Puppy behaviour

Question
My husband and I have two puppies (5 and 6 months old). One is pit bull/German shepherd and the youngest is boxer/lab.  Because of our work schedules, they are alone in our apartment for about 4 hours/day, about 4 days a week.  We recently have stopped kenneling them for that time and have let them roam the linoleum areas of our apartment while we're gone (so they're not so couped up).  The first week worked out great, but the last couple days they have been destroying everything.  Our mail, our dirt devil...anything they can get their paws on.  Is there any way to get them to chew on the toys we leave them and have less destruction?  Or should we just go back to kenneling them again?  Thank you so much for your time in answering my question!

Answer
They are still too young to be leaving them uncrated during the day, Sharon. If you absolutely don't want to crate them, try blocking them in ONE small room (if you can), so that all they have to chew on is their toys. Personally, I don't even attempt to leave a dog uncrated until they are at *least* a year old, and even then, it's only for a little while at a time - never all day in the beginning. In fact, I start out by leaving them loose in my bedroom during the night. If they do okay at that for a couple of weeks, I'll start giving them some freedom, blocked off in the kitchen, when I go to the store, to visit a friend, to church, etc. If they do okay at that, after a few weeks, I'll leave them blocked in the kitchen during the day, and gradually give them more and more freedom to the rest of the house.