I have a 5 1/2 month old Cocker, on the whole he is a very lively but very obedient little lad. He has his own 'room' at home, which is where my husband and i put him if we go out for a period of time, he normally just sleeps (we have left our viedo camera on him one day to see if he was coping!!), and we leave him a few toys, some of which are chewies and rotate these from often to stop any boredom. However yesterday i got in and discovered he had ripped up the kitchen floor and was fast aslepp under the lino! Very cute but not ideal, this morning was the same story, how can i stop him for doing this, any ideas why he is doing this?

We leave a stuffed 'kong' for our dog, it keeps him happy for hours!

Maybe he found a loose bit and just went daft - we had that and an excavation of the wall. Just once.Apparently dogs like the lime in the plaster. Tried a Kong or a ball thing that rolls out treats? I know someone who puts their CS in his puppy cage when they go out after he demolished the settee.

I've tried him with a kong, he did enjoy it, but then seemed to go off it a bit, maybe i should try and re-introduce it again? I always leave his treat ball for him as he loves that. I hope it was just a one off, i refuse to replace any flooring at present as his teething / adolescent stage is coming up, so i will have to ensure the floor is suitably stuck back!

With three spaniels myself, including a working cocker I totally understand your dillema. Kongs are great but don't forget to vary your stuffing so your dog does not get bored, your kong should be stuffed with the best stuff at the bottom so that the end is the reward. My spaniels all love bread so layering with bread makes the stuff wedge in for ages. Be creative and use whatever you have in the house, pate, cheese, tinned hotdog etc. Also take advanatge of the free toys in your house that allow your dog to have controlled destructive moment, these are egg boxes, cereal boxes etc. Discretely placed in the kitchen your dog will have great fun shredding the cardboard into little pieces therefore saving the lino, all three of my lot have relished the challenge of an egg box.
Good luck and have fun!!

I was suggested to put a huge cardboard box in the room with my boys and stuff it with paper balls and bits of susages and cheese, I also hid all his toys around the room and left Kongs around, this really helped him amuse himself when I left him alone,
Vikki

Update: i have taken a bit of everyones advise and when i left him this morning for a couple of hours i put a cardboard box filled with big paper balls and hid some toys in there and then i stuffed his kong with cheese squidged in bread and also given an extra chewie nylabone, when i got back he was happily in the box with paper balls all over the place and was still going for it with his kong! He didn't even rush over like he normally does to give me a kiss, must have worked, and best of all Kitchen floor still on kitchen floor! hope this lasts! Thanx.