our lab destroying everything when left alone

Question
wWe have a lab that is going to be 1 at the end of the summer. He has been trained not to chew anything thats not his toy since about December. And when he is left alone weather it be 15 minutes or several hours. He will destroy anything in sight. From outside the hose and wires off of the lawn mower. To inside the dishes in the dish drain, the floor is chewed apart, the magnets off the fridge. Anything in sight. We have no clue how to deal with this. We tried locking him up on a chain out side with plenty of food and water to emptying our kitchen. We also spray his mouth with apple bitter when we get home and show him what he did wrong.We don't have the patience for it. Now when I bring him out to go potty I have to stand out there and make sure he doesn't chew whats not his. I don't have time for that and all the hastle of making sure my things aren't destroyed. Please help us we are ready to get rid of him. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Joan,

I can completely relate to your problem.

Calm down. This is a repairable situation.

Some pointers:

- DO NOT CHAIN YOUR DOG. He'll not know what is wrong. It will agitate him.

- Some Labs are more adamant and dont train easily. You'll need to have patience if you want to live with him. It's like an ill tempered child

- Don't spray apple bitter in his mouth - it's very cruel. Make a paper roll and tap him on his nose and make a loud noise like a sharp pitched 'NO'. All the others in the family should ignore the dog for about 30 mins.

- What you need to do is make him 'realize' that chewing is bad. You'll need to have lots of patience. He'll learn - he's only 1 month old right now. give him time.

- Whenever you see him chewing at something in front of you, dont hit him. Make the same high pitched NO sound and distract him with his chew.

I've trained over 20 labs and i've got this chewing habit out from every single one of them ! I can proudly say that all the dogs i've trained have ruined absolutely NOTHING. Only thing they've ever chewed is their chews !

Stay calm - add me to GTALk - sam.lucifer@gmail.com if you want to chat.

Sam