Dukesdad can you help

Hi i was wondering if you can help me since you know alot about labradors.

I have a 9 month old labrador cross rottweiler and she is very destructive when i am not in or i am in bed, She chews her bedding, toys even the fence in the yard. She does not chew anything else nor does she do it when i am around.

When i am home she will lay next to me and sleeps if i move she is right there behind me.

She eats well and is all round a healthy normal dog apart from the chewing which at the moment is driving me up the wall.

I was wondering if there was any advice you could give me to stop her from doing this.

Also she has started becoming very nervous around people even my friends she has known since i got her she now tries to hide away from them, No one has ever raised there hands or anything else at her.

She is very obedient for my 5 year old brother she will do as he asks immediatly where if me or my partner ask her to do something it takes us to ask her over and over again.

She is never alone as she is always around my other dogs i have never had a destructive dog before this is even including pups from my litters only thing they ever chewed was there mothers.

Any help or advice would be great...

Mike

 

Mike,
I think Labs just explore the whole world with their mouths and, unfortunately eat most everything they find. The have soft mouths and iron stomachs. I am actually surprised they have survived as a breed. :lol:
A double unfortunate, puppyhood often last up to two years.
First, the safest thing is to physically keep her from things she can destroy by crating her when you cannot directly supervise her.
Second give her things she can chew and try to teach her the difference. Nylabones are great and hold up well. Stuffed toys are not great and will only last a few minutes as you have probably found out.
One training exercise we went through with our trainer and Duke is to place an assortment of things on the floor, some she can have, like Nylabones, and things she can't have like socks, shoes, TV's etc. Then with her on a leash let her explore the area. As soon as she reaches for an object she can't have give a sharp tug on the leash with a "Leave It" command. When she reaches the Nylabone tell her OK.
Kongs stuffed with treats will help her get used to a crate but the crate may be a problem if you have other dogs that are not crated.
Surviving a Lab puppy is painful but ultimately rewarding. Good news is that they WILL eventually outgrow chewing.
If you have the chewing ability of a Lab with the jaws of a Rottie then God help you. :lol: By the way, do you still have a sofa?
As a last resort , if you can't crate her, then a muzzle may help but I would check with a trainer first as I don't know if that would cause any psychological trauma. Maybe someone else here can help.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Thanks for your help Dukesdad, Yes we still have our furniture as she does not touch things like that but what ever she chews she seems to eat and it comes back out the other end.

There was a mat in the kitchen next to the back door i went out for 20minutes yesterday came back and she had ripped it to shreds my kitchen was a mess lol.

When around me she sleeps but when out for a walk she has so much energy its awful as she does not seem to slow down, I walked past the childrens park which has a little river next to it and she was off jumped in and was after the ducks.

But the chewing is the only problem i have i would love to allow her free run of the house when i am not home or in bed but i know i would get in or up and find she has destroyed something.
ALso even if i go up for a shower and no one is downstairs she chews up her toys....

Mike

 

It sounds partly like stress. There was an article in Whole Dog Journal at the end of last year talking about some new Kong dispenser thing. It makes a sound and then dispenses a Kong, I think it was 4 times per day at random intervals. Supposedly it stopped destruction almost immediately. But with multiple dogs, I'm not sure it's a good idea.

 

Sounds like some great advice Dukes Dad gave you.

I have never heard of the training technique mentioned but sounds like its worth a try. Interesting concept. Dukes dad how long did it take him to realize that shoes were on the Leave it side?

I would CRATE the dog at all times when you can not watch the dog.
I too own a lab / golden mix. I don't have nearly as much experience as Dukes Dad with the breed I have owned mine for almost 9 years now, but I can tell you that it took my guy about 3 years before his destructive stage ended. Then out of the blue this past summer, he decided it would be nice to eat our clothes from the dirty clothes pile?

Go figure? That lasted about 4 months LOL.
Darn dog! He is mellow now and enjoys lounging the best. He still loves to swim which leads me to my next question for Dukes Dad, Do you want to adopt me and my lab for the winter yet? LOL
Sue

 

Well my mum suggested allowing Ice to sleep in my room lastnight to see how she did knowing i was still there as Mitzy one of my other dogs has always slept upstairs, So anyway i took her upto bed with me put her bed down and she slept the whole night apart from when i got up to goto the bathroom when i got back into bed she thought would be fun to wait till i lay back down and she stuck her nose in my face and i nearly had a heart attack as i forgot she was there.

I am now starting to think that Jamiya is correct and it maybe some sort of seperation anxiety as she is perfectly fine when i am around its when i leave the house or goto bed that she becomes destructive.

