Hello all! I am looking for some help as a first time lab owner. About 7 months ago I got two AKC labs from a coworker, they were about six weeks old when my coworker started insisting we take them as they were overrun with other animals at their home. Since we have had them in our home we have tried at least 8 to 10 different dog foods for puppies. We have gone from vet recommended "science" foods, to other lab owners "taste" oriented foods. We do not feed them scraps, leftovers or any type of people food. They are still going through kennel training due to extremely high destructive tendencies when left to roam free in the back yard or house. About once a week on average we have a huge mess of diarrhea, vomit or both. It's not always the same dog, sometimes the blonde one, then the black one.. nothing that helps us narrow down it being just one dog with a sensitive belly. Currently we are feeding them twice daily, and we are giving them 1.5 to 2 cups of dog per feeding. First feeding is around 4pm, and then again around 8pm. The measurement in their food is what we have come to see they will eat, more than this they leave in the bowl. We typically don't feed them earlier (morning time) because the frequency of accidents increase if we feed them that early. We are working parents with a child in school, so we are all gone and out of the house at around 7:15am and the first of us will get home sometime around 1p to 3:30p depending on our patient load for the day. I'm looking for advice from the experienced members on food, feeding regimen, even the kennel training if possible. For the kennel training we have them in the kennels, we leave the doors open so they can wander over for some lovin's if they want. When we are gone however the doors are closed, even though we have a doggy door and they will typically go out and potty when prompted, we keep the kennels closed due to the sheer destruction they've caused on the house and items in the house since we've had them. Just to briefly describe, they've chewed table legs almost completely through (this by sticking their mouths through the kennel bars and chewing on them, they've literally chewed large holes through my walls I've had to patch and repair, pulled a table cloth off of a laundry room table and proceeded to shred that and all of the miscellaneous items that fell (candles, pens, pencils, pool googles, etc..). They've chewed the baseboards on the walls that still need removal and repair, they've chewed the corners off of an antique dresser. Completely destroyed the beds we'd had in their kennel (stuffing everywhere that day), we stopped putting durable chew toys in their kennels with them as they will micro-pick these with their teeth and eat them. The blonde dog was thankfully able throw up a rope and ball toy she'd chewed up, it was just a fibrous mass about the size of my fist. Whew.. I know, a lot to take in but this is my first time reaching out to the community and I'm so lost, I don't know where to begin. Getting rid of them would destroy my little girl, despite the incredible damage they've done, she just still sees lovey, happy puppies that run and play with her in the back yard.
First from a health standpoint- have they both had stools tested for coccidosis and giardia? This would be a good starting point if not. From a behavioural point- how much training and exercise do they get together and separately throughout the day? 7.15am to 1pm, in my opinion, would be way too long to leave an adult dog on a regular basis, let alone a pair of 8 month old puppies! And some days even longer?
