Well hello, as with many others I have a black lab who is giving us a bit of grief and we have no clue what to do! Gibson is a year old, and a beautiful dog but....he eats everything in sight! Yeah, I know this is normal but does anyone have any clues or hints on what to do?

When we are not home, Gibson stayed in a run that is huge (the size of most yards in the city). He had plenty to do and shade in his run! One day he decided to escape so...he jumped/scaled the six foot fence, and now always does this when you put him in there! So, we started keeping him in a kennel, but both my husband and I thought this was cruel, as there are times when we both work quite late and he is in there too long. Our last resort was a 30ft leash. He seems to like this, but eats everything. He has eaten our barbecue cover, Christmas lights, our little boys tractor, wagon...and so on! WHAT do we Do?????

Gibson is an amazing dog in the house, but is just too big to always be inside. We do live in a rural community, and he has an acre to play on, but unfortunately everytime we take him off the leash he is gone, so we cant just let him play off the leash, or he'll go gallavanting, which would be ok, but with this "eating" problem I'm concerned he may wreak havoc on our friends and neighbours properties.

I knew that black labs have quite the reputation, but we rescued this poor guy when he was we think 6-8 months old and now he is probably 12-14 months. We hate the idea of passing him onto a friend on the farm, but are thinking maybe that is the only option. If anyone has any thoughts, or ideas please feel free to write me.

tanya wrote:
Well hello, as with many others I have a black lab who is giving us a
bit of grief and we have no clue what to do! Gibson is a year old, and
a beautiful dog but....he eats everything in sight! Yeah, I know this
is normal but does anyone have any clues or hints on what to do?

Some clues and hints, no easy fixes.

When we are not home, Gibson stayed in a run that is huge (the size of
most yards in the city). He had plenty to do and shade in his run!
One day he decided to escape so...he jumped/scaled the six foot fence,
and now always does this when you put him in there! So, we started
keeping him in a kennel, but both my husband and I thought this was
cruel, as there are times when we both work quite late and he is in
there too long. Our last resort was a 30ft leash. He seems to like
this, but eats everything. He has eaten our barbecue cover, Christmas
lights, our little boys tractor, wagon...and so on! WHAT do we
Do?????

From what you say, it sounds like Gibson is bored, left alone
too much and for too long, and isn't getting enough exercise to
tire him out. You need to fix all of these. (Did I say no easy
fixes?)

Can you put a cover (e.g. chain link fencing) over the top of his
run to keep him contained?

What training have you given him? Have you taken him to
obedience training? Do you spend at least a half hour each day
training him, to help occupy his brain?

How often/how far do you walk him every day?

What have you done to move "edibles" (as defined by Gibson) out
of his reach? What do you substitute? (E.g., filling a large
Kong with treats and peanut butter and freezing it might keep him
occupied for an hour; decrease the amount you feed him
correspondingly).

Is there someone you could pay to come over during the long days
he's alone and walk Gibson? Any doggie day care in your area
where you could take him a few days each week?

Gibson is an amazing dog in the house, but is just too big to always be
inside. We do live in a rural community, and he has an acre to play on,
but unfortunately everytime we take him off the leash he is gone, so we
cant just let him play off the leash, or he'll go gallavanting, which
would be ok, but with this "eating" problem I'm concerned he may wreak
havoc on our friends and neighbours properties.

Even if he didn't eat everything in sight, it is NOT OK if Gibson
goes gallivanting, even if you do live in the country. Running
loose, he can get into a lot of trouble, get hit by a car, picked
up by animal control, shot by a farmer who doesn't appreciate him
harassing livestock, etc.

If you want to be able to play with him off-leash, you need to
train him to have a reliable recall (come when you call), and you
will probably need the help of an experienced trainer to
establish that.

Do any of you skate or cycle or run? You could train him to run
along side you to give him vigorous exercise.

I knew that black labs have quite the reputation, but we rescued this
poor guy when he was we think 6-8 months old and now he is probably
12-14 months. We hate the idea of passing him onto a friend on the
farm, but are thinking maybe that is the only option. If anyone has
any thoughts, or ideas please feel free to write me.

An adolescent Lab can be a real handful, and some say they don't
get their branes until they're about 3... I hope you can find a
way to expend some of Gibson's energy - a tired dog is a good dog!

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

In article ,
tanya wrote:


Gibson is an amazing dog in the house, but is just too big to always be
inside.

No such thing! What you mean is that he's too unruly to have you
tolerate his activity indoors all of the time. That's where training
and adequate exercise come in.

