 Barked: Sun Jul 31, '11 7:23pm PST |
 | |  | | I am a Lab person and volunteer with a Lab rescue. There are a few reasons people dump Labs between the ages of 6 and 24 months (males more than females)...
The top 3:
3rd most popular reason: Can't toilet train
2nd most popular reason: Too active and noisy
And the number 1 reason: destructive when not supervised
Male labs may never truely grow up, it's part of their charm
I had a female field Lab years ago, easy to train, but very active and noisy.
My second Lab was a nice pet quality girl. I met her parents and 2 aunts, all nice relaxed dogs. Candy was great in many ways. But at 18 months I left her out with our Elderly Pit mix while we went to church. She dug a hole in the wall to wall carpet.
Your boy would have it much easier if his humans aren't annoyed with him every day when they come home. He may be terrified when not safe in his crate.
Give him a good walk in the morning and evening. Crate him for another year to year 1/2.
Weaning off the crate is a slow and careful process. Gates would be a good idea at that time. |  |  | |  |
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5
Worth a try anyway. 
Make the crate fun for him. When you leave give him a kong with frozen yogurt, or a deer antler or bully stick. Leave the stereo on as well. Give him something to chew on while he's in the crate, chewing is calming to dogs. Don't make a bid deal when you leave, when you come home make a big fuss over how good he was while you were gone, take him for a walk as a reward.!
