My 6mth old Sheltie, Sabrina, is not a chewer at all. I was all prepared for it since my other dog is a 2yo labrador retriever and they are very aggressive chewers. I don't know if what I did with my lab will help or not, but here is what I did.
- First off, walks twice a day (before work and in the evening) along with plenty of play time in the yard when we got home from work.
- She went to obedience school once a week and for approx 3mths she went twice a week (two different type of classes). She is still going to school, but it is for agility now.
- A new toy every week. Yes I know, gets expensive. But it kept the boredom down to a minimum. I would even hide toys and bring them back out washed a month or two later.
- A tired mind makes for a good puppy/dog - so we would do tricks/commands with her at night also. Labs are like Shelties, they are foodies and will do anything for a treat.
- Outside in our fenced in yard we have small logs (size of your arm or calve) that she loves to chew on. She would take out her aggression on the logs. They are multi-use logs cause we use them to mark where the dogs poop so I can go back later to pick it up. Sheltie puppy loves to chew on these logs, but is not obsessed with it - I think it is her way of copying her big sis.
At 27mths old, I have a lab who will remove the stuffing to get to the sqeaker out of any stuffed toy. Eat a whole bully stick in less than 30mins. As to damage in the house - she did very minor damage to one corner section of my baseboard molding - that was it...
Shelby was kept contained to our kitchen/dining room area when we were not home and was allowed out of her crate by 6 or 7mths old... Very amazing for a lab (patting myself on the back for this one lol)
Good luck, give it a try.
BTW, both dogs think they are cows. The lab will actually graze and eat the grass, whereas Sabrina just pretends because she wants to copy what her big sister is doing.
