Destructive 6 month old chocolate Labrador

Hiya everyone, my 6 month old labrador is sometimes very destructive. He is currently left approximately 7 hours each day along with my other labrador who is aged 10. My husband/neighbour do call in throughout the day to let him out for a pee and feed him. I have a crate but dont want to put him in this. He has toys throughout the house and he plays with them constantly as they are never in the same place when we return home.

I know some people might think that the period of time that he is alone is a long period but most days he is good but when he is naughty well we know about it.

Also, he has taken up running up to my older dog, jumping on him and then widens his mouth as if to bite him. He has, however, had a couple of nibbles at the older dogs ears. Help if you can xx

 

I'm interested as to why you don't want to crate him? Because as far as I am aware this is the only way you are going to stop him being destructive at this age. He's a young energetic dog, who is going to make up his own entertainment if left to roam. Unfortunately they don't make the distinction between what is yours and what is theirs, when they are alone it's ALLLLLL theirs

I guess he is probably teething as well so will be chewing?

If he where mine, I'd be crating him and ensuring he has kongs to chew on and a definite person to let him out at least once a day.

 

I wouldn't crate for seven hours, no way. That's too long to be in a crate in my opinion. I would, however, restrict the amount of area he has, and manage the room so that there's nothing he can destroy. I'd also consider having a good dog walker who could come in and take him out for a proper walk and maybe some training in the middle of the day - that should make him snoozy for the rest of the day. Leaving frozen kongs will also help keep him occupied for a bit.

A wide mouth isn't necessarily a bad sign - he's probably just playing. Here are a couple of pictures of my two playing - they look ferocious, but it's honestly all in fun!

 

Agree with Snowbunny's comments. Being left for 7 hours is a very long time for a young dog, even with neighbours popping in to let him out for a wee and restricting in a crate for that number of hours would be less than ideal as well

 

I agree, I am not a fan of crating for long hours. I used a big pen. At six months old my puppies could not be trusted alone in the house for hours. I put the crate, door open, in the big pen. Puppy could move and stretch his/her joints, find a cooler spot to lie, chose a back corner to eliminate if I was away too long. My house was safe and puppy was safe.

I also think it's not fair to subject the older dog to the antics of a six month old puppy for that long, unsupervised. That six month old energy is not going to wane for some months, maybe years, yet.

 

Seven hours is far, far too long. I would look for doggy day care or a dog walker.

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Agree that a puppy safe room and a stack of kongs is the way to go.

Of course it's not ideal to leave a 6 month old Labrador for 7 hours a day - but you have him now, and have a job or whatever keeps you out of the house, so it's a bit late to say don't leave him at home.

I work and rely on dog walkers - my dog is exercised on his own, on a lead. I wouldn't send a 6 month old puppy to free running daycare, or even to run round with a pack of other dogs for a couple of hours. Too bad for joints and rubbish for training.

If you have to leave a dog longer than is ideal, I think it's important to pack the rest of the time with activities if you can. Training in particular. So a long walk/training session before you leave him, the same on your return, and lots of outings to keep that furry mind busy. If you can find a dog walker to give him a lead walking session in the middle of the period he is left, that would be ideal.

 

I agree that 7 hours seems pretty long to crate a 6 month old.
Having said that, I probably crated my girl for around 6 hours x 3 days a week, building up from a couple of hours at a time with a couple of breaks to begin with from people popping in. She is an always has been a smallish, calm and placid girl. And was safe in kitchen/sitting room un-crated from around 10-11 months.

It would be a bit of a shock to the system to go to this length of crating for a 6 month old I think.
Personally for me, 3 hours crate, an hour out with a dog walker or yourself/husband, then another 3 hours crated with kongs would be a better solution. It might seem a bit awkward having another un-crated dog though. I think I would agree a safe "room" would be better at this point.

 

Hi there and welcome to the forum! Six months is quite a destructive age for many labs, so please don't feel that you are alone in this, or that it is necessarily to do with how long your dog is left. I also think you are right not to crate if you are leaving him for seven hours, but I would definitely restrict him to a smaller part of your house. Either using baby gates or a sturdy pen.

There is an article in this link on six month old labs, illustrated with photos of our forum dogs - you might find it helpful

Also this one: raising a dog when you work full time It is possible to do this and have a contented dog, several forum members do, but you may need to pay for some extra attention for your dog, at least until he is a little older.

