Chewing and eating things

Question
My Chocolate Lab is about 7 months old and at this point in time he will chew up anything. He will even go as far as getting things off of the end table or coffe table and totally destroys them. We crate him when we leave the house and at night and he does fine but even when we are at home and upstairs,( he does not have full run of the house) within ten minutes he can destroy a CD or destroy a magazine. Any suggestions?

Answer
I think there are some puppies you can't turn your back on.  And some require constant corrections when you are there.  Unlike some experts, I don't have an easy answer to this.  I sometimes wonder if those that do have ever encountered a difficult dog, because their vague recommendations sound just like what doesn't work for me.  There are no magic recommendations in the Puppy Raising Manual a large dog guide school supplied.  You would think a school that has supervised raising thousands of Labs and other puppies over the years would have all the answers.  So what does work?

A mousetrap is very effective in making a dog leave something alone.  Many
dogs will stay away from anywhere they were surprised by a snap.  The best
part is that it is not you that is correcting the dog.  It works whether you
are around or not.  The mousetrap is very patient and is always on task as
long as you reset it.  There is also Bitter Apple.  You can find it as a cream or spray.  Usually it works better on the table leg than the table top.  

Being top dog helps too.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/