Can anybody please help!
I really need some help with Rio.. I have posted on here about him before but I really need an asnwer to this one.. We have seemed to cure the humping and licking etc with him... but this now has got to the point where we are thinking of finding him a new home and at the moment it's breaking my heart as he is my baby and was brought for me when he was 13 weeks old... now 18 months old now! Whenever we leave him in the house he is constantly chewing things.... not just little things either :? The kickboards off thebottom of the cupboards, the doorframes, my table and chair legs in the dining room! We leave him and Duke in the kitchen when we go out and I am around everyday at the moment and when i do go out i am only gone for 2 hours at the most... he is walked twice a day and loves going out to the park etc.. the only problem being is that we rent our house and its getting very expensive now to keep replacing things that he has chewed... I am not sure if it is boredom or because i have left him! We have tried everything to stop him, leaving kong's filled with treats, balls, hiding toys around the kitchen for him to play with whilst i am away, also tried spraying the furniture with anti-chew spray but he seems to like it :o i don't know what else to do with him at the moment and it is causing a lot of tension in the house as i said he is my baby and i don't want to give up on him and find him a new home.... Sorry so long.. Any help would be much appreciated.. thanyou Tina... and Rio x

Re: Can anybody please help!
If it for short periods have you thought of a crate ? If you make it a place where he is happy to go into by putting his bed in it and leaving the door open so he gets used to going in on his own then crating hime for short periods will not harm him at all. It is not a solution if a dog is left for long periods though. Another suggestion is to give him a kong as that ofetn keeps thme occupied for a while :) Unfortunately it is trait with Labs for being destructive and have had our fair share of kitchen cupbaords walls shoes and sofa chewed ! :shock: :D

crates are brilliant with some dogs - and distressing for others. In addition to what's been suggested, I'd try getting him to really want to go in the crate by tying something lovely like a pig's ear to the inside at the back, so he has to go inside to eat it. You could start off by shutting the door when is isn't inside - so he can see the treat in there but can't get it - that will often make them desperate to be allowed in :D Once you've let him in to get it, leave the door open while he eats it - don't try shutting him until he is happily going in there and spending time in there. then start by shutting the door for very short periods while you are at home and he is occupied inside the crate. See how you get on. However, the crate will just be physically preventing him from chewing the house. It does not address the problem of WHY he is chewing. If it is because he is anxious, shutting him in a crate may possibly make him more anxious (you can reduce the risk of that by following the crate-training advice). but please bear in mind that in some cases, the confined dog can end up chewing its legs or paws for comfort, or can panic and hurt itself trying to get out. When you leave him things to do eg food in Kongs - does he touch them? If a dog refuses to eat really tasty food/treats when alone, this can be a sign of separation anxiety. Does he direct a lot of his chewing to doorframes of the doors you left via when you went out? How does he behave when he can see you are getting ready to go out? What does he do? How does he behave generally when you are at home? Is he a hyped-up dog who wants activity and attention? Does he follow you from room to room? Does he demand attention by pawing, nudging, barking etc? Does he have his own chew toys? eg a Nylabone, which is a safe, synthetic bone. Give him things to chew of his own and praise him when he uses them. Aonther important question is - how do you react when you get home and find the destruction? If you tell him off, he won't understand why he is being told off because his brain is not sophisticated enough to know he is in trouble for something he did even a few minutes earlier. If distressed or bored, he may have chewed for comfort - which to him is a natural, normal way of expressing himself. If you tell him off when you get home, he will only understand that sometimes when you come in the house you are scary and unpredictable - and that may make him feel stressed when you are out and he is waiting for you to come back. If worried...he's even more likely to comfort himself by chewing. :shock: One very effective way of finding out exactly what is happening is to set up a camcorder and film him while you are out. This often holds the key to the problem so you can work out how to solve it.

aww, I really feel for you. Our Bess ate our house up in her youth! Thankfully she grew out of it but was always a thief for foodie things, a typical lab trait unfortunately! Filming Rio when you leave is a great idea. We did this after we rehomed Willow to make sure her and Bessie were getting along ok when we left and to see how Willow reacted to being left. For us, it was a great reassurance to find she was perfectly ok. For you, it may just give you a clue if there is any trigger, or if the chewing is preceeding by whining for you or something else - this will give Elaine more ideas no doubt! Our Finn would chew things as well - he only ate the plug off our hoover the other day :roll: and we crate him when we are not in the house but as Elaine as said, there is a trick to training them to the crate in a gentle way. We are fortunate enough to have a big lounge and his crate is a large one with his little bowl attached to the sides. Finn was crate trained from a pup and he really sees the crate as his bed and most importantly, as his safe zone. He is a very nervy dog and will take himself off to his bed when he is feeling unsure. The door is only ever locked when it is bedtime. Whilst he may love his crate, I still give him masses of praise for getting in it at bedtime and he knows he's a good boy because he just goes all silly. :wink: My only tip if you do decide to try with a crate is to please never 'correct' a misendeavour Rio may have done. The crate should remain a positive and safe environment always - not a 'punishment' (don't like that word at all!) but I know you'll get what I mean! Good luck and don't despair.

