Hi everyone looking fir some advice,we have a 4 year old lab.she is a lovely dog but is extremely playfully to put it mildly..she is outside most of the time because the second she comes inside she chews the furniture.i used to bring her in to sleep in a crate at nught but stopped this for the summer as she would spend all nite scrapping the bottom of the crate even though its huge and has eaten every type of bedding ive given her.ive spent a lot of money on an insulation dog kennel im just worried she will be ok in there.she gets a good walk every day and i would have bought her a lot of toys which she seems to bury and are never seen again.i understand shes probably a bit bored during the day but bringing hef in is not an option if anyone wants to sleep.will shd calm down...ever
Hello there, and a very warm welcome to the forum. Tell us a bit more about your dog. What's her name? Where are you based? Sorry for the questions - I don't want to be nosy, but I'm not sure whether your dog will be ok in a kennel outside or not. What is the weather like where you live? Is it very cold? Some people keep dogs outside - I live in the UK, and it's not a very common thing for dogs to live outside but some people do this. I don't though. I think that Labrador are very sociable dogs, and want to live with their people inside. If you want to have your dog inside - and I'm sure she would love it - then you need to start slowly. Being inside is going to be very, very, exciting for her if it's not something she normally gets to do. So, you could start by making a room "dog safe". Maybe the kitchen? Remove everything that your dog might chew or pick up, have some tasty treats handy and let her into the safe room. Just try it with just one person there at first, so it's not too exciting. Give her treats whenever she is being calm and not chewing things, and ignore her if she is tearing round and getting excited (you won't have to stop her doing anything if you have properly made the room safe). If you keep doing this - giving her treats (good stuff) when she is behaving how you want her to behave, she will soon do more of what you want, and less of what you don't want. It might take a while if she has lived outside for 4 years, but I'm sure she would love being closer to you in the house. Do let us know how you get on.
It is probably exciting for her to come inside as it happens rarely (kind of like an annual trip to a fun park). But the more time she spends inside with you (doing the things Julie suggested) the more it will be normal and ho-hum for her and the more she will relax. Other than daily walks, what sorts of things do you do with your dog for her entertainment, to keep her mind busy? Typical things would be: - going to new places - training sessions - dog parks - day care - training classes - dog sports (like Agility, Flyball, Gundog training, scentwork...) Dogs are very intelligent animals and need to be given things to do, otherwise they get bored and this comes out in the form of behaviours like over-excitement, chewing, digging and generally wrecking stuff. So I'd suggest developing a plan for a range of activities that will give your dog a job to do and a way of using her brain - that is very likely to improve her behaviour.
My two labradors are kennelled outside at night and during the day if I have to go out. We have a routine which has been the same since I brought them home at seven weeks, they are now four, so inside isn't as exciting for them as your dog. As Julie and Rachael have said coming inside will be very exciting for your dog but she will get used to it and calm down. She's at an age now when she should start calming down naturally. I agree with the advice julie and Rachael have given you. The other things I'd suggest and what I still do with mine most of the time is try and tire her out before you bring her in. Don't just take her straight inside from her kennel go for a long walk, run for a ball, do some training first. Untill she's used to being indoors and can calm down inside don't leave her alone inside for long. I still don't leave Scott and Scout alone indoors for long it would be asking for trouble. Interact with her, play games like find the squeaky toy, keep her attention until she starts to calm so she hasn't chance to get upto mischief then try and sit quietly with her and hopefully she will sleep for a bit. If you can repeat this a few of times a day she will get used to a routine of a walk, going inside bit of play time with you then sleep. You can then gradually increase the time she is inside and the time left alone inside. Sorry I don't know where you are. I'm in the UK my dogs have an insulated kennel which is warm enough in winter. They also have an old bed base (no legs) to raise the bed off the floor slightly, a waterproof dog mattress and numerous fleece blankets. The bed base is metal if I'd used wood it would've been chewed. I got around the problem of chewing bedding by using fleece material. I found dogs can't chew fleece easily so I made a cover for the dog bed out of fleece and only use fleece blankets. They also dry quickly. Your dog will start to calm down when coming inside becomes the usual thing to do.
I am not averse to dogs being outside as long as there is shelter from heat, cold and rain, water, they can't escape or hurt themselves, they don't annoy the neighbours with barking AND the neighbours can't hurt them. The last point is what we experienced with my childhood dog, kids, bad kids, throwing stones and debris and we found out two very small ones were escaping their child day care (!!!!) and coming in our yard to hit our dog with a shovel. This was a long time ago and I was a kid myself. You say your girl gets a walk. Can you expand? Is it leashed? How long, how far, what kind of terrain? A leashed walk around a city block is not enough for most Labs. They need to run off leash, mine at that age was going out off leash at least an hour a day. Exercise alone is not enough, the dog will just keep getting fitter and fitter till we mere humans can barely keep up with them. Working the mind tires dogs out. Hey, it does us too. Well, it does me. Remember homework at school? Some kind of formal training in obedience or rally or agility works wonders and as you advance all three give exercise to some extent too. Agility does right away of course. Even just tricks. My dog is now injured and cannot run as he used to, I just got my Brain Games book in the mail two days ago. We are going to play them to tire him out. What is your outside setup like? I have to wonder if your girl is bored and under stimulated out there by herself most of the time and thus, I agree with all above, that's why she goes nuts in the house. Making something boring by making it well known will go a long way to calming her down inside too but it will take a while. In our case I found allowing my dog the free run of the house at night did wonders to calm him down during the day. Sounds like you will not be able to do this for a while yet. If what you are asking is how to allow her inside without her wrecking the place I think you will have to treat her as an untrained young puppy and start from the beginning. And I think it might take longer than a puppy as she is so used to do doing as she wants outside. But if you are determined it's a worthwhile goal to have a big, heavy Lab draped over your legs as you watch TV.
You've had some great advice which I hope you found helpful. I have kept dogs both indoors and out (in kennels) in the UK and I can confirm that although it is quite exciting for an outdoor dog to come indoors, they do get used to it and settle down. It is also an important part of your dog's life unless you are lucky enough to be able to have your dog come with you during the working day. Labradors are very sociable and inclined to become noisy and destructive if not given plenty of chance for companionship.
