Caspar is just about to turn 1, and apart from nibbling the edges of shelved books when he was quite young he hasn't been particularly destructive in the house (oh, apart from the xmas tree lights). Last week I came down in the morning to find a paperback in shreds, and a few days later the same with a magazine. Both had been left on a particular sofa, and in both cases it happened between daybreak and me coming downstairs. Just now, he has chewed a library book which I left on a different sofa when I left the room for 15mins. My husband was in the next room and Caspar was with him when I walked out. I am so disappointed in this sudden behaviour. We have a lot of books in our house and it would be impossible to put them all out of reach. He was neutered shortly before the first incident. He has made a full recovery and is now back to normal exercise levels. Does anyone have any advice or insight?
Hi @SimoneB First check her mouth that nothing odd is going on in there physically.. Could be boredom? Not enough things to keep him mentally stimulated. If so I'd ramp up the training, tire him out mentally with more demanding things to do. For example your husband could do a minute or two of targeting when he gets up. Ensure you rotate your dog's toys rather than leaving them all out to play with. Has any change occurred that would make him anxious? If none of the above rings true, then perhaps a visit to the vet to check him out. Since the book destruction seems to be self reinforcing, then time to collect all the books and such and put out of reach.Prevention will extinguish the behaviour.
It’s pretty common for adolescent labs to chew things. The solution is always crate training and to use a crate until adolescence is well over and all attempts at chewing inappropriate items have stopped....
