Puppy chewing issues

[Deleted]

My sister adopted a puppy a few months ago that is now 8 months old. She's a lab mix, a great dog that walks well on the leash and is friendly.  At first my sister crated her for the day while she was at work but last week put her in the bedroom for more freedom. The dog ended up chewing the baseboards and destroying her dog bed and a lamp.  My sister leaves her with a peanut butter Kong daily, and the dog gets lots of exercise (3 mile walks or off-leash dog park daily), but that is after she comes home from work and on weekends.  For now the dog will be back in the crate for her own safety, but my sister wants her to eventually earn her freedom.

Does anyone have suggestions for teaching the dog not to chew? She only chews things when she's alone. When my sister is home, she's content. Is this separation anxiety, boredom, normal lab puppy behavior? 

[pooh8402]

I call it normal puppy behavior. We had to crate our dogs until they grew out of the chewing stage (about 3 years old).

[nomad100]

We have a 3 yo Pit mix that is still crated and with his separation anxiety, will likely be crated forever. So prepare your sister that there isn't any guarantee that he will ever be able to roam freely in the house when she is at work.

We have tried periodically to leave him out when it is just him and Willow in the house alone together (the last time we were gone for less than 10 minutes and he emptied and chewed on the kitchen trash can and tore up a pillow) and it never goes well. So the crate it is.

[grover]

We tried leaving our lab out of the crate around 8 months when he figured out how to open the crate from the inside. It went fine the first day or two, but then we came home to a ripped couch, and a wooden chair with the chair rung chewed through. He went back to the crate, for both while we were at work and at night. (We tried to have him sleep in our bedroom but he's so used to his crate that he'll cuddle every night for 20-40 minutes then hop down and paw at the door/stairs.).

Just this past month or so (he's now 16 months), we've been leaving him out overnight. He's gated into the kitchen/living/dining rooms, and we walk him about an hour before we plan on going upstairs to bed. No issues since, so we've slowly started to leave him out while we run short errands on the weekends. But for now, we plan to continue crating him during the work week for his own safety.

As far as the Kong, as he got older he figured out how to devour it faster. We also started taking him to daycare once a week and that keeps him calmer most of the next day as well.

[Deleted]

Thanks for your replies. I told my sister to maybe try letting the dog be out of the crate for short periods while she isn't home, like half an hour at a time.

At night the puppy is not crated and isn't destructive at all, so it seems to be more of a separation issue.

[mmp]

Labs usually don't outgrow this stage until 2-3 years old. Then they are fine.

[Deleted]

My sister is thinking of rehoming the dog . She lives thousands of miles away but might be willing to drive the dog to me. Now I have to think about whether I'm up for a second dog.

[lexxasaurus]

Oct 3, 2014 18:21:29 GMT -5 @moonbeam said:

My sister is thinking of rehoming the dog . She lives thousands of miles away but might be willing to drive the dog to me. Now I have to think about whether I'm up for a second dog.

She's thinking of rehoming a dog for normal puppy behavior? Sounds like she shouldn't have a dog in the first place. Sad for him though, hopefully a good home can be found. Don't feel bad if you aren't willing or able to take on the dog, it isn't a responsibility you intended to have.

[Deleted]

Yeah, she shouldn't have gotten the dog in the first place because she likes her freedom and being spontaneous, and the dog is a bigger responsibility than she expected. I thought she committed to the dog, but whatever I guess .

If I don't take the dog, she will return her to the rescue, which will find a foster home for her. I do know the dog has some resource aggression and housebreaking issues. My H is firmly in the "no" camp, but I'm still thinking about it.  It would be ideal to be able to check how her dog gets along with my dog first, but since she lives far away, this isn't an option.  I have a 3-year-old German Shepherd who is pretty dominant but usually plays well with other dogs.  However, I have no idea how she would react to another dog in the house because I never had another dog in the house. 

[awick14]

Ugh, I'm sorry for the poor pup. Our pup chewed everything until about 2 years old. So he was crated until then. Puppy's require a lot of work! I hate how people get dogs without knowing the responsibility that it requires.

Our pup did have a couple desperate chewing incidents recently which earned him a couple times of being crated when we went out. He hasn't done it since.

[Deleted]

Well, I have an update. My sister returned her puppy to the rescue over the weekend. My H was staunchly against taking her dog, so we said no (and the soonest she could bring her to us is Thanksgiving). The dog is now in a foster home again and will hopefully be adopted very soon. It makes me sad, but it was too big of an undertaking for my sister to take on in the first place.