To rehome our dog?

[Rumplestiltskint]

We have a 6 month old labrador. We love him dearly but are at the end of our tether with his destructiveness. We are moving into rented accommodation soon and we are really worried he's going to do something to the house.

He digs up the lawn and we have had to relay the turf, we normally put him in his crate when we go out but the last few times we have left him in the front room with a chew and his toys (we never leave him for more than 2 hours and always walk him before we go), anyway we arrived home and he had torn our new sofa apart.... Insurance are going to pay for it. This morning I got out of teh shower to find he had done the same thing to the other sofa, as well as scratched the hell out of the floorboards.

We can't watch him constantly and don't know what to do... We're not irresponsible owners, walk him, he plays with other dogs daily, we play games with him, crate him at night... We're now worried he will damage the rented house we are moving into...

Rumple RE the digging in the garden, have you tried making a digging pit for your dog and encouraging him to dig in there by burying toys and food for him to find? It's something recommended by Dr Ian Dunbar, the dog behaviourist, as a way of channelling their natural behaviour into something less destructive.

Sorry Rumple I forgot to mention RE the digging pit, that the idea is that it becomes far more rewarding for the dog to dig in that designated place (that you choose) rather than in random places all over the garden. In theory he should realise that there's more to be had by only using the pit and will consequently leave the rest of the garden alone.

Your name is nearly my name!

Sorry, that wasn't helpful.

My 7 month old english sheepdog loves this stag bar

I don't crate him but he stays in the kitchen if I go out which I have dog proofed.

My first oes when I was little destroyed an entire table in an hour! It will get better.

OP. Your Lab puppy is causing an exceptional amount of destruction. Not unheard of, but definitely exceptional.

Yes, labs chew and can be destructive and at 6 months, there is a lot of mindless chewing caused by teething. BUT, it is important to nip it in the bud before it becomes a habit.

And before it causes a big old vets bill, because make no mistake, no dog can ingest that sort of thing without running the rest of serious internal damage.

I recommend continuing with crating when you're out of the house and at night. Buy a bigger crate if you are anxious about leaving him in there. Also, don't assume that he will behave ever for the time being - don't leave him unsupervised for more than a minute or so.

In the longer term, I recommend getting in a behaviourist to sort out the inappropriate chewing properly and promptly. To prevent damage to your house and things, and most importantly to make sure he doesn't injure himself.

I know of a fabulous dog psychologist who is really good with Labradors - her website is here. She'd be worth talking to.

And lastly, rehoming is beyond unreasonable. I just can't imagine you really considered it as a reasonable option. He is only 6 months old and he is going to cause trouble; he doesn't know any better. I have only recommended outside assistance because of the risk to him because his chewing is so extreme. He will grow out of it naturally, but given his appetite, I don't think it would be safe.

Oh. And I'd ditch the Beta because it may well be making life more difficult for him. It has pretty crappy ingredients tbh. Consider Burns, fish4dogs, Skinner with Rice or Wainwrights instead.

You are totally irresponsible. Why get a puppy in the first place. Did you not do any research?
If you care about him then do the decent thing by him and rehome via reputable rescue such as battersea or dogs trust otherwise you put him at the very real risk of being used as a bait dog or as a puppy farm stud dog.

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