6 month old pup chewing everything

Otis Driftwood

Hi all.We a 6 month old labrador pup and she is chewing everything she can get her paws on.Since we have got her she has been through a digital camera,2 mobiles,3 or 4 shoes,my drivers licence,countless news papers,she has even managed to chew through,yes,through,the leg of one of the chairs this week.

I figured when she was younger she was teething or whatever but if anything she appears to have gotten worse.

We have another labrador dog and he was the same as a pup but it only lasted for about 2 months.

Is there any reason for this or is it something she will just have to grow out of?

We have bought her various toys and what not but she loses interest pretty soon.

Any advice appreciated!

shinikins

I had a dog that was a chewer, she ate through a wall(yes!!) chair legs,, tables, press doors, the bottom of the fridge(i'd forgotten about that until my brother reminded me the other day) rocks, muck in the garden...the list was endless. It wasn't for lack of company, she had my other dog there with her at all times. She was a very intelligent dog, and needed a lot of stimulation, and just leaving a few toys around wasn't enough for her.

In the end, we found a combination of extra walks for her, and playing games daily helped, especially those that forced her to think about what she was doing, like hiding some treat around the garden, allowing her to find one but calling her back before she went on to find the next one. That kept her attention but wore her out at the same time!

With your Lab, have you tried Nylabones? They're great brand of chew toys, can be found in most pet stores and many vets. They are extremely durable chew toys that come in differnt shapes and flavours. The beauty of them is you can "reactivate" the flavour when your dog gets bored by simmering the toy in chicken or beef stock. My dog was mad for them, and it was a great help in distracting her from the plasterboard and pipework!!

Hellrazer

Read back a few pages--I think theres a whole thread on this.

However what I did with mine that ate everything was bought a "keep away" spray in a good petshop.
Think it was called dog away or some stupid name like that.It smelt like really strong lemon and csot something like a tenner a can.

So Im wondering if its just the lemon smell thats keeping him away so I bought one of those jif lemon bottles-the pancake ones and used that.

Guess what??It did the same job.Kept him away from everything albeit a bit sticky next morning.Better than destroyed belongings.

Give it a shot at a euro a bottle its well worth it.

tk123

Sounds like she's either teething or bored. Puppy nylabones were our guys fav after a lot of trial and error - they have a bit of give in them for them to sink their teeth into. Other things to try would be kongs with a frozen filling, a wet cloth/sock tied in a knot and frozen etc If she's not bothered with kongs try getting the next size up to the one recommended - I only tried this recently and it's made a huge difference - i can give him a meal in a kong now and it'll last him about 45 mins. Also you could try teaching her leave it/take it so she learns what she can/can't have.

Wolfe Tone

Sounds like boredom to me.

pokertalk

ye its frustration get a couple of kongs and a tennis ball on a rope.the labs are insane till they are over two so plenty of walks and some off the lead running

Otis Driftwood

Just on the exercise thing,she gets butt loads of it.My parents have a farm so every single day she is off rambling around the fields with my Dad.Mum brings her for a walk every evening too.

I will try those Nylabones things too,cant hurt.

@ Hellrazer,we tried a couple of those spray things but the problem is we cant spray everything in the house.She climbed up onto the kitchen table and mauled my Mothers digital camera.

Thanks for the responses guys!

Wolfe Tone

Sounds like it needs mental stimulation too. Try hiding the dogs toys and getting it to sniff them out, my dog loves that.

mollymascara

Is the chewing happening when left alone? or is it an anytime occurrence in the house?

Could try a plug in called DAP, emits a pheromone that the mother would have, gives sense of safe and security, Ive ssen it work first hand an doggies with destructive behaviours. people use these around halloween, but also for the likes of separation anxiety, once had a case where a dog would wreck and chew everything in the house when the owners left and a couple of weeks after using this, the dog was very much "peace maan"

It may also be something as simple as a teething. She is around the right age to have this happen to her also???

Wolfe Tone

Snipped the animal cruelty stuuf since it was reported.

Bloody hell, just noticed this now. What I said and advised was in no way cruel.

BrokenArrows

our family dog as a pup did that. my father found it very successfully just to break up some wood into sticks and give them to the dog.

