Lab pup is 11 months old and was doing ok in crate at night, so we let her stay in our bedroom with us overnight now, doing great. During the day she would stay out as my wife worked from home, but now starting a new job at an office. We’ve left the lab (and our other dog, small 8 year old who is used to being out) alone and out loose in the house (also have doggie door) and she has started chewing on rugs, shoes, remotes, etc. Is she too young to be given this freedom? Is 8-430 too long to leave her in her crate? How can we work up to leaving her out for the whole day? How can I train her not to chew on everything when I believe she is just bored?!
Unfortunately, the right age to be given the freedom of the house depends very much on the dog. With Labs, chewing can persist well beyond the first birthday though most (not all) have grown out of it by two. How likely a dog is to chew will also depend on how long they are left and whether or not they find this upsetting. Labs are very sociable and some don't take well to being left for long periods of time. The fact that you have another dog may help her to adjust, but she is still likely to miss the human company. You can't train a dog not to express her feelings of boredom, or anxiety. What you'll have to do is provide other things to chew that she really enjoys (frozen kongs are well liked by most dogs), protect things you value from those teeth until such time as she has lost interest in devouring your possessions, and reduce her boredom/loneliness, by breaking up the time she has to spend alone (a visiting dog walker for example or some time spent in day care). Yes it really is far too long in a crate. If you have to leave your dog alone for this long and she is still in the chewing stage you need to invest in a sturdy dog pen. The sort that will contain an adult dog. Or dog-proof one room and keep her in there with baby gates / dog gates to prevent access to the rest of the house. There are other members here that keep a dog and work full time, so hopefully you'll get some more tips, but making a success of it usually involves some compromise and expense.
By 4 or 5 months, our had the run of the house and the back yard through the dog door. We mostly work from home, so we are around a lot, but sometimes are gone all day. We did not have too much problem with chewing stuff, but i did loose a few books and other small items. At 3 yrs, Cooper is 99.9% dependable now .
Sometimes our pup will be in alone, we are luky as my In-Laws come round at dinnertime and let her out for an hour. Other option is a paid dog walker to give her a walk half way through the day, you can't crate her from 8 to 4.30.
If you don't have family or friends or neighbours who can help out by popping in to let your pup out for a toilet break and possibly take her out for a walk or have a play with her, could you consider paying for a dogwalker or for daycare? That length of time is too long to leave a dog crated and really, in my opinion, it's too long to leave her alone even with the run of downstairs, on a daily basis. A pen arrangement with her crate inside but with door open or free run of a room with all chewable items removed, would be ok for a few hours but getting in paid help is your best option for a full day.
