I have 3 dogs, a 6 year old retriever, 4 year old cockapoo and Susie a 9 month retriever. She is by far the most destructive retriever I have had in 40 years of retriever ownership. She is worse when I am out of the house, 3 weeks ago destroying 3 treads of the stair carpet and having the architrave for desert, so I now crate her when I go out. The problem is if I go to answer the front door and close the door between the inner and outer halls, when i have finished at the door, I find she has tried to destroy anything she can find. 2 days ago it was my prescription pills still in the bag from the chemist and yesterday she tried to destroy a new pair of boots in a carrier bag on the settee. Her general chewing has improved in that she will still pinch a biro from the coffee table but just move it somewhere else not chew it up. I feel that there must be some reason why she does this and it seems to point to her not liking me to be away from her. If she goes into the garden with or without the other dogs, she will dig big holes in the lawn or pull plants up. Never having had this with previous retrievers, I am not sure how to deal with it or if there is something she needs which I am not giving her. The dogs get a long walk every morning and I am careful to give them all the same amount of attention. The rest of her behaviour is very good particularly her recall, leave and wait. I am hoping someone can give me some insight into her behaviour.

I think you have a very naughty retriever who is now an adolescent, and that you have been very lucky with your previous dogs. My current Flat Coat at 9 months + pretty much obliterated anything she could find in the house or on a walk to the point I thought I would need to muzzle her for her own safety. Anything and everything was fair game. I made the mistake of leaving a biro on the coffee table only to come back seconds later to it being chewed to utter destruction, manic minutes followed to make sure she hadn't swallowed any of it. My husband then left his glasses on the coffee table which came to the same fate. She is now 9 but the coffee table is now an obsolete piece of furniture in our sitting room, just takes up space, as you cannot place anything on it, least of all a cup of coffee or a vase of flowers as it is at tail swishing height. This adolescent phase will pass but please don't crate her as a punishment, but place anything you don't want her to chew out of her reach especially medicines, retrievers are notorious thieves. As said she is probably just being a naughty teenage retriever, enjoying the attention she gets from you when being naughty, so I would ignore the bad behaviour, and reward the good behaviour. If she does anything you don't like just walk away, puppy's hate to be ignored. Retrievers are also very clever and she will be learning just how to push your buttons!

I wondered about teeth and whether they are hurting at the moment, I believe they can still hurt even after the adult teeth have erupted. Has she got lots of things she can legitimately chew? My youngest did a marvellous job on skirting board corners and wallpaper stripping but she wouldn’t dream of it now!

Edited to add: whilst you are there she has comfort and distraction, but on her own they may be giving her some ‘jip’. Perhaps a stuffed frozen kong might help?

I rehomed a Beardie at 6 months and he was the worst chewer I ever had! He carried on until he was 3 years old so was crated when I went out and at night. Never as a punishment but just as part of his routine. I was a full time carer for my mother so was at home a lot of the time.

He did gradually improve he seemed to have a need to chew so always had plenty of things he was allowed to chew including raw meaty bones and was raw fed so had wings too.

It certainly taught me to be tidy!

I needed to give my golden lots of long lasting chews when she was younger. She’s not been one to steal stuff and chew it, she just relocates things. Can be fun finding the remote control sometimes. She really needed to chew when she was younger and keeping her well supplied with something that tasted better then a chair leg seemed to work. Zooplus have various dried meaty chews that are long lasting.
I always practiced putting stuff away with my goldens when they were young, taught the children to do it or risk their toys being chewed. Once they are past this stage it’s usually not a problem. I keep an eye on young dogs and became adept at guilt tripping them into stopping stealing just with ‘the look’ which has taken years to perfect.

I think I was too complacent with Susie given that my older retriever Mollie was an exceptionally good puppy and think that I have two retrievers at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to chewing. Both have working retriever dads and share many of the same bloodlines which I actively looked for and I feel that once she matures, she will be a lovely dog.
As a young pup she slept in a crate in my bedroom and was happy with that but now she sleeps in a dog bed in my room and never chews anything over night. I only put her in a crate if I am going to be out for less than 2 hours with a Kong and various safe chewing toys, never as a punishment. The last time she voluntarily went into the crate. If I am going to be longer I take her to a friend who owns Susie's favourite dog, other than my other two. With Susie I could clear the lounge of everything bar the furniture and she would still find something to chew that she shouldn't. The other day I dozed off and woke to find she had chewed the settee although she had at least nosed under the loose covers to get at the structure of the settee and didn't chew the velvet covers! I have now put a throw over it and tucked it under the feet so that has stopped the settee chewing.  I will also take her with me when I answer the door and hope that breaks the habit. She has lots of toys and things to safely chew but soft toys stand no chance. If I catch her chewing something she shouldn't or has something in her mouth and I say 'leave' she does so immediately.
My concern was that her destructive chewing was due to something she needed that I was not giving her but maybe I just have a naughty adolescent puppy. She is also very intelligent and learned to obey commands very quickly and, as with all 3 of my dogs, will join me when working in the front garden without being tethered or making any attempt to run off (I have no fence). She is also vying with Mollie for top dog position at the moment. I am not sure how that will work out as Mollie is so laid back and tolerant that it takes a lot to get any kind of reaction from her. I used to put Susie's food down first otherwise she would just push the others away from their bowls and then got her a slow feeder bowl so they have finished their food before she has. Also she now gets her food last which she waits for rather than trying to eat the others'.
I now feel. thanks to all replies, that I have a normal attention seeking adolescent puppy and that I am not missing something. Many thanks.

Have you tried filling a kong  with meat paste or peanut butter and freezing them. The coldness soothes sore gums.

I assume she's not been spayed because she's just a pup still? I find that my girls often get very naughty again when they're building up to their season, especially the first one.

Also I think it would be sensible to concentrate on her behaviour for a while; take her out for walks on her own so that she gets some one-to-one attention as you can concentrate solely on her for a while. She can still go on the long walk with the 'gang' but then take her out on her own for a training walk later.

No she hasn't been spayed yet but came into season a few days ago.. I think that you may be right and that she needs a bit of individual attention from me and also possibly she is trying to ascertain her position in the pack. This is the first time I have had more than one dog and my previous retrievers were angels compared to Susie so her behaviour was something I hadn't experienced before. She is also a lot more feisty than Mollie and my other retrievers but also a lot quicker to learn and is very obedient to commands. As soon as her season is over I will take her for some individual walks and hope that, together with getting her first season over, she calms down a bit. Thanks for your advice.

I have noticed silly behaviour on run up to first season especially.

Good old Puberty in any species

What mental stimulation does she get each day?  Long walks are fine but if she's got working blood in her, she may need more than she's getting (season aside).  Some dogs need more than others.