And what Julie said about Kongs!

 

When you return to the house and your young dog has been destructive, what has he done exactly? Would you be able to describe the scene?

 

For example yesterday came home and he he

Hiya, what I should have said is that I dont want to crate him all day whilst we are out. I have never had to restrict my other dog so in fairness did not want to restrict the puppy. I know now this was probably a wrong move on our part. I have recently had him neutered and believe that since having this done it has made him worse. I know in time this will settle down. Thank you .

 

Hiya, yes this is exactly it. I have noticed that both their tails wag. To be honest its the people around us if they do it. One lady screamed at me to get my dogs under control. I did try and tell her that this was play fighting but she said that it wasnt. I have today decided to place puppy in the conservatory, with his crate, bed and food and water, although the food would have eaten before I actually left the house. my hubby has called in after three hours and let him out and played with him slightly and was surprised to find no mess and also when he said to him "on bed" he just went and lay down and he then closed the door. Today is only day one, day two tomorrow. Thank you for your help. Gail

 

I have purchased a Kong and a deer antler, which he plays with constantly. Thank you I realise that I am not alone but somehow felt that i was a the end of my tether. Much appreciated all your help. Gail

 

Dogs that trust each other do seem to play a lot more noisily. Mine generally confine this sort of behaviour to home, but every now and again go loopy when out. They did the other day when there was fresh snow, and started running and grabbing at each other, snarling and growling. People often look shocked and I can understand why, but it's definitely just play. A good indicator of this is whether they take it in turns to "win" or if it's all one-sided. We sometimes meet up with their other litter mate that lives in the village, Annie, and she and my Shadow tend to gang up a bit on Willow for some reason when they first get together. I won't allow that - I put Shadow on lead (or, now I'm working on him staying with me, off-lead) and let the girls get it out of their system. It only takes a couple of minutes, and it's the same as when W&S are playing - plenty of give and take. Once the zoomies are over, Shadow can go back and play again.

 

Day 3 in the household and everything is going well. All I can say is thank goodness. Bailey is now placed with his crate, bed, drink, food, treats and his cuddly pillow in the conservatory every morning. I just cannot believe it. Husband calls in twice a day, neighbour has stopped calling in but she looks through the conservatory window to check on him. As she said if he seems upset she will go in. On all the occasions she has checked (several times a day) she told me that he has been fast asleep. All I can say is no mess, no distruption and he has even taken to not jumping up as much. Its a little progress and i know that there is a longer road to take but all I can say is "get in". I hope that there are many of these days to come whilst being left alone. Thank you everyone for taking the time out to message me and advise me about how to cope with Bailey. Much appreciated.

 

I'm glad you're getting there with Bailey, well done

I'm sure you've thought of this, and it very much depends on the construction of your conservatory, but I thought I'd add a word of warning for anyone that might be reading this - conservatories are often not ideal places to leave your dog, unless they are of a more solid construction, because the amount of glass/perspex that is generally in them means that they can get very hot, very quickly. I know my sister's conservatory is like that - a dog would get into difficulties very quickly if left in there, even with the rubbish English summers.

 

Not just in the summer either. We've had a lot of sun the last few days and it has been really warm coming through the windows in our rooms. @GailBatey you do need to consider the temperature in the conservatory both for heat and cold.

 

Hiya, day 5 and what a difference it has made. I'm so happy with his progress. Yes we have considered the changes in temperature in the conservatory. We have a tiled roof and it has heating which at present is temperatures controlled. I haven't thought about the summer at the moment but it is something that hubby is thinking about. I'm just happy that Bailey has improved so much this week. I know we still have a way to go but its a start
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Charlie is in a glass room when I leave him - it has never been a problem in the summer (I leave a greenhouse thermometer in his room so I can see how high and low the temperature gets). It's because of surrounding trees etc. and also it's at the back of the house and doesn't have direct sunshine for much of the day. So, it really varies as to whether these rooms are ok or not. It's very well worth checking though, of course.

 

Glad you feel a bit more on top of things,it can get a bit overwhelming at times and by the sounds of the age of your other dog it's a while since you've had the pleasure ....and the pain of a puppy!
Best Wishes
Angela x