Hi everyone i have a 10month old Labrador x rottweiler. I have had her since she was 8 weeks old, Well my problems are, from the age of 6months old she has started chewing things, She chews up her toys, bedding, shoes, anything she can get her teeth into.
I know labs are known for chewing and having alot of energy but this is becoming a serious problem now.

She gets lots of excercise and attention, She has loads of toys but still she chews, Even when i am in the room if i turn my back for 5minutes she starts to chew. It is getting to the point now that i am thinking about either crating her or having her muzzled all the time.

Also for the past 2months she has started cowering away from people she is fine with me, my partner, my stepdaughter and little brother, If anyone else comes into the house she runs and tries to hide away from them if they walk towards her she will pee herself and shake, She has never been smacked of anyone, She has known all my family and friends since she was a baby but i have no idea what is going on with her.

vets cannot find a problem with her, bloods, urine everything has come back clear and normal..

I do not know what to do i do not want to have to rehome her but if this carries on i do not see the alternative. She is a very loving dog and loves to be with me, But even bed time when i leave the room to go brush my teeth i will go back in my room and she has shredded her bed all in 5minutes.

Whats going on do i have a metally deranged dog that just has a serious chewing problem..

She has not started her first heat cycle yet either and vet will not spay her until 12weeks after her first heat, I know all dogs are different but she just seems to be a very strange dog..

Any help would be really appreciated..
Thanks in advance

She chews up her toys, bedding, shoes, anything she can get her teeth into.

Quite normal behaviour for many pups that age. Does she chew anything in the house itself like skirting boards, wooden shelves, chairs, walls etc? I've had lots of dogs go through that phase and they DO grow out of it. You can use a crate in the meantime for when she's unsupervised, although personally I don't with large dogs. At this stage I just don't allow them in any room where a lot of damage could be done unless totally supervised. If you're lucky enough for it to ONLY be toys, bedding and shoes and similar loose items then the answer is very simple -just don't leave anything like that laying around. :) She won't necessarily know the difference between what is allowed and what isn't -is a shoe on the floor one of her toys or not, she won't know. Try black Kongs for chew toys, and large Nylabone type toys like the rings and similar, they usually last the most ardent chewer for a few months.(I've got one dog who has chewed up toys for 10 years now, but not even he can ruin those quickly.) I've had dogs for years that have chewed bedding so have not been able to use any, my big dogs just sleep directly on their plastic beds and it's no problem even if it isn't as nice as I'd like it to be.

As for cowering away, has anyone shouted at her for anything? That could be the reason.

She has chewed the legs of my dining table and chairs,I mean anything she can get her teeth into She has chewed the corner of my kitchen cupboard too. The amount of amount of toys she has destroyed is amazing. I forgot to mention if she is out in the yard and there is washing on the line she will pull it off and shred it.
She has dug up my plants, chewed the fence and gate, She just seems to be one very destructive dog...

I bought her these tope toys with a tennis ball in the middle aswell as this hard round disk type thing and she destroyed both within 1hour.

I have a german shepherd which i have had since she was 8 weeks old and she is 6now and has never chewed a thing. I have owned dogs all my life with no problems at all but she seems to be crazy hehehe..

I think it would have been easier to deal with if vet found something wrong that would explain this.
Well suppose will just have to wait and see if she grows out of it...

Thanks for your reply Greatly appreciated

Have you tried the deterrant sprays (bitter apple etc) on the legs of furniture etc to try to prevent her from chewing them? I believe some people have used tobasco sauce as well but as I am lucky to have dogs that are not destructive, I've never had to use them myself. I know it won't help to stop the beahviour but it might help to preserve your furniture until she (hopefully) grows out of it.

Remove or prevent her from chewingwhat you dont want chewed, using bitter spray.

AND provide her with a multitude of things seh CAN chew, things that are far far more rewarding than table legs, chair legs, cupboards etc.

Its no good JUST trying to stop her from chewing, she is a pup and she NEEDS to chew things.

Your dog is not at all mentally deranged, she is a perfectly normal dog who needs to chew things and has found a great number of things YOU find undesirable, HUGE fun.

Prevent the bad things, replace those behaviours with good things - quite simple to say and not so easy to do but if you can its so so effective.

What training do you do with her?? A dog with a mind kept active with short training sessions several times a day is a lot less likely to be a pain in the bottom. I have a 11 month old pup here, and my gooooooooooooooooooooooood the things he can do if he has not had his brain exercised. These things generally involve chewing bodyparts of the other animals (doesnt go down well with them and the cat positively hates him), stealing bizarre items and chewing and licking them, chewing the plaster work off teh walls..... i could go on, i wont, its quite depressing.

However if i take him out for two 10 minute training walks, concentrating at teh moment on heelwork and attention on me, NOT on the dog over the road type stuff, and i come home with a dog quite happy to veg out for the rest of the day, only stirring for meals and toilet breaks.