Dog loved tearing them up.
I think the problem with toys are that they are designed not to break apart and the dog is probably getting bored because he isnt getting anywhere when chewing on it.

eventually it stopped chewing on stuff.

cmbutterfly45

my lab is a year and a half now and she ate everything until she was about 10 months when she just stopped??
tried all toys includiny nylabones, what i did was just to tell her no if she tried chewing on something she shouldnt and when we were away i took all valuables out of the room and filled a kong with peanut butter! then the only things she could get were things that i forgot to put away:)
hope that helps in my experience its about waiting it out and its frustrating but gets better and is worth it

tk123

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Bloody hell, just noticed this now. What I said and advised was in no way cruel.

It's a 6 month old puppy who by the sounds of it (apologies if I'm wrong here) hasn't had any training and doesn't know right from wrong. Why hit the dog and risk it becoming agressive when really the OP is at fault for not training the pup?

OP you have 2 things working in your favor here for training the dog. You have a lab pup = clever and a greedy little sod lol :pac: so positive reinforcement is the way to go imo. Our guy (a retriever) was at his obidience class last week and honestly his tail was wagging for the hour we were there - he loves it!!! Also when he gets something right I feel a proud of him and a bit proud of myself lol! Training is a great way to bond with the dog, learn how to work with it and also use up their energy so it's all good. If classes don't suit you can learn how to do the commands on youtube etc

Anyhoos if you teach her the leave it command she'll learn to leave the camera/phone/counter/table alone because you have a lovely tasty treat and loads of praise waiting for her instead. You start with the treats in your hand and build it up from there - the amazement in our house lol when there was a line of treats along the counter and he didn't jump up and gobble them all up lol :pac:
I kind of under estimated "leave it/take it" when we learnt it at class but we use it all the time - at home, on walks etc. It also came in handy when he cut his paw - I told him to leave it a couple of times and that was it - he left his bandages alone. The same when he had his little bootie on :pac: when his pad was split a couple of weeks ago - he wasn't bothered with it to the amazement of some people in the vets waiting room who couldn't belive he wasn't trying to pull it off.
EG :
Guy - "He's very good - my fella would have that off in 2 seconds!!!"
Me - "Oh he's not bothered with it - I only had to tell him to leave it a couple of times and he hasn't touched it since"
Guy - "Tell him to what!?!"
Me - tells him all about our training

The Sweeper

If you don't want your dog to chew through everything, then keep everything out of her way.

Give her a mat in the house, and give her exciting chew toys on the mat. Kongs, yes, and nylabones, yes, also try, for supervised chewing, rawhide knot bones, everlasting treat balls with everlasting treat rusks, raw meaty bones (NOT marrow bones - they're too hard and she could crack, fracture and wear her teeth on them) and various other chewables.

My dog would eat EVERYTHING if he had the chance. As it stands, he's chewed a connector wire on a speaker - that's all he's wrecked indoors, because when he's inside with me he doesn't go anywhere without an allowable chew toy in his gob. Outdoors, he ate about 25 pot plants - loves to pull them out of the pot, shake them so all the dirt come off the roots, then chew the plant, chew the roots, and finally chew the pot. That's what happens with my guy when he's left anywhere unsupervised for 15 minutes.

As for boredom - you cannot entertain a dog 24 hours a day. It only took 15 minutes unattended for me to find my dog with detritus around him - which means it only took 5 minutes unattended for him to START chewing. I solved it by building him an outdoor run that he's in during the day when I'm out, or where I don't have the opportunity to be watching him, and that run is filled with things he is allowed to chew and tear apart.

When he's inside the house he is literally ALWAYS watched. He doesn't get to spend more than two minutes out of my sight - I can't allow him, because if I did I would be complaining of the same swathe of destruction the OP is complaining of.

He's six months old now - he's cut most of his adult teeth, but they're still coming through the gums so hence he still enjoys chewing so much. Pig's ears, raw meaty lamb bones, various hard-wearing solid rubber toys, everlasting ball, everlocking treats in the everlasting ball, kong toys, knotted rope toys - that's what it's cost me to spare my shoes, mobile phones, remote controls, furniture legs, keys, brushes, and anything else he can get his paws on.