That's it!!!

[leechlake]

I've absolutely had it!  Years ago our first dog ran the roost.  We didn't have kids and weren't even married and Jake the black lab puppy entered our life and we treated him like a person.  Since then I claim I treat dogs like dogs.  I joke that when one dies I cry for a day and bury them in the backyard and cry some more and then move on.  Heck we got three dogs right now and always have two so there's always some dog here.  Problem with my "treat dogs like dogs" claim is that they sleep on the bed, on the couch, and except in hunting/outdoor situations they aren't expected to have any rules.

I'm actually getting riled up right now and implicating the 11 year old lab and 6 year old Golden Retriever in this and shouldn't.  Sorry Boomer and Brit, my apologies.  Sure you sleep everywhere but you don't destroy things.  I just came home and Belle ate my wallet.  I don't use it really and it was literally as close to the backsplash on the counter as possible and that little 49 pound lab got up and grabbed it and destroyed it.  So here's a partial list, many of you may recall some items, that she's destroyed:

Case hunting knife, Bushnell golf range finder, Maui Jim sunglasses, countless shoes, slippers, flip flops, my USA blaze pink hockey jacket, she ate part of a rack of baby back ribs (I salvaged half of it after I washed the sand off of it),  one ribeye, chicken legs, a poppy seed muffin on Saturday, a shovel, a hockey glove, a hockey net, a phone charger, the other dog's Invisible Fence collar, a walleye (she ate most of a whole 18 inch walleye!), a seatbelt, countless blankets, direct tv remote, and a few rugs.  Oops, the wallet mentioned earlier and my son's wallet a few months ago.

She's going to be 2 in July.  This is mostly a user error problem.  For now on, when she isn't supervised she's first being quarantined in the mudroom and the baby gate is going back up.  Next move is the kennel in the garage.  You may ask why not the kennel in the garage now and that's because I'm an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly!!!  

 

Edited February 17, 2016 by leechlake

[reinhard1]

Wow Kris, I've never had a dog like that.  Being a butcher all these years I kept them busy with plenty of bones, but I bet you gave a few yourself.  Mine ran the house and still do.  Had two before and they were treated like family and lasted 15 years.  Died a couple of months apart [put them over the rainbow bridge].  Swore I would never get a dog again since it was so hard on us when we put them asleep.  Now we have had Lucy a chocolate lab that is 3.  Never chewed on a thing, just the bones and her many toys once in awhile.  Sorry I wouldn't know what to do besides what you are doing now.  They do have these behavior places for dogs, that may do it, but does cost money.  She is young enough to learn to stop this by a trainer maybe?  good luck.

[leechlake]

I'm laughing more than anything.  She does need some "appropriate" chew items but the house turns into a complete you know what show.  The golden and her will sit and "play" with their bones thinking they live outside in a wildlife refuge.  Fake fighting, trading the bone back and forth and the noise of those bones clunking off of the hardwood floors or tile drives me nuts.  Clunk, clunk, clunk.

The best move is she takes the bone and pushes it from one end of the room to the other using her nose and paws.  I can't even type what that noise is except annoying.

She then lures you in with snuggling and sleeping like a baby all night long.  You let you're guard down and Whammo!!!

 

 

[nofishfisherman]

My 8 year old Vizsla can be a theif at times although he hasn't destroyed much of value.  He's an expert counter surfer though.  He pretends to be sleeping or chewing on a bone but what he's really doing is eyeing the kitchen counter for potential goodies.  He waits for you to walk out of the room and boom he's off to see what he can grab.  So far this is the list I know about:

Half a chocolate cake, a batch of oatmeal muffins, a whole stick of butter, bag of chocolate chip cookies, chicken thigh, hamburger, hot dog, half of a 9x9 pan of a baked egg dish, countless scraps from plates, countless vegetable scraps from the cutting board, and the list could go on.

The only thing he grabs and destroys are plastic ziploc containers.  He'll grab my daughters toys off the floor but rarely destroys them.  They mostly just come back soaking wet with dog slobber.  When he grabs toys its mostly for attention.

The only thing that keeps him off the counters is to keep them clean and all food put away at all times.  To keep him from playing games with other items the only sure fire remedy is to get him a ton of exercise.  Its mostly that he gets bored and he has energy to burn.  Its almost impossible to tire out a vizsla but the more I can run him the less he gets into around the house.

We just got done dog sitting an 8 month old lab.  My buddy warned us that his lab has so much energy before we agreed to dog sit for him but my 8 year old vizsla put that pup through its paces.  By the end the lab was begging for mercy and my middle aged vizsla wasn't even breathing hard.  Thats the energy level I have to contend with and if I don't he finds ways to entertain himself. 

