Chewing Lab

[Helenanback]

We have a gorgeous 16month old black lab who chews everything. We have lost shoes, remotes, endless toys, comfort blankets ( hers) even the phone was chewed. She is getting better but we still have to be really careful not to leave anything within reach. She has loads of chew toys and having destroyed most of them seems to be sticking with a really durable chew bone but she still chews other things and will steal food if it's left within her reach. Any suggestions on how to deal with this? It's causing quite a problem and it feels like we can't quite live freely in our home.

Is she getting enough attention? Exercise and training?
IME dogs chew when they're bored.

Keep everything out of the way, get a few kong type toys and stuff them so she is rewarded for playing with them.

Is she crate trained? That can help when she can't be 100% supervised.

Thanks Dishwasher, yes she is crate trained and has kong type toys. I've tried several brain training type things.. she's a clever dog and tends to solve puzzles quite quickly. It does help distract her a bit but doesn't seem to have solved the problem. She gets an hour or so run in the park every day plus a couple of lead walks morning and evening. I can try to incorporate a bit more attention or training time for her. Maybe I just have to accept that's how it is but it feels quite constraining.

all the retriever breeds are 'mouthy' it's really not about boredom with them - they are bred to retrieve so are obsessed with putting things in their mouths, they play mouth wrestling games with each other - many of them will automatically pick up an object to greet visitors

we had one that chewed / dug a hole in the wall in the hallway, another that stripped the wallpaper from a wall. My dcs grew up having most of their toys very PC, lots of disabilities, missing eyes, hands, legs - shoes and socks were all fair game when left on the floor.

Tennis balls are a very satisfying shredding experience for most retrievers - they make a good noise when chewed and cheaper than your phone, (so long as they are just shredders and not eaters of what they shred). Don't get the cheap ones for dogs though - they don't last 2 mins, you want some good quality ones, doesn't matter if they don't have much bounce left in them... best of all is a good uncooked marrow bone .....

Have you tried food/treat dispensing toys like the Kong Wobbler or Nina Ottosson Pyramid? They can be great for getting their brains working a bit and there's a massive range of toys with varying difficulties.

I've got a massive selection for my whippets as they go on strike when it's raining heavily so on bad weather days the toys come out and it stops them doing wall of death round the house

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the tennis ball idea. We've got the kong wobbler but she keeps hiding it. I feel better knowing it's not just our dog that does this and feel reassured she hasn't yet dug a hole in the hallway