Hi there... Thanks for the replies, really given me a bit of a boost! Well, I do have 1 bit of good news ... we went out today at 2pm and never got home till 5.30ish and Rio had not touched a thing... he was waiting at the the back door when we went in and was so pleased to see us that even hubby had a tear in his eye as he had not touched anything or chewed :D In answer to you Elaine... the toys and kong's etc that we leave for Rio when we go out are played with and he eats the treats that are inside which is a good thing as he does play with them.. His behaviour before we go out... he does watch us getting ready but we don't make a great fuss of him before going out as not to distress him, we just say be good boy etc and leave the house! As for the chewing of the doorframes.. it is usually the one that leads into the hallway from the kitchen and we always leave the house by the back door in the kitchen. His attention at home is the same really as Duke ( our older lab) and always pleased to see us when we come in and then after a fuss he goes and lays down or plays with his ball etc! I have noticed that when i am home alone with Rio he tends to follw me around the house when im doing housework and stuff and which ever room im in he always lays in there with me - basically so he can still see me! I think this has not helped the fact that he has really been with me since he was 13 weeks old and not sure if he sees me as his mummy! The video camera sounds like a good idea and maybe when we go out next we will set it up and have a look at how he behaves when we not around... After typing this last night and nearly making the decision that we may have done, i still can't believe that we came home today and he was such a good boy... what a lot of fuss he got from the whole family :D

Hi again Tina Of course, it's hard to say without seeing Rio, but your replies do suggest that this might be more of a boredom - possibly a frustration - issue than a separation anxiety one. I'd certainly try the filming, and maybe also the crate - I think some pet shops hire them out if you want to experiment with one. How much exercise is Rio getting? Can he go off-lead in the park? Moderate exercise, combined with mental stimulation eg non-manic games eg fetch, plus training, is usually the best combination and would hopefully tire him out so he sleeps when you are out. I would feed his meals in a Kong (if you use wet food) or a treat-dispensing ball, or just scatter kibble around the house or garden for him to sniff out, since this type of food foraging is great mental stimulation which tires out dogs. Try a frozen Kong (which takes ages to eat) - either with tinned dog food, or the following recipe: plug the tiny hole with cheese and then fill with chopped apple and carrot, maybe a few morsels of bread, the odd bit of cheese etc and then top up with a mix of plain yoghurt and water. leave something nice poking out eg a biscuit to get his attention initially, and freeze. If you usually need to leave him in the afternoon, it might help to get him into a routine whereby he has 'down time' then, whether you are home or not. I'd think about using a baby gate to stop him following you from room to room - give him stuff to do and/or practise leaving him for a few moments at a time when you are at home, then build on that, so he gets used to entertaining himself or just settling down. I wouldn't make a big fuss of him when you get home, because he won't understand why you are pleased with him. He will just get the message that your homecoming is a big thing - and that could make him more frustrated and longing for your return when you are out. I'd keep all comings and goings very matter of fact. Hope this gives you some more ideas :D

Hi again Elaine. The kong being placed with food then frozen does sound like a great idea especially as being a lab he will want to get the food out and keep him occupied for a while! May try that aswell.. The walks Rio gets are quite long and i always walk him in the morning and also late afternoon.. we usually go to the park and he has a run around that off lead with his ball then i walk him along the side of the river on his lead for a long walk- normally walk lasts about an hour and he is worn out by the end of it :D We have put a stairgate up across the kitchen now so he can't get into the dining room and chew table legs etc.... and i am going to enquire at the local pet shop about hiring a crate for him to see how he gets on- was going to buy one but a very large one for him is nearly £80 and if he doesn't get on with it then it's ok as only hiring! We also thought about getting him a large dog kennel for the garden and keeping him outside when we go out as out garden is totally fenced and very secure so he wouldn't be able to get out- also not sure if this is a good idea and would be good to hear if anybody else does this with their dogs? Will let you know how we get on with the camcorder when we leave him for a short while to see how he behaves and does! Thanks again for your help and advice. Tina and Rio

Sorry, me again! Have just had a look round ebay and brought a 48" metal dog crate and going on the sizes it says big enough to house a german shepherd or bull mastiff type breed so will be plenty of room for Rio in it :D and lots cheaper too than petsathome etc. Will be worth giving it a go when it comes and the fact i will be around when it does will give Rio lots of time to get used to it.

Good luck! hope it's successful :D