Congratulations on getting a chocolate Lab. I had one years ago. She was wonderful.

The mentholatum salve on tree trunks\plant branches sounds like a good idea. Having said that, my current dog, a Westie, loves to lick mentholatum, so I promise not to let him visit. I have 2 other dogs; they aren't interested. Let us know if it works (and how it affects the plant, too).

I wish you luck with the digging. The Lab and Golden Retriever I had were both diggers. They both began to "grow out of it" when they were about 1 1/2 years old. One of my favorite Fred stories (the Retriever) is how one afternoon he dug a huge hole in my mother's side yard. It was so huge that when my mother tried to back her full size Chevy truck out of the side yard, the truck got stuck in the hole and a tow truck had to be called. The hole was so gigantic that the tow truck had lots of trouble getting the truck out. Luckily, everyone thought it was very hilarious at the time.

The only solution I ever came up with for digging was supervision. Fred and Judy (the Chocolate Lab) spent nearly all their youth (about 2 years) with people. We all went to doogie school or watched dog training videos. We all used the same commands. This worked well in our household.

P.S. A couple Fred and Judy stories:
One afternoon my across the street neighbor called and told me the dogs were destroying my fence. I looked outside. Fred was pulling the pickets off the fence, in a real clean, "Gee this is easy" kind of way, so him and Judy could run up and down the street to get petted by the school kids going home. The kids just loved 'em.

One time I bought a really premium water hose, the rubber kind that's supposed to last a lifetime. I came home from work and Fred and Judy had chewed it into hunderds of pieces. I swear it was something for the Book of World Records. (They never touched the regular vinyl\plasctics\synthetic types)

Labs and Retreivers are wonderful! With training and time your dog will grow out of it.

At our house we say 'Labrador!' like Capt. Jack Sparrow said 'Pirate!' Gotta love 'em. There are laws against killing them when they've chewed that expensive Witch Hazel down to a nubbin. (she types with teeth clenched)

My solution isn't pretty but it's working for me. I make wire cages to protect young and or delicious plantings. Anything heavier than chicken wire, works with our two big beast babies. Even three foot wire fencing with some sturdy posts to keep them from hurting our 4 way grafted pear. Sorry to hear about your Anjou branch. Not sure what it is about grapes, my dogs won't leave them alone. Once you get fruit, make sure your little begger doesn't eat too many, grapes are toxic to dogs.

There is no shortage of fist sized rocks in our ground so I've filled holes the dogs have made with rocks and recycled concrete from an old patio. They tend to leave them alone afterwards. These are parimeter holes for exit routes. Our escape artist hasn't gone missing in a couple of years. (she has been eating my witch hazel!)

Like hald stated previously, the best way to avoid doggie damage is supervision and training. A tired labbie is a good labbie! Exercise is good for all. To give you hope, labs mature at about two years and a great deal of what you've been facing, will stop. You'll notice one day that the things you planted last weekend are still in the ground, un-molested and realize that your little pup has (finally) grown-up! I will admit that while raising my yellow fellow, I didn't spend much on landscaping but focused more on hanging plants he couldn't bother.

As for question 'number two'...there is a neat product, an in-ground septic container called a Doggie Dooley. They're simple to install, easy to maintain, well worth investing in. Works well in all types of soil except clay, temperatures above 40 degrees. Drs. Foster and Smith sell them on-line. If you're handy, you could make your own.

Wishing you the best of luck with your garden and labrador! Hope this is of some help to you.

Thanks for the comments. What I'm hearing very consistently is that after about year two, Labs settle down a lot and quit being so destructive. Until then, though, it's extremely common if not usual and expected for Labs to be trouble on four feet.

I can appreciate the "tired Lab is a good Lab" and the monitoring tips. We get him walked and exercised as much as we can, but as far as monitoring goes it just ain't workable for us to keep a constant eye on him. Oog.

On the mentholatum. So far, so good. It's stuck on the various trees and stuff through some rain and he hasn't chewed up anything it's been applied to. I did notice that right after I put it on, he was giving some curious licks to it on the pear tree - which made me think "Oh God, what have I done? I've just attracted him to the targets!" But again, so far so good.

On the Puppy Product, it ain't pretty but the new tactic to at least hopefully protect some plants is just scooping the stuff up and dumping it onto things I don't want him digging up or around. So far so good on that as well. Doesn't make for very attractive garden beds and I'm still concerned about whether this stuff will kill or help the plants, but it's been at least slowing down the devastation.

my black labs seem to love to chew, my chocolate lab won't even chew up his chew toys. he chewed one of my wife's shoes when he was about 3 months old, we spanked him, and he never chewed anything other than a stick outside or a rawhide again.

the black labs, i swear they eat anything that does not move faster than them. rugs, chairs, trees, hoses, dirt, rocks, each other's legs, etc..

make sure you keep the stuff on the plants for a while, the dog will learn not to chew them and eventually you can quit using it.

as to the poop, i have 4 acres so i just throw the stuff fromt eh pen out into the back of the yard. i walk them in different areas of the yard rotating each week, so each area has time to decomp. in smaller yards,like where we used to live, i have always just created a pile with teh dried turds and put them in a garbage bag and in the can.

i get conflicting info about use of dog poop around edible plants, so i just don't do it.

Please reconsider just leaving to poos for the weather to disintegrate. The country's ground water is being contaminated by the bacteria in the poo of meat eating animals--and then it enters our drinking wells!! There are so many more animals adding to the containimation than there were years ago. Even with 5 acres, we collect it (she goes mainly behind a row of evergreens, another great thing we taught our lab)and put it into the trash.
I needed stop my yellow lab (got her at 9 months)from stealing food from the counter. I had tried just yelling at her, but her behaviour didn't change. So, I put some tabasco sauce into a hot dog and left it out on the counter. When she grabbed it, not only did she get a surprise, but I screamed at her, and she learned not to do things anymore, my voice was all that was needed. It sounds cruel, but I was desperate. Yes training is the only way to go--have you seen the DOG WHISPER on cable TV--wow is he great. We had a 'biter' put down a few years ago because I couldn't trust her around anyone--I feel guilty that I didn't try to change her first.

He's going to make a wonderful dog for you, but he's going to be a puppy far longer than you had planned on. I would recommend a kennel for him for the times you can't be right there with him to supervise. Buy the kind with 2 x 4" wire, not chain link!! Behlen makes a nice one. We laid down some lengths of chain link fence on the ground as a barrier, then set up the kennel on the chain link, then put a layer of either sawdust or wood chips on top of the chain link. Our dogs couldn't dig out but their feet were protected. If your dog is in the house, have a kennel in the house for him to stay in during times you aren't with him. It's much easier on him and on you if you can think ahead and prevent problems instead of using hindsight. Best of luck with your dog. As I said, he will definitely be worth it.