I am going to try your training technique today Dukesdad to see how she gets on.

Thanks for the great advice....

Mike

 

Just an update, Ice had free run of the house when i went out this morning i was only out for 45minutes well my stepdaughters bedroom door was not closed properly and she has stuffed toys everywhere, Ice had been in the room and did not chew anything. She did go into the spare room and decided to poop which i was not happy about but i am just glad she didnt chew anything.

So i am wondering if she does not like the idea of being confined to 1 room.

I am going to start allowing her access to the whole house while i am out for short periods of time and see how she gets on, I am also going to start putting her bed in my room on a night and allow her to sleep upstairs and see how she gets on.

I refuse to give up on her no matter how long it takes to get her out of this habit.
She allowed the postman into the yard today but would not let him back out she refused to move from the gate and kept nudgeing him back luckily he knows none of my dogs are agressive towards people and they all know the postman and love him because he brings them a treat each when he comes with the mail i think with ice today is because he never brought them one and she wanted one before she would allow him out so i had to give him some just so he could give them one so ice would allow him out the yard heheheheheh.

I will keep you all updated of her progress.
Thanks for all the advice Ice is the first dog i have not been able to train straight away.

Dukesdad your the best and thank you so much.
Just to add Ice is more lab than rottweiler only thing she has of the rottie is some tan markings on the back of her legs.

I found out that the owner of her mother has bred her dog again with another labrador trying to breed out the rottweiler, I have reported her to the animal protection people as this is wrong what she is doing her female is not the best looked after dog either..

Again thanks for all the help.

Mike

 

Mike,
Glad you are seeing a bit of progress and I hope the training works out. Remember that is not a one time exercise but should be repeated once or twice a day for a couple of months.
From your last post I may see another possibility. She did not bother to chew up your stepdaughters stuffed toys, which should have been irresistible. Perhaps it is your scent on objects that makes her chew. That would confirm jamiya's idea about separation anxiety.

 

Usually a dog gets into trouble when they have too much territory to "protect" and then they freak out. I know someone else here had that problem and confining the dog to a smaller space helped a lot. Leave it to Ice to be contrary and need the opposite approach! :lol:

I have found that some dogs defy all "rules" and need to have a creative approach to solve their issues. And I know you're just the person, Mike, to keep brainstorming and trying things. You'll figure it out! And then she'll start doing something new...

I know Nala is sometimes appeased for a while by having a new freedom, but then she will get bored and find more interesting things to do, once the newness has worn off. Silly dog.

I know there are exercises you can do to help with separation anxiety that involve gradually leaving the dog for longer and longer intervals. Some people have also had success with hiding treats and toys around the room so the dog has something to do while you are gone.

With Nala, we didn't let her have access to things like shoes when she was a puppy and chewing everything. Without any further intervention, we can now leave shoes in the room with her and she leaves them alone. Socks, however, are another matter. So I think they outgrow some things on their own, and others are just too irresistible.

 

Well i had to go out again thius afternoon and Ice had free run of the house again and did not chew anything and i was gone a good 2hours the only thing she did do was someone how got into the cupbaord where we keep the dirty laundry basket and stole one of my partners sweaters and was asleep on it, Which is not like her as she used to steal washing off the line and run round the yard with it trying to shred it up.

You have all been great with your advice i will keep you all updated of her progress all i need to do now is get her spayed but my vet will not do it because she has not had her first cycle yet. I would goto another vet but she trusts her and so do i she is the only vet i have had that tells you how it is and wont beat around the bush on things.

Mike

 

"got into the cupbaord where we keep the dirty laundry basket and stole one of my partners sweaters and was asleep on it,"

ahhh its the smell of that sweater that makes her comfy

I have lab and luckily Jake wasnt real bad as a puppy when it came to destruction, excpet my husband would say, I would have gotten a puppy along time ago if I knew it wouldget you pick up your things, I learned after a few shoes and assorted clothign were destroyed. My trainer said that anything left on the floor was theirs, I think its interesting about what dukesdad said about training them to know whats theirs and not. He did have a big problem where i coulndt not leave him out alone, I had a dog door into the garage but that wanst good enough, he had to be in the house so I put a door into the house and that solved the problem.

Now Wylie was another story, I know she did out of boredom, it took her a few years to get over that


it does sound like she has SA you should go to the whole dog jounral and do a search on SA, they have some good back articles you can buy.
hang in there and take baby steps

and one of the things I recently read in the WDJ is think out of the box, that when a tried and true approach dosnt work dont persist in hammering that square peg into a round hole, try to adapt the approach to the situation.