Chewing everything all of a sudden

Question

I have a lab/beagle mix who is 1 year old. He definitely had his puppy chewing and destroyed many things, but over the last few months (and the use of a crate) he stopped chewing things he wasn't suppose to.

We could leave anything out and he wouldn't touch it. Now, all of a sudden, he is chewing anything he can drag outside.

He has chewed up shoes, remotes, and shirts. He gets a walk daily or a trip to the dog park.

He plays outside in the yard mostly the rest of the day (except when we are at work, he is crated-but is let out around noon for 20-60 minutes each day.)

I don't understand the change of behavior.

Any suggestions why?

Answer

This is natural for labs, they are hunting dogs and love the whole retrieving game.

There are a number of ways we stopped the chewing everything in sight for our lab. But it did take time and a lot of consistency and patience :)

Have a lot of toys which are ok for your lab to chew. The key thing here is not to leave them lying about the house if not he might associate everything that is lying about i.e. shoes etc as an acceptable chewing things.

If he starts chewing something he is not supposed to, never start shouting 'no, no' or anything similar as he might read you as being excited at the play and he will carry on.

Also if you start trying to pull something from his mouth he might read this as being a game also. A kind of tug-of-war.

Always keep calm and use a stern voice telling him 'No' and 'drop it'.

Your body language is very important.

He needs to know that these things are not his toys and he is not allowed to play with them.

You must give him the allowed toys.

It is a very good idea to play some games with him, like to retrieve and drop. He will greatly enjoy this game. At first you might have to make use of treats until he gets used to the drop command. But if you keep at it he will eventually do it without a treat.

Remember patience and training is what will help. The good thing is that labs are very intelligent dogs and with consistency they will learn.

I hope this helps! Best of luck.