specific warnings into the routine sheet rather than the packing list margins: socks, stones, corn cobs, and children's toys are swallow risks for a dog who explores with his mouth, so the sitter should keep floors and laundry baskets managed as you do. Note where he sleeps, when the house goes quiet, and the calming routine you use after the last garden visit, because a Labrador who knows the shape of the evening usually sleeps through it.
Paperwork, Contacts, and the Health Envelope
Pack a single clear envelope or folder with his vaccination record, microchip number, vet name, address and phone number, insurance details if you hold them, your mobile number, and a local backup contact who can collect him in an emergency. If he takes any vet-directed product, it goes in its original labelled packaging with the written schedule exactly as your vet set it, and nothing extra added by you or the sitter. Note his normal appetite, stools, energy, and any lumps, ear habits, or exercise limits your vet has mentioned, so the sitter can judge a change against his baseline rather than guessing.
Finish with a quick joint check before you leave: food portions counted, spare lead in, envelope complete, bedding smelling reassuringly of home. A Labrador packed this thoroughly arrives at his sitter's as a guest with everything familiar around him. KinsLe's Care Pass ties the list to his written routine, giving the sitter temporary access to both instead of a bag of kit and a memory test.