Please can anyone tell me how to limit my 9 month old Labrador from chewing. I know this breed is very prone to chew, but it is getting too much now. We have just had a new hall carpet put on the stairs and he as chewed through the bottom stair and I was only upstairs for 20 mins.

Make sure that the dog has lots of bones to chew -- try a few out to see which he likes the best. Every time you see him chewing something he's not supposed to, say "NO!" really loudly, stick a bone in his mouth and say "You chew THIS." Praise him like crazy whenever he's chewing a bone. He should get the hint eventually. Our lab loves to chew, but we make sure that he always has a bone around, and we're very firm about him only chewing his bone. You can use Bitter Apple on furniture and other things -- it's an all-natural spray that they hate the taste of (but it won't harm them at all). The big thing is to really praise him (even treating occasionally) whenever you see him chewing a bone. Even if you see him sniffing a bone, praise him and say "Good boy, chew your bone."

I'd be conserned that by being confrontational (saying 'No' loundly can be perceived by the dog as confrontational)could either push the dog into chewing out of sight, or by feeling threatened and attacking.

I don't think that Teddy should really worry about being confrontational about scolding the dog for chewing. Labs are notorious chewers (and trouble-makers), and they need to corrected when they are doing something wrong. Obviously, the dog is already chewing out of sight (he chewed the stairs when no one was watching). Labs love to please, and if they are corrected when they are wrong and then redirected to what they SHOULD be doing, it usually works very well. I don't mean that he should scream wildly at the dog, but saying "No," loudly and firmly gives the dog the message that chewing anything other than bones is not acceptable. Besides, if you don't ever tell a lab not to do something, he thinks that it's perfectly fine for him to do. After all, no one ever said he couldn't!

That's fine - but we all remember Sonny....... Better safe than sorry.

Who's Sonny?

sammie
please could you tell me if u can buy bitter apple in the uk i am desperate:)
lorraine

Sorry, not sure. I'm from the US. But I have heard many other members writing about it, so I am sure that you can. You might to try posting it so people will notice.
Sorry I can't help more. :(

Hi Sammie,

Yes, you can buy it in the UK. I bought one called Bitter Bite (same thing) :)

Lorraine ...have a look here :

Bitter Bite

Melody :)

hi everyone
thanks for all your help, hopfully with this information my friends will keep their rotti .i have given them all your advice and they are very gratful, they can't leave him in the garden when they go out as he doesnt
jump the fences he goes through them, i have told them about the crates and they are looking into it
many thanks to you all:)
lorraine

Hi
I would invest in a crate.Put him in it when he is left alone for any length of time with something for him to chew on.He's probably teething and in some discomfort so rather than let him do something wrong and then you get upset and angry with him prevent the issue in the first place-after all a crate for £50(what I paid for mine) is a lot cheaper than a carpet and can be sold on afterwards.I found just for the peace of mind was worth the money.
Archer

Hi all breeds can chew take my word for it, i am on my second shead. and my table and chaires outside have seen better days.

for some unknown reason dogs like chewing wood. what you could try is putting him out in the garden or in a cage when you are not around that way it will save you a lot of money. hope you get this sorted as i know it is a pest to replace things.

debbie

I wish I could say I had a magic cure but I can't. I can only sympathise.

My now 6 year old Lab ate the hall carpet, so we put in a wood floor. He disconnected the telephone 3 times, the dishwasher 4 times, and ate numerous bits an pieces including part of the bannistairs (which are horrid anyway). BUT HE GREW OUT OF IT.

My puppy, now 9 months will eat anything (Flora including tub, butter, loo roll, meat, toys, Tupperware, Beechams cold remedy) left in range on a work surface or floor. Oh, and I now have to re-paper the bottom of the hall stairs and landing, and fix the coving on the pipes. I have also bought a new bed as he ripped the fabric off the divan part (which the cats find useful as they can get in and sleep in the drawers).

Shouting no is fine as long as you actually catch him in the act. Afterwards is too late, they just end up being scared when you come home. You could try putting Peri Peri sauce or chilli on anything that he has "thought about" - its kept our bottom stair intact.

In my case its not cause he's lonely (there are 3 others to play with), its just cause he's a Lab.

Yet Chester, the yellow in the middle never touched anything except used nappies!!

But he will grow out of it.

A long time ago (or so it seems) I began a thread on Idle Chat called something like So far my pup has eaten... As Hudson had been going through a stage of eating and chewing various things . Some of the replies the thread got were hilarious and/or dreadful depending on whether or not it was your dog ;)

I was amazed at what some dogs manage to eat ..one poster , I seem to remember , said that her dog had eaten his way through the orchard ;)

Melody :D

I must say over the years I have not had a lot of chewing damage, a few kids toys,books, and over the years the lino has shrunk, but that mainly due to being cracked, and helped along a bit, by the odd pup, but never much.

Great at scatering the contents of the litter bins everywhere, but not structural damage!

Have always put bitter spray on any exposed edges of units and walls, just in case, and any chir legs etc. Maybe this has detered them from even starting!?

Anit-nailbiting stuff works great too!! :D

Although it may be in haste that I say this.......!!! My lab puppy (4 1/2 months) seems to be chewing all the right things at the mo! Although I work from home so with him for most of the time, the times I have to leave him I do spray my cupboards back door etc and always leave him with a nice big cardboard box, and lots of toys ( a tip I got from a breeder who stated " always leave a cardboard box, minus any tape stickers etc and he will leave other things alone") Like I say maybe too early to say but it's working I come home to a load of chewed up cardboard but hey would much rather have that than chewed up cupboards, thinking of which, my rotti puppy some years ago at this age had chewed her way through most of the kitchen by now!
Good luck!

Hi, I must say i never thought of leaving a cardboard box, I must try that, Lady has so far bitten my bottom stair carpet, table,chairs ,stool , slippers etc. We are at the moment taking lady to puppy lessons which seem to be working, But the cardboard box is a good idea,I would rather come home to that than my furniture ruined. thanks for that.

My GSD has a toiletroll fetish :P (has to be a full one ofcourse)
Its a hell of a mess, but like you said: better than chewed carpets, or wires!!