Nearly 2 year old dog still chews and chews

[Anonymous]

We have so many different toys, chews, Kongs, bones, rope ties etc for this dog. But invariably she finds something of ours to chew. Shoes, more shoes, hats, scarves, mittens, our TV remote, furniture corners, etc. She has ruined so many things. And yes, we try to pick up and not leave anything out, etc. She gets 4-5 walks a day and two of them are always long with lots of exercise and social interaction.

Any ideas? Will this ever end? Is it anxiety? Boredom?

[Anonymous]

Idk but you need to crate or otherwise contain her.

[Anonymous]

That sucks. I would agree that she just can't have full freedom in the house. We kept our puppy primarily in the kitchen/family room using baby gates until she was about 18 months for this reason. She is still not allowed upstairs unless she is with one of us.

What kind of dog is she?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk but you need to crate or otherwise contain her.

This. Dogs chew. Many breeds are still in puppy mode until they're 3 (especially labs), so leaving them unattended around chewables is an owner error.

[Anonymous]

It's hard to correct a behavior you don't see happening or catch in the act, which is why crating your dog is essential. If you're not supervising, they should be crated or otherwise secured in a puppyproof location. Every time your dog "sneaks" an off-limits chewable, you increase the amount of training required to keep them from chewing your things. If all they ever have unsupervised access to are appropriate chewing materials, you prevent this problem.

They do, eventually, outgrow the urge to chew, provided they're given proper stimulation and safe materials that are acceptable chewing targets. It usually happens around 3, not 2, and some dogs are just chewers. The more you can contain your pup to chewable items and keep them away from your shoes etc. when they're not supervised, the sooner they'll catch on to the difference. And when you catch the dog in the act, quick discipline and redirect to a safe chewable, which should always be near the dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That sucks. I would agree that she just can't have full freedom in the house. We kept our puppy primarily in the kitchen/family room using baby gates until she was about 18 months for this reason. She is still not allowed upstairs unless she is with one of us.

What kind of dog is she?

A retriever. She’s the best, but the chewing!

[Anonymous]

We had to be absolutely vigilant that there were no rogue socks / hats etc within reach of the dog for the first 3 yrs. He actually stopped around that time and only chewed sticks / his toys.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t want to crate either OP. I currently have a 5yo lab and an approx 3mo lab I just rescued.
Are any of the walks off leash? Dogs need to run, if you have a fenced yard throw a ball for 15 mins, will be more beneficial than a 60 min walk for the dog.
My 5yo lab gets an hour off leash walk in the woods 4x per week plus dog park time about twice a week. Both wear him out more than an hour leashed walk.

[Anonymous]

We try not to leave anything within reach. Got better around age 3 but still happens.

[Anonymous]

You should be crating a retriever. Ours is always crated when we can't supervise her even now that she's 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sucks. I would agree that she just can't have full freedom in the house. We kept our puppy primarily in the kitchen/family room using baby gates until she was about 18 months for this reason. She is still not allowed upstairs unless she is with one of us.

What kind of dog is she?

A retriever. She’s the best, but the chewing!

Ours still chews at 4.5 but it’s gotten less over the past few months. This is pretty typical as compared to our experience with our older one and our previous two. You just have to learn to avoid it. Crating and cleaning up. Our current method is gating off rooms where we’re not good about not leaving stuff laying around.

[Anonymous]

Feel you. Our dear mutt went through that phase where just such random things were mauled - she went through about 5 of my kids retainers that my kids left sitting around as well multiple pairs of eyeglasses that were left on nightstands - not the kids here, but mom and dad.

She's also good at quickly counter surfing pizza, sticks of butter, meatballs, etc, etc.

Knock on wood, but nothing seriously expensive in quite some time - the meatballs were just the other night. I'm sure she enjoyed them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should be crating a retriever. Ours is always crated when we can't supervise her even now that she's 3.

OP
We don't crate except when we are going out and we are leaving her home, which is not all that often. She's fine with crating, and very chill in the car, thankfully. I guess we could crate her more often when we are home but not engaged fully with her, but that feels sad...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sucks. I would agree that she just can't have full freedom in the house. We kept our puppy primarily in the kitchen/family room using baby gates until she was about 18 months for this reason. She is still not allowed upstairs unless she is with one of us.

What kind of dog is she?

A retriever. She’s the best, but the chewing!

Ours still chews at 4.5 but it’s gotten less over the past few months. This is pretty typical as compared to our experience with our older one and our previous two. You just have to learn to avoid it. Crating and cleaning up. Our current method is gating off rooms where we’re not good about not leaving stuff laying around.

This seems wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to correct a behavior you don't see happening or catch in the act, which is why crating your dog is essential. If you're not supervising, they should be crated or otherwise secured in a puppyproof location. Every time your dog "sneaks" an off-limits chewable, you increase the amount of training required to keep them from chewing your things. If all they ever have unsupervised access to are appropriate chewing materials, you prevent this problem.

They do, eventually, outgrow the urge to chew, provided they're given proper stimulation and safe materials that are acceptable chewing targets. It usually happens around 3, not 2, and some dogs are just chewers. The more you can contain your pup to chewable items and keep them away from your shoes etc. when they're not supervised, the sooner they'll catch on to the difference. And when you catch the dog in the act, quick discipline and redirect to a safe chewable, which should always be near the dog.

[phone]