So thats only 20 minutes physical exercise - but the 20 minuets of BRAIN exercise knackers out a springer/collie x gsd pup quite nicely!

Em

My dog was never that bad but she did have a go at chewing my table and chairs took a chomp at the skirting boards and shredded anything she could get hold of, socks, shoes, toys, bedding, magazines, letters .  She thought it was one big game. She also used to drag washing off the line and drag it through the garden which I must admit made me freak one day, but her tail was wagging like mad as I chased after her trying to retrieve my washing.  She used to chew plastics pegs and flowerpots too.  She was crated and her bed consisted of some cheap fleeces (thanks QD :)) which she did have a go at but that's what she kept until she outgrew her behaviour which she has.

They do grow out of it as hard as it might be to believe now.  I did buy her nylon bones, Kong etc (found tuggy toys more successful though) and when I saw her about to do something I didn't like would give her one of her own things and then praise her when she took it.  She only chews her own things now and still destroys them but nothing else.

As for the garden, well I already knew that this was likely to be re-landscaped to resemble parts of the moon and resigned myself to that and only concentrate on the front garden for flowers.

Hiya,

Others have covered the chewing thing - it's no good just having the things around that she's allowed to chew, she needs to be shown whats she is allowed to chew and what she's not, if you see her chewing something inappropriate say, your chosen word, ie, ahh ahh, leave, no, whatever you choose and then give her something appropriate to chew and praise her, make it something interesting like someone suggested the black kong - maybe with something tasty stuffed inside it, not only will this encourage her to chew it but it will keep her occupied for a while as well.  She needs to chew but keeping her mentally occupied will stop her chewing out of boredom, stuffed kongs (frozen takes longer) raw marrow bones, treat balls, and short regular training sessions are all good ways of doing this.

With regards to her shying away from people she is unfamiliar with how much in the way of socialization has she had? have you been to training classes with her, have you had her to parks where she can meet and walk around lots of new people and other dogs on a daily basis,  if you go to parks and get chatting to people ask them to give her treats so she associates new people with good things.  Its so important to get pups out and into as many different situations as much and as early as possible, meeting men and women, children, people with beards, wearing hats with walking sticks any variation you can think of really, stuff that we wouldn't think about but to a young dog can seem very different and quite scary, it's a lot of work but well worth the trouble.

Karen

Both dogs are taken out 4 times per day for an hour, My pup likes to do down to the river and play in the water, I throw her frizbee and she will happily run off and retrieve it and fetch it back for me to throw again.

She is great out on walks will stay by my side until i say its ok for her to play, will return when called, will sit before crossing a road.

When in the house she has set playtimes and feeding times, She has more toys, chews and bones than most dogs i know so i know its not boredom.

As for her being socialised she meets alot of different people and dogs and used to get on great now its a case of something is wrong for her to start and cower away from people.

No-one has ever shouted or smacked her, Apart from me giving her a firm no when she has done something wrong but other than that no-one tells her off.
She has even started hiding away from my sister who is very animal friendly she is the kind of person if she saw a sick animal on the street regardless of who it belonged to she would take it home and nurse it back to health. She always gives the pup treats when she comes to my house but laterly the pup has tried to hide away.

I am going to call a behaviourist today and see what he suggests hopefully she will grow out of this soon.

Thanks everyone for you great replies it is greatly appreciated

Also like to state i have used chilli, bitter apple, lemon, nothing stops her she seems to like the taste of everything.

A behaviourist is a good idea make sure they are reputable.  With regards to having more toys etc than most dogs that really isn't the issue, and toys in themselves won't stop a young dog being bored, she needs to learn that theses are the things for her to chew on and that other things are not appropriate for chewing. You need to show her that by removing or distracting her form the inappropriate things, and showing her the appropriate things and then lavish praising, if you keep doing this and don't give her the chance to get hold of the things that she isn't allowed and praise her for the right things then it will work.

If you are doing enough socialisation with her then she could be going through a fear period, which means that you need to keep up with the socialisation and lots of praise and treats when she meets new people. 

Karen

I would suggest you crate her.  Buy the largest crate you can (the biggest is 48" I believe) and then make sure she has lots of toys in there which she is ALLOWED to chew - the black kongs are for keen chewers in particular. 

Let her out of the crate only when you can supervise her directly, or when you're going for a walk or for training.  The rest of the time she should be crated with lots to do.  Make sure she gets enough physical and mental exercise around crating sessions though.

You need to work on training a "Leave" command so that you can teach her what she's not allowed to touch.  Say "Leave", then put a tasty treat under her nose so she leaves what she's doing and moves to the treat.  Praise.  Do this repeatedly so she actually comes to you to get the treat and you don't need to put it right under her nose anymore.  When she has this 100% trained, then sometimes you can praise her a lot for Leaving, and sometimes treat - keep her gambling so she doesn't know if she'll get a treat or praise. 