We do live in a rural community, and he has an acre to play on,
but unfortunately everytime we take him off the leash he is gone, so we
cant just let him play off the leash, or he'll go gallavanting, which
would be ok, but with this "eating" problem I'm concerned he may wreak
havoc on our friends and neighbours properties.

Again - TRAINING.

I knew that black labs have quite the reputation, but we rescued this
poor guy when he was we think 6-8 months old and now he is probably
12-14 months. We hate the idea of passing him onto a friend on the
farm, but are thinking maybe that is the only option. If anyone has
any thoughts, or ideas please feel free to write me.

There is no "magic farm". Is he altered? Often, COMBINED WITH
TRAINING, altered dogs feel less need to roam. You get where I'm going
with this? TRAINING is the answer.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

[quote=FurPaw;374421]tanya wrote:
Well hello, as with many others I have a black lab who is giving us a
bit of grief and we have no clue what to do! Gibson is a year old, and
a beautiful dog but....he eats everything in sight! Yeah, I know this
is normal but does anyone have any clues or hints on what to do?

Some clues and hints, no easy fixes.

When we are not home, Gibson stayed in a run that is huge (the size of
most yards in the city). He had plenty to do and shade in his run!
One day he decided to escape so...he jumped/scaled the six foot fence,
and now always does this when you put him in there! So, we started
keeping him in a kennel, but both my husband and I thought this was
cruel, as there are times when we both work quite late and he is in
there too long. Our last resort was a 30ft leash. He seems to like
this, but eats everything. He has eaten our barbecue cover, Christmas
lights, our little boys tractor, wagon...and so on! WHAT do we
Do?????

From what you say, it sounds like Gibson is bored, left alone
too much and for too long, and isn't getting enough exercise to
tire him out. You need to fix all of these. (Did I say no easy
fixes?)

Can you put a cover (e.g. chain link fencing) over the top of his
run to keep him contained?

What training have you given him? Have you taken him to
obedience training? Do you spend at least a half hour each day
training him, to help occupy his brain?

How often/how far do you walk him every day?

What have you done to move "edibles" (as defined by Gibson) out
of his reach? What do you substitute? (E.g., filling a large
Kong with treats and peanut butter and freezing it might keep him
occupied for an hour; decrease the amount you feed him
correspondingly).

Is there someone you could pay to come over during the long days
he's alone and walk Gibson? Any doggie day care in your area
where you could take him a few days each week?

Gibson is an amazing dog in the house, but is just too big to always be
inside. We do live in a rural community, and he has an acre to play on,
but unfortunately everytime we take him off the leash he is gone, so we
cant just let him play off the leash, or he'll go gallavanting, which
would be ok, but with this "eating" problem I'm concerned he may wreak
havoc on our friends and neighbours properties.

Even if he didn't eat everything in sight, it is NOT OK if Gibson
goes gallivanting, even if you do live in the country. Running
loose, he can get into a lot of trouble, get hit by a car, picked
up by animal control, shot by a farmer who doesn't appreciate him
harassing livestock, etc.

If you want to be able to play with him off-leash, you need to
train him to have a reliable recall (come when you call), and you
will probably need the help of an experienced trainer to
establish that.

Do any of you skate or cycle or run? You could train him to run
along side you to give him vigorous exercise.

I knew that black labs have quite the reputation, but we rescued this
poor guy when he was we think 6-8 months old and now he is probably
12-14 months. We hate the idea of passing him onto a friend on the
farm, but are thinking maybe that is the only option. If anyone has
any thoughts, or ideas please feel free to write me.

An adolescent Lab can be a real handful, and some say they don't
get their branes until they're about 3... I hope you can find a
way to expend some of Gibson's energy - a tired dog is a good dog!

FurPaw

--

We have a little boy so we are not gone all day, but a regular work day. Gibson is walked regularly (every day) and he runs with the quad quite often as well. Ummm...we have nearly removed everything off of the deck, except of course the stuff we can not. He has a kong filled with peanut butter, a bone and several toys (balls, etc)...at a loss. Oh well, he is a great dog, just a pain in the but eater!

I know that he gallavanting isn't a good thing and I should've clarified that...but there are places he can go and it would be fine...such as in the field (no livestock, houses) but he'd be gone. We train him for 1/2-1 nearly every day...so I guess we are on the right track.

Unfortunately we can not afford formal training, but we will continue with what we are doing and hopefully it will get better. To his credit he is an amazing do inside!!!

[quote=tanya;374423]Sorry, he's too big to be in the house all the time as we do not have a great big house...quite small indeed. He's very well behaved in the house and loves to be with us! He's in generally from after dinner until the morning...so he is in 90%of the time.

Oh yes, he is definately altered...one puppy is more than enough!