Lab Puppy problems

Question
We have a 5 month male yellow lab puppy.  He seems to be very difficult to train.  I have raised German Shepherd puppies with no major problems.  Our major reason for getting a lab is as a family pet.  We have a three old daughter and never leave them alone together - there is always adult supervision.  Our puppy is named "Jake" and we intend to neuter him in a couple months.  His vaccinations and deworming is all up todate.  We have a crate inside for him and let him outdoors for periods of time during the daytime.  He gets lots of exercise and loads of puppy things to chew and play with. We try to give him lots of love and attention.  He has some behavioral problems - chewing everything in sight, jumping up on people, nipping people all the time, barking both inside and outside, digging in the ground,and now he is chasing cars too.  His major saving grace is that he is good with our daughter - she can do anything to him and he never blinks an eye.  Otherwise he is driving us crazy!  We are prepared to enroll him in puppy classes in a couple weeks for some obedience training.  We have been trying to train him all along- a rolled up newspaper has no effect on him whatsoever.  He is a beautiful looking dog and we can't even pat him without him grabbing us with his mouth - very annoying and discouraging.  Before Jake, I had a mixed dog named Bob who was half lab and GSH- he was so easy to train as a puppy - all I had to do was raise my voice a slight bit.  My husband thinks Jake is very head strong and sneaky.  Help, what have we been doing wrong and what do we need to do now?  We want to keep Jake and make him our family dog.  Thanks for any help.
Colleen

Answer
Some Labs are difficult.  After a string of easy puppies, we are struggling with our 5 month old female Lab, Xanthe.  Even the consistent use of better techniques takes a while to get through to them.  The neutering and classes will help.  

The only solution to the chewing is careful supervision and crating him when nobody can watch him.  Damaged possessions are the fault of whoever was watching the puppy. When you are watching it, immediately correct it as soon as it goes for anything except its own toys.  In a quiet, but firm voice ''Bad dog, its name drop!''.  Gently remove what ever and replace it with one of her toys, or if older, hold eye contact until the puppy drops it.  with a lab puppy and a 3 year old, you have your hands full.  My daughter had a baby in september.  They are putting off a new puppy for a while.  

Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems.  Quickly correcting him each and every time he jumps on somebody is very important.  He must never get the affection he wants.  A number of things have been used.  One of the most gentle is to grab his front paws and hold him up.  The traditional knee to the chest or step on his paws are fading from use.  As part of the the trend away from negative methods, just step backwards leaving his front feet to fall to the floor.  After a few tries, the dog may just stand there looking confused.   

Young Labs, which I know best, and other puppies tend to very bad about
biting.  You see a litter of them, and all the ones that are awake are biting
another one or themselves.  I am not even sure they realize that when they are
alone, if they quit biting, they would quit being bitten.  At 3 to 4 months
they are getting their adult teeth, and it seems they spend every waking
moment biting or chewing.  One thing you can do at that stage is to knot and wet a piece of cloth.  Then freeze it.  The cooling will soothe the gums.  Only let the puppy have it when you are there to watch it.  I maintain a Lab's favorite chew toy is another Lab.  Otherwise they settle for any person they can.  They keep hoping to find one that won't yelp,  jerk their hand away, and leave.