If you want to read about how to introduce the crate correctly, see here: http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf

Would just like to make a correction i thought My pup was 10month old but she is not she will be 1yr old on the 7th april i just checked with the breeder when she was born again as i totally forgot.Also states in my diary that she was born then plus it was the 2nd of june 2005 when i got her..

Well we have been out since my last post and she was like something possesed, She ran around like a crazed dog jumped into the lake and swam after some ducks so glad they can fly. Anyway we come in she went to get a hug off my partner and then plonked her self down and has gone to sleep. Usually when i move she will get up and follow me and she just lifted her head looked and down it went again, So ithink i will keep taking her there to chase the ducks hehehe.

She did not even bother with her ball or frizbee while out the ducks seemed more appealing and fun.
She did go through a stage where she didnt chew anything lasted about 2 weeks. Does anyone think it could be her hormones?

I do not really want to crate her as i do not like animals in cages i find it cruel but thats my opinion anyway..

Thanks for everyones great advice,

Hi Charmedagain!
I agree with all the good advice and ideas you've been given in all the above posts.
Since your girl hasn't had her first season yet, and is one year old, I would wait until it has passed, before getting worried or doing anything more drastic.In my breed the young bitches can sometimes go through a phase that is not too unlike what you are describing. Especially the shying away-part is very common.
Good luck,
Karen

Hiya,

I can understand why if you only fleetingly consider crates and don't know much about them why they might seem cruel, but if you think about it logically it really isn't, dogs are naturally den animals, they seek out small spaces in a domestic environment to use as their den such as under tables or chairs, or behind sofas, it's a natural instinct to them it makes them feel safe and secure to be in fairly small enclosed spaces.  When they do become cruel is when people abuse them and use them for hours on end.  I actually had to wean my girl out of her crate over Christmas as she was so attatched to it - she had a few restless nights of wimpering because she didn't have her little den any more - she loved it.  It's less cruel to introduce her to a crate properly and just use it as a tool for when you are not able to supervise her than for her to be chewing and eating any number of things that could potentially do her harm.  Also better that, until you over come this problem - I'm sure it wouldn't be a long term thing, better to use a crate than the possibilty of you rehoming her which you mentioned in your original post.  However you can only do what you feel comfortable with.

Karen

if I understand you correctly, you say that both your dogs go out 4 times a day for an hour - so 4 hours exercise a day?

For a rotti x lab pup, even at a year old, this sounds like WAY too much to me - rotts and labs are both prone to joint problems, rotts in particular.  At her age I wouldn't be walking her for more than an hour, twice a day at the most - and I'd also avoid games like fetch that involve a lot of twisting of the joints.  Up the mental exercise, it's just as good as physical IME - I have an extremely energetic rott X GSD, so I know what you're goint through, she was (well, still is...) hell at a year old - our piano and armchairs are a testament to that!

Yep, if you mean four HOURS exercise a day, then thats about 4 x too much for a dog her age, and if she is still wrecking the house then clearly that much exercise is actually not solving the problem at all.

Endless piles of toys will not solve boredom unless they are all incredibly stimulating interactive toys such as kongs, buster cubes, icubes etc.

I think i missed what training you do? With my dogs they all get several 5 minute sessions a day, working on various tricks, obedience stuff etc (so with the pup we are workign on nice manners, fast sits downs adn stands etc, with the adult dogs we are doing daft tricks to keep brains working, things like 'tidy up toys' 'put rubbish int he bin' and 'shut the door').

You have a dog giong through her teenage phase and you need to put a LOT of effort on teh training front in now or she will do her own thing to keep herself amused.

Crates are not cruel unless they are abused, using a crate to PREVENT behaviour for the times you cannot be there to supervise is not at all cruel and is incredibly helpful when you are training.

Em

Just what I was thinking theemx - good advice seconded!  Four hours a day is a huge amount of exercise and too much for a young dog.  She would be better off having shorter amounts interspersed with training sessions.

Regarding the sudden fear of people, i would suggest that she may be coming up to her first season. My goldie was well socialised but a few days before she came into season she growled and barked at someone for the first time ever! After her season she was much better.  I would try not to make a big deal out of it, don't force her to meet people if she doesn't feel able to, but give her plenty of oportunities to see new people and have nice experiences.

Yep, if you mean four HOURS exercise a day, then thats about 4 x too much for a dog her age, and if she is still wrecking the house then clearly that much exercise is actually not solving the problem at all.

It can actually make her MORE hyper. :) I had a friend who did this with her GSD. The more energetic she was, the more exercise she got, and the worse she became. She would never settle in the house, I never saw that dog NOT moving. When my friend died and the dog had to be re-homed she settled down perfectly as she was given a good amount of exercise but not excessive.