Dear Bif, I have a 9-month old female/spade lab. She is smart and sweet in almost every way. She has started to destroy things by chewing. She is chewing alot of plants, decking outside and today she chewed two chairs inside. She is crate trained and gets lots of exercise and attention. Any suggestions? - VAM

Your lab is in the "destructive months" 8 to 11 months old what you need to do is a combination of: 1) encouraging chewing and destroying "acceptable" chew toys, I used lots of big rope toys, nylabones, sometimes rawhides and sticks (roughage). Play hard with them with her. Tell her to "chew it" or "get it". 2) Grannicks "bitter apple" cream (for wood chairs and long term bad taste) and bitter apple spray for items she goes right back to immediately, i.e. pant legs, mouthing hands. Great for items you can take away. Tell her "not to chew" spray it. Then give it back to her. It will taste really yucky for about a minute before it evaporates. for some really "fun" items this may take a couple of tries. The idea being, when you say no it is no longer any fun to chew if the dog starts to like the taste, it will not work at all. Try cayanne pepper. 3) Use the crate to keep her out of trouble when you cannot watch her and keep her out of your hair when you are cleaning up the messes, (good for your sanity). Remember this is a puppy phase, with some training and lots more exercise she should grow out of it in a few more months. P.S. My dog, Happy, totally destroyed two full size couches around ten months old, each in one day!

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