Pet Information > ASK Experts > Dogs > Dog Breeds > Labrador Retrievers > Lab puppy eating everything

Lab puppy eating everything

20 9:33:33

Question
QUESTION: We have a chocolate female lab puppy she is getting close to one year old and she is almost as bad as my two year old. She is an inside/outside dog, housebroke, got two other dogs she plays with, has plenty of food and water, toys, treats. But whenever you take your eyes off of her in the house or let her outside to go do her business and enjoy the sunshine. She is caught eating grass, dirt, sticks, shoes, leaves, plastic, trash, and today i caught her with a rose bush that we was going to  plant when it quit raining and she literally ate all of it all i got left is a little bit of root. In the house she gets into the trash, she grabs food out of peoples hands, chews on wires etc. I am at wits end, I don't know what to do anymore. We tried every trick in the book. If we cant correct the problem we are going to have to give her up..

ANSWER: Have you enrolled her on obedience training ever?  

What kind of exercise program do you have for her?  Labs need ALOT of exercise and mental stimulation.  They prefer to be on a schedule too.  

Unfortunately, tricks don't work.  Labs need alot of attention and work to get to the point where they are decent house dogs.  

I would recommend doing a training program out of the house, and then plan on doing at least 2 exercise sessions a day.  Plan for a 30 minute walk (DAILY) and a 20 minute retrieving session if she likes doing that.  Once she gets that daily and learns that's what happens, she should fall into place and calm down.  But also, labs don't typically mellow until 2 or 3.  

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We cant afford obedience training classes and she has 50+ acres that runs on so she gets lots of exercise. She is a smart dog and all and shes not a complete house dog she only stays in when the weather is bad or no one is home. And she gets lots of attention and everyone has been working with her. Also she hates water. I'm just worried she is going to eat something that is going to cause permeant damage to her or death or she is going to destroy something of someone elses and they take affirmative action.....

Answer
Unfortunately, just because she has 50 acres to run on doesn't mean that she is getting the exercise she needs.  Labs are smart dogs and need mental stimulation.  If you can't afford to go to a obedience class, buy a book, and train her commands yourself.  The idea is STRUCTURE.  Build a jump and teach her to jump over.  SOMETHING where you are interacting with her and making her thing and use her brain.  What do you mean by people give her alot of attention.  We have family that lives with us and they give our dogs ALOT of attention, but it's not structure or discipline.  

When the dog is outside, is it free to roam or is it in a kennel run?  Lab puppies need supervision and when they are older and have learned how to behave in the home and in the yard (not chewing, digging etc.) then some unsupervised time is OK.  But labs will get bored very easy, and that will involve them chewing and getting into mischief.  So unless she is trained and supervised or crated/kenneled, you will not be able to ensure that she is not going to get into trouble.