At times I've taken to confining my dog to one room or the basement to keep him off the counters when I'm prepping large amounts of food.  I use baby gates like you've done but I need to go 2 high on them.  He'll jump over one of them so i have one low and set up another one just above the first.  Even when I want to keep him out of the basement I need to use 2.  At the top of the stairs he's jumped over one baby gate and landed about half way down the stairs.  He's agile enough to do it and he lands just fine but I'm worried he's going to blow out an ACL one of these days as he starts to age.

Edited February 17, 2016 by nofishfisherman

[SwivelDigger]

I feel your pain. My daughter has a dog that is in the garage ( sleeps in there, outside for the most part during the day unless it's really cold out) It has I don't know how many toys, bones you name it and that thing destroys anything in its path. It's about 15 months. We have another dog ( the mom) that we've had for 11 years that even when it was a pup never chewed on anything. I am at my wits end with the dog. She trained it, it will sit,heel, shake, fetch whatever you want it to do except stop destroying everything in the garage. 

[RebelSS]

Hmmm...apparently a neophyte reaction.   Sounds like me some days, extreme boredom. Maybe I should get a bone and push it with my nose on my hardwood floors, end-to-end. Clunk*clunk*thud* (that was me falling over) Guess I'd try to keep her as active as possbile. Some pooches just like to chew, and that's the way it is. It's fun. It's right there. Makes them feel good. Jeez, sounds like a beer, doesn't it? Maybe you should give Cesar the pooch talker a call. *SNAP *SSSST*!  SSSSST!

Edited February 17, 2016 by RebelSS

[Dotch]

What a list! It's been about 20 years since my Lab died so I also feel your pain. Well, not as bad quite but luckily that one never made it in the house after we were married. Just chewed garden tools, shovels and clay pigeon throwers, then brought the neighbor's disposable diapers and ripe dead calves back to our yard.These Borders Collies are a piece of cake relative to what the Lab was. The worst they do is eat sheep poo and fish stuff out of the wastebasket once in a while. Yell at them and they're reduced to a puddle of goo. Give them a ball and they're content to stare at it for hours. 

[RebelSS]

14 minutes ago, SwivelDigger said:

I feel your pain. My daughter has a dog that is in the garage ( sleeps in there, outside for the most part during the day unless it's really cold out) It has I don't know how many toys, bones you name it and that thing destroys anything in its path. It's about 15 months. We have another dog ( the mom) that we've had for 11 years that even when it was a pup never chewed on anything. I am at my wits end with the dog. She trained it, it will sit,heel, shake, fetch whatever you want it to do except stop destroying everything in the garage. 

Maybe it doesn't understand why it's in the garage and doesn't like it....no offense. I've had dogs all my life. I had an Elkhound once. Same thing, smart. I trained all my dogs so just a hand signal to sit, stay, quiet, down, etc.  But it ate everything. It wouldn't stop. A bag or Oreos. A bag of marshmallows. Socks. Bones. The living room carpet. The corner wall. Half of a 5' CHRISTMAS TREE...I kid you not. It ate a lot of the wooden baby gate to keep it confined. Used to run it every day. No luck. He went down the road to a guy that wanted him. I had to give up. Never did hear what happened to him. 

Edited February 17, 2016 by RebelSS

[Coffee118]

I gave up on dogs destroying my belongings or the yard plus I'm not home most of the day so I switched to a cat, she spends about 18 hours a day sleeping and not bothering me 

[RebelSS]

I want a turtle.

[JP Z]

Just saw this today....I giggled.

 

 

[leechlake]

this is the same dog that attempted to jump out a closed window this Fall at the cabin.  Have you ever heard a 49 pound bird hit a window?  Sounded like that.

[JP Z]

If you gained anything from that experience, I would have to say whoever cleans your windows deserves a hefty tip as they were spotless!

[Mike89]

Had a white german shepard once, she loved food. locked her in the porch when we left, totally destroyed the room.  never did that again

[smurfy]

I dont know but that hounddog in the picture looks pretty innocent to me!!!!!!!!

[leechlake]

I think she's eyeing the phone I took the picture with as her next victim.

[RebelSS]

I had a Brit that while riding shotgun at 30 mph in my truck, decided to jump out the window for fun. He did. End over end down the road. Dumb azz seemed OK, just had this "what the heck just happened?" look for the rest of the day.

