A Labrador has found a hilarious way to remind her owner that it's nearly lunchtime.
Lola the black lab has always had impeccable timing. Her owner Vicky had grown up on the Channel Islands, just off the coast of the U.K., with a dog who sadly passed away in 2018.
By 2022 though, she was more than ready to bring another canine companion into her life and even knew exactly what kind of dog she wanted. "For about a year, I had been asking my dad if I could get my own Black Labrador called Lola, but it was always a no," she told Newsweek.
Then, one day in November 2022, just a couple of days short of her birthday, her mom showed her an advert in a local newspaper that simply read: "Labrador for Sale."
"Jokingly, I said to my dad that I had messaged the lady. To my surprise, he was really relaxed, so I went straight away with my brother," she said. That dog ended up being the perfect match for the one Vicky had always wanted. "I fell in love with her instantly, and I brought her home the next day," she said.
Lola has been having the time of her life ever since. "I'm lucky enough to live really close to the seaside, so Lola loves going to the beach and swimming," Vicky said. "She loves being outside in general and is so happy on walks. Lola has a fantastic temperament, she is good as gold and is never destructive, apart from when I give her a bottle to chew on!"
Lola is something of a stickler when it comes to timekeeping though—or rather when it comes to lunchtime. At 12:55 p.m. every day, Lola will approach Vicky or another member of the family and begin to moan. Footage of her daily ritual was posted to TikTok by Vicky under the handle lolathelittlelab. The video has already been watched 1.6 million times. "She gets louder and louder," Vicky writes alongside the clip. "Such a funny girl."
Scientists have long debated whether dogs are capable of perceiving the passing of time. In 2011, a study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science saw 12 dogs with no history of separation anxiety left alone in a room by their owners on three separate occasions. In the first instance, their humans returned after 30 minutes; in the second, they came back after two hours; and, in the third, they returned after four.
Researchers found the dogs greeted their owners with more intensity after two hours than they did after 30 minutes, leading them to conclude that the canines understood a more significant amount of time had passed.
Lola certainly appears to know it's lunchtime soon and is only too happy to let Vicky know about it. According to Vicky, Lola's habit of whining is one she's had for most of her life. "When she was a puppy, if she needed the toilet in the middle of the night she would whine and I would praise her for waking me up so there weren't any accidents," she said.
"My brother also has a black Labrador who whines and they've spent a lot of time together and she has gradually been whining more. If she whines now, it's either because she wants food, attention or to go to the toilet. I think dogs pick up on what you respond to and it probably encourages them to do it more, so she knows now if she whines she will get attention so plays on it."
Vicky isn't necessarily surprised that Lola is keen to dig into her lunch."Labradors are known for their love of food so she never seems full, whenever I'm eating she will always whine in the hopes of getting some! I guess she thinks: 'If you don't try you will never know.'"
While the clip may touch on Lola's two favorite things—food and attention—Vicky is more than happy to take the time out to give her both and it's clear she wouldn't change a thing about her occasionally moany four-legged friend.
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