Anxiety Barking and Chewing

[nimperato]

I have a 3 yr old Llewellyn Setter (ntr'd male)which I rescued from a kennel at 2yrs old. We have spent a good amount of time obedience training, and now he will come, sit, stay, and walks well on a leash. It is apparent he has had little contact with people up to now, yet he meets adults in a calm though tentative manner. The dog is mild mannered very good with other dogs but very fearful of noises, children and cars. He hates to be alone though does not whine or bark. He will bark at anyone or any car that passes in front of the house. He does not bark when out for his walk. He has free roam of our fenced backyard where he will play with me or by himself. He also has begun chewing items( blankets, clothes, newspapers) if ignored in the house. All of which seems to be an effort to get attention. He gets a regular walk of about 1 hour each day, and is left alone about 1 day per week. He has chew toys and loves to fetch a ball.

I would welcome any suggestions as to how we can break him of this barking/chewing habit.

[crazycrayonmom]

The chewing and barking sound sort of like boredom to me. I don't know anything about your dog's breed. Is one hour of walking enough a day? My 3 1/2 month old lab/retreiver puppy needs more than that to stay out of trouble.

To stop my dogs from chewing on unwanted items (I'm home most of the time with them too) I say a calm but firm "no" remove the item from their vicinity and give them one of their toys and walk away. My older lab mix doesn't chew on our son's toys anymore and the puppy only occasionally does it if he hasn't had enough exercise. Good luck with your dog.