[bobberineyes]

Dogs sure do vary,  one might be calm in the house and nothing but full speed outside to everything in between.  I haven't had many problems with the all the labs over the years, they are in the house, taught which couches they can use and ones that are off limits.  One jumped up on the kitchen table, walked across then jumped down but that's been about the worst.

Unless it's extremely hot or cold, they go for rides alot, go in at pet smart or just hang in the truck in the parking lot, just being along. The one I have now would make an awesome field trial dog, lots and lots of energy. He usually gets walked in the morning( when it's nice out), then I have a hockey stick on the patio that I will send tennis balls flying 3 times a day, that usually does him in.

They sure need attention that's for sure... Is she fixed LL?  

[RebelSS]

Leechlake walked in the door, and went to the kitchen for a snack. It's said his scream was heard 1/2 mile away.

 

Edited February 17, 2016 by RebelSS

[leechlake]

Bobber- she is not fixed and some day if bred could give birth to a litter of really sweet dogs that could eat a drawer full of knives if left unattended.  

I don't know if I've ever mentioned but for being a youngster she is a good hunting dog.  I love her size too.  My lab training buddy loves her speed.  She has some good out of house qualities.

Edited February 17, 2016 by leechlake

[bobberineyes]

Good to hear, super fun to watch it bet, if you ask me that's half the fun out in the field.  Remi here was wasn't the big dog if litter, but was the alpha,  so he has had the attitude of its all about him...was she too? He's 65# of full tilt.. He's trying to share a shoe with Belle it looks.

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, nofishfisherman said:

My 8 year old Vizsla can be a theif at times although he hasn't destroyed much of value.  He's an expert counter surfer though.  He pretends to be sleeping or chewing on a bone but what he's really doing is eyeing the kitchen counter for potential goodies.  He waits for you to walk out of the room and boom he's off to see what he can grab.  So far this is the list I know about:

Half a chocolate cake, a batch of oatmeal muffins, a whole stick of butter, bag of chocolate chip cookies, chicken thigh, hamburger, hot dog, half of a 9x9 pan of a baked egg dish, countless scraps from plates, countless vegetable scraps from the cutting board, and the list could go on.

The only thing he grabs and destroys are plastic ziploc containers.  He'll grab my daughters toys off the floor but rarely destroys them.  They mostly just come back soaking wet with dog slobber.  When he grabs toys its mostly for attention.

The only thing that keeps him off the counters is to keep them clean and all food put away at all times.  To keep him from playing games with other items the only sure fire remedy is to get him a ton of exercise.  Its mostly that he gets bored and he has energy to burn.  Its almost impossible to tire out a vizsla but the more I can run him the less he gets into around the house.

We just got done dog sitting an 8 month old lab.  My buddy warned us that his lab has so much energy before we agreed to dog sit for him but my 8 year old vizsla put that pup through its paces.  By the end the lab was begging for mercy and my middle aged vizsla wasn't even breathing hard.  Thats the energy level I have to contend with and if I don't he finds ways to entertain himself.

At times I've taken to confining my dog to one room or the basement to keep him off the counters when I'm prepping large amounts of food.  I use baby gates like you've done but I need to go 2 high on them.  He'll jump over one of them so i have one low and set up another one just above the first.  Even when I want to keep him out of the basement I need to use 2.  At the top of the stairs he's jumped over one baby gate and landed about half way down the stairs.  He's agile enough to do it and he lands just fine but I'm worried he's going to blow out an ACL one of these days as he starts to age.

Have you tired one of them there Dog training classes? After you go to it, I would bring the Dog!

[leechlake]

Cass Lake Logic...you're favorite town Leechy...

[jmd1]

So i can attest to the number of items destroyed.  My Minnesota born lab is a bread and butter eater.  We cannot keep it out, if there is a small piece of wrapper left, he will be on it.  Now you all are talking about 40-70 lb labs.  Mine are both bigger, the MN dog is 107 the az dog, big block head is 124.  They run their hearts out, chasing digging doing dog things.  The bigger one Lobo, tore out and brought to me in 2-3 ft pieces, around 300 ft of 1/2 in drip tube that ran underground to the trees.  He then when the drip tube was done dug up the sprinkler heads along the porch.  Comes walking in all proud with the head, 3/4 inch nipple and part of the pvc pipe still attached.  I fixed it and a week later did again.  It is now concreted around the head, only way to keep him from getting to it.  I had to put blocks over the others so he could learn to leave alone.  Two labs can tear up a bermuda grass lawn in a week, they eat like cattle.  

And they tell us what time to go to bed.  Good luck

 

[delcecchi]

My buddies son had two labs.  Dumb and Dumber were the nicknames.  They would eat the rocks that were the mulch under his deck.