My dog is destroying everything!?

Question

I have a chocolate labrador who is just over a year old now, and he displays very submissive behaviour towards other dogs on walks (lying down to greet them and rolling on his back etc), even when other dogs come into the house. However, he has no fear or respect for us, and simply works to gain our attention all the time. He steals anything he knows he will be chased for, like the television remote, mobile phones, pieces of paper, glasses.. you name it, he steals it. He also constantly goes to the bin and takes anything out and runs away with it. It seems that he just wants to be chased as he runs towards and away from you constantly if you reprimand him. We have tried to not chase him and ignore him when he does this, but after a few pounds have been lost in replacing items, it's difficult to let him get away with it. When you tell him off, he voluntarily goes into his crate as if he knows he's misbehaved and sits quietly. Mostly, he just looks miserable for a minute if you tell him No, but then continues anyway. We are running out of humane ways to get him to understand when he is in the wrong! Now he has started taking items from the dining table as we have learnt to keep important items out of reach but have to now use shelves and cupboards as he's so quick if anything is left out.

When he is left on his own, we mostly put him in his crate as he only seems to be able to lie down and sleep in there, but hardly destroys anything if we leave the house. It's just when we are around and he wants our attention, which is fine until you try to spend five minutes not worrying about what he's getting hold of next.

Any soft toys are destroyed straight away, as well as any rubber ones. We can only give him the 'indestructible' toys but he would much rather chew everything else.

What else can we do??

Answer 1

This is pretty common lab behaviour.  First you need to exercise him for at least an hour a day.  Walks, chasing balls, frisbee, swimming -whatever you can to get him to run off his energy for at least an hour a day.  Then you can get his attention better to teach him 'interpersonal' appropriate behaviour.  Labs can be very destructive if you don't channel their energy.  Good luck.

Answer 2

Dogs usually only get destructive to that extent when they're quite simply bored. A Labrador is a very active breed and he's going to need at least 2 to 3 hours a day of walking, with time off lead for him to run around and play fetch - is he getting that exercise? Labradors are also extremely intelligent and need a lot of mental stimulation to keep them happy. If you haven't already, you should join an obedience training course which will give your dog a chance to exercise his brain, and in turn will also allow you to get better control over him and re-establish your place in his pack as the leader. You should also enroll him in agility classes if you're quite active yourself, or flyball if you'd prefer your dog to do all the running! Labradors tend to excel at both of these sports and they will also help to tire him out mentally and physically, which should curb his destructive behavior.

The other problem is also that he is a puppy, and as a retriever needs to chew alot - you should provide him with lots of strong chew toys and dog bones to keep him entertained. Labs are also very dependent, loyal dogs so his efforts in wrecking your house may be his way of trying to get more attention from you - if he's ever left for more than 4 hours in a day then that will be why he's getting destructive. You say you chase him when he steals your stuff - I know you're losing lots of items to his jaws, but if you chase him, you're rewarding him and giving him EXACTLY what he wants - you have to put all your precious or dangerous items WAY OUT of reach or inside cupboards. Then, when he steals something of yours completely ignore him and do not even make eye contact. If he settles down to chew the object, then go over to him and offer him a treat - he should drop the item, wanting the food more. When he drops it, say *drop!* and give him the treat. When he's finished eating the treat, immediately give him a suitable chew toy and praise him lots and lots so that he learns that chewing his own toys will earn him rewards, but chewing yours won't get any attention from you.

If he runs off, the minute you approach him with the treat, go back to ignoring him and wait till he settles down again.

Basically - enroll your dog in an obedience course, reconsider his exercise schedule - is he getting enough walks? Do you play with him enough? Find out about enrolling him in an Agility or Flyball course, and try out the exercises I described -DON'T chase him when he steals your items. Be patient and persistent - your efforts should pay off.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

He's bored and needs more exercise. (A bored dog is a bad dog and a tired dog is a good dog!)

It's great that your taking him on several walks and taking him to swim. If you can get him more excited about fetching try to find a nearby field and throw the ball down it a few times so he has to bring it back up the hill - that tires them out really fast!

Other ideas to tire him out:

See if you can arrange "play dates" with another young dog or dogs to wear him out.



Training him to not take things is going to take some effort.  To begin with, although you didn't intend to, you've taught him that keep-a-way is a fun game!

Rule number one: Don't chase him when he takes things!  You will probably actually get it back quicker (and take the fun out of the game) if you simply tell him "no" and turn your back and walk away from him. GAME OVER!

To break this bad habit and to avoid having him take things you don't want him to have in the first place, this is what you need to do:

Anytime you are home tie him to a long leash or rope and tie the other end around your waist. Make the rope about 10-12 feet long so you can move around and go about doing housework or other your other regular activities without tripping over him.

This way you can easily keep an eye on him and correct him the second he starts to do something wrong by telling him "no" BEFORE he does it and pull him away from whatever it is with the leash.  If he does manage to grab something you can just reel him in with the rope and take it away instead of chasing him!

Eventually he will start responding to the "NO".  It may only take a couple of days or it may take longer.

Then spend some time teaching him "Leave it".  

When he has it learned "leave it" well (it may only take 5 minutes, but you'll need to give him a refresher every day or so)  

After he learns "leave it" you can give that command when he starts to go for something he shouldn't have while he's tied to the rope that is attached to your waist.  

If he doesn't stop when you say "Leave it", say "NO, leave it" again in a firm voice and then jerk firmly on the rope so he can't get whatever it is.  When he starts to obey and backs off after you say leave it - praise him with a "Good, boy, good Leave it"

Always try to end all of your little lessons on a positive note even after you've had to correct him earlier.  You can do this by giving him a simple command he knows and obeys like "sit" or "come" and reward him for that.

Always praise your dog when he responds to "Come" even if he did something bad earlier (like take something).  You never want him to associate "Come" with anything bad or negative.  I know how frustrating it is o have your dog run off with something but don't tell him to come and then yell at him when he does.

He doesn't associate the yelling with whatever it was he did earlier and he starts to think "Come" means he's in trouble and will run the other way.  If you were punished every time you came when you were called you would start running the other way, too!

With some patience and consistency, soon he will learn the difference between "good" attention and "bad" attention and he will prefer the good and try to please you.

I've had several labs and they are great dogs, but they are easily bored and full of mischief when they are young and it takes about 4 years for them to grow up.  Invest the time now by giving him plenty of exercise and training and you'll have a great dog.