Hello just joined because Ive taken on a puppy about a month ago and need some help. He's a 7 months old labrador cross.

What I'd like to know is how soon can he be left on his own in a room? At the moment if I leave him for five minutes he goes straight to any carpets or rugs and starts chewing them. He's got chew toys enough we've bought specially for him lying around, and I'll give him a stuffed Kong when I leave him on his own, but he's still going for the carpets and it's driving me mad.

He has a crate he goes in if I need to go out for an hour or so and that works fine, and I have been putting him in it in the day now (never for very long) because I don't trust him to be in the room alone. Is this carpet destruction a phase that he'll grow out of?

I also want to ask do people think it tends to be better to have two dogs not just the one, that they'll be happier when there's another dog to keep them company? This puppy has a couple issues we're seeing a trainer to work out (like no recall, mouthiness, being very easily distracted etc), but friends are saying getting another dog, that's an older dog not another puppy, would balance him out. Would getting another mean more problems or would it benefit and make puppy more balanced and happy?

He may grow out of it or he may always do it.
I wouldn't bring in another dog untill I had sorted out the Issues with the first one

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The option of getting another dog could work or it could be disasterous.

The new dog could see the current dog's behaviour as what goes on in your house and then you have two carpet chompers. The new dog could be just as nervous being in a new environment and then, again, you have two rug munchers.
Then again it could work out nicely.

The best thing to do is work with what you know without adding extra dynamics to the issue.

You say you have a crate but only use it for when you leave for an hour or so but if he displays this behaviour as soon as you leave the room then you need to prevent him from being able to do this so use the crate whenever he is to be left. When you return and he hasn't been destructive then he gets a reward.

What do you do with the chews you bought him and what type of chews are they? If you get a chew and leave it on the floor without doing anything then most dogs that haven't been shown that it is acceptable and rewarding to chew them will simply leave it and go for broke on whatever is most appealing. If they are big enough then try holding them for him so there is interaction there as a reinforcer that chewing what he is doing is the right thing to do as he gets double reward for it. Stroke him while he chewing it if he's happy to allow you to and verbally praise him to really drive home he is doing the right thing.

Do you know his circumstances before you took him on? Does he follow you like a shadow and try and please you all thre time in that he won't leave you alone and will pester for attention?

Where do you do your training with him?

He's got the instinct in there to retrieve so play some hide and seek games with him in the house to get his brain going and also so he associate the hosue with safety and where good things happen so he doesn't have to worry.

I had a prob with Akira chewing the skirting boards when she was little so I put mustard & pepper on them. She tried it once and thought better of it.
She didnt go on to chew anything else and has totally outgrown her chewing phase now.

The prob with them chewing when left is that you cant see them so cant correct them in any way so this was my last resort for her and it worked a treat.

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I have heard but never having owned one, its just what I have heard that Labs can be chewers. Is he still teething? they seem to chew more when they are and tend to mouth more too. So that may be some of the problem if he is doing these things, or it seems to have gotten worse instead of better at the moment. He is also at the age where they tend to assert their freedom and push boundaries, and even ones that came before on recall now suddenly go deaf and wont come back. So taking all this into account it is not an easy age all round, so could be a lot of the problem. I would think you need to step up your training all round at the moment. I would also keep him on a fexi giant extendable (the one with the wide webbing all the way through) or a long line, while still doing recall training, as allowed to run off and do as he wishes now, can become a long ongoing battle. If he cant be trusted at the moment not to destroy and chew even with your back turned for a minute, use the crate for now. Leaving toys out all the time scattered about is not always a good idea, as they loose interest. It might be worth getting some new ones and some different type of chews like hide ones and nylabones, Good hide chews are the ones that have either dried chicken folded into them or coated in it as it tends to help their interest more. One type is called 8 in 1. and pets at home also used to do the dried chicken coated one. Dont know what you feed him,but a raw bone might keep his interest and get him gnawing on that. Dont use the cooked ones that some petshops see though. as cooking makes them brittle and sharp.

On the subject of getting an older dog at the moment, could help, but it could also backfire as to whether, the new one would be a calming influence and make him better, or he will influence the new one, and then you will end up with two adolescent delinquents. You would also have all the introducing and possible teething probs too, and as he has things himself that need sorting out at the moment, you might also be biting off more than you could chew and give yourselves a lot more headache.

Will he grow out of it? quite possibly he is at a difficult age right now, you are seeing a trainer so at least have back up to help you work through it.
Just keep up the training and putting boundaries in place. My two used to chew and be a pain but they grew out of it.

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Forgot to add, rotate his toys and chews and bones, having different ones to put down at different times, Also dont just leave them lying there all the time,
make a big thing of bringing them out and maybe playing with him, with the toys or chews first, even throwing them for him, so he chases so it gets his interest, rather that inanimate boring things just always lying around that he has no interest in. One thing I have found good is a Kong Wubba, its a solid rubber toy, with a squeaker in it, which is covered with thick canvas, and has "tails" made of the thick canvas. Another thing my Malamute loved was a toy that was made of carpet like fabric which was tightly rolled (He had a thing for carpet it one point) and I have found that giving them toys that had a canvas/carpet like texture they were happy to take out their chewing on instead. The Kong wubba, you can also use as a throw, tug toy too to get the interest and the other toy can be thrown and tugged with. He may be happy for you to interact with him and then settle down to have a chew on it.

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As he is part lab he will probably like retrieving so before you leave him try playing a game of fetch with him it may just settle hi down enough not to want to chew the carpet.
If you catch him chewing the carpet give him a stern no and destract him with one of his chew toys, make a big fuss over the toy, it may sound stupid but act like your really enjoying it, then it'll peak his interest.

Sorry taking ages to write back life got very busy the last few days. Thanks so much for the advice and being so helpful everyone.