My black Lab eats everything he can get ahold of?

Question

My Black Lab will eat anything he can get ahold of...trash and the conatiners too ( plastic bread wrapper and bread left on the counter, whole boxes of bisicuts cardboard and all I dont know what this means. He only does it when we are not home
he always acts like he is starving even if he just ate

Answer 1

make sure your feeding him enough. if you are sure you are then maybe he is going though separation anisette, maybe get another dog for him

Answer 2

Typical Lab. Labs live to eat.

I strongly suggest crating him while you are away.

Here's some information on choosing a crate, and introducing your dog to it.

When looking for a crate you want one that is big enough for your dog to stand up, turn around and lay down. You don't want it so big that he can lay in one end and use the other end as a bathroom. If he can do this trust me he will. There are all kinds of different styles of crates: the two most common are wire and plastic. But they come in mesh, wicker, all sorts of different materials now. I would recommend choosing either a wire or plastic one, especially for puppies that like to chew. Here are some pros and cons of plastic and wire crates.

Plastic: These come in several sizes so can accommodate nearly every size of dog. They also give a more den like feeling to the dog and have less of a cage look. The disadvantage to these crates is that you may need to buy more than one to accommodate a growing puppy, and they take up more room if you want to store them even though they usually will come apart in halves for storage. There are also some newer plastic crates that will fold up similar to a wire crate.

Wire: Like the plastic crate these also come in a variety of sizes. They do look more like cages though, something that can be fixed by purchasing a cover for it. A cover will also help some dogs feel more secure in a wire crate. The advantage of these is that you can buy a size to fit your dog when it is full grown. Wire crates have dividers available for purchase so that you can make the crate fit your puppy. These also have a storage advantage in that most fold up very neatly and can be stored easily.

Next you will need to introduce your puppy to its crate. Just sticking the puppy in there without a positive introduction can be very stressful for the pup. I like to bring a new puppy home on a day off, and try to pick it up as soon as possible in the morning. This way I have all day to introduce the puppy to the crate so that by bedtime the puppy will feel pretty comfortable with its crate and shouldn't fuss to much.

Start by showing the puppy the crate and let him explore it. Next show your puppy a treat and then toss it inside. When your puppy goes in to get the treat praise him excitedly. Repeat this a few times and then end this session. If your pup won't go all the way in the crate to get the treat try throwing it closer to the door, or even outside the door and then gradually toss it farther back, until the pup goes all the way in.

After an hour or two have another session with crate. If your pup went all the way in the last time start there, if not start at the point you left off. After a couple times of going in the crate and coming right back out you can shut the door. But let the pup out after a second or two. Repeat this gradually increasing the amount of time the pup is in the crate. If you do this several times the first day by the time your ready for bed your pup should be pretty comfortable with the crate. I also like to repeat this process for a day or two after the pup comes home.

Also remember that whenever your dog is crated you need to remove any type of collar, even a buckle collar can catch on a crate and strangle a dog.


***Edited to Add: Adding a second dog right now would be a BAD idea. Monkey see, monkey do. Dogs will learn from each other, both good and bad. You could very well end up with 2 dogs doing this.

Answer 3

Yup, you have a normal Lab puppy. Offer this dog a piece of lint, and he will be over the moon. Labs are naturally food-driven and crazy about it.
Put away all of the things that he might eat when he is roaming the house, and - as other people have said - crate him when you cannot supervise him. Awful stories abound of dogs who died because they ate poisonous and/or dangerous things. Don't be one of those stories.
Here's how to acclimate your dog to a crate (hint : do not put him in there and then lock him in to see how he likes it)
http://dogpublic.com/articles/article.aspx?t=puppies&sid=14&pid=97
I agree with the other posters - don't get another dog! Not the right time for that at all.

Answer 4

Well I hope you kennel your dog when you are not home. But dogs all dogs do this. I have 4 dogs, the toy terrier, the shitzapoo, the boston terrier and the laboxador all act like they are starving. They eat a big meal each and when I go to eat there they sit beggin. My boston though will eat anything I eat. I eat those wasabi peas and she sits waiting the other dogs are more finicky. But they will do anything for the Chicken jerky tenders made by Waggin Train brand from Walmart. My cat also goes nuts for those. So if your training your dog use those they will do anything short of balancing your check book.

Answer 5

Get a crate.
I HATE people that complain about their dogs eating things non-stop, complain about having to replace things, and complain about vet bills when the dog eats something toxic instead of spending $50 and some extra time to get a crate and crate train their dog.
No offense. Just ranting.
Getting a crate can really save you a lot of money. I know people whose dog ate a bunch of prescription pills and they had to take her to the vet and get her stomach pumped. So save yourself some money and get a crate.

Answer 6

I would suggest putting your dog in a crate while you are not at home, this will keep your dog safe from eating something that could harm him while you are not at home and able to watch him, and it keeps him from tearing up things while you are not at home also, Dogs go threw seperation anxity when their owners are not at home..
I hope this has helped and good luck with your dog, trust me this will help with the situation, and using a crate is not cruel it is actually better for the dog

Answer 7

Labs tend to be destructive. Crate train him while you are gone so he cannot get ahold of anything. Also, make sure he gets at least an hour walk a day.

Answer 8

he is prob teething