As the proud owner of two well behaved black Labs, I applaud your efforts and you for the time you're giving to help others. Okay, I am lying about the well behaved Labs part. I do own two Labs and they are black.
We got the little girl from a private breeder after we moved into our first house in Colorado. She chewed everything in sight, especially shoes. We tried everything to get her to stop, a jillion toys, frozen rags, ropes with knots and tons of rawhide. She even chewed a pair of my prescription eyeglasses - three days after I picked them up from the eye doctor. The only thing that cured her was time - time to get over the teething stage. She took to house training like a champ because we kenneled her at night. As long as my wife would put her fingers through the kennel for our pup to lick she was content (both the wife and the dog). We took her to Petsmart puppy classes and she did just fine with the treat reward training they showed us except for lead training, she never took to a lead so I get to walk her. She's my princess and when I'm loving on her I tell her she's, "the best damn dog in the world."
We got our boy Lab by accident. My wife was driving home and thought she hit him. I think the dog wasn't looking and ran into the side of the car. He was fine but when we called the local shelter they said they'd probably put him down because there are so many Labs available. So we kept him. He's a good dog but he's extremely lazy. He had hip dysplasia and I think it hurt him to walk around much before he was fixed. I've never had or seen such a sweet disposition on any other dog. Even when he takes a treat he has an extremely soft mouth. Strangely enough, I think he would be the first to go after an intruder. He's my good boy, I can leave my family alone and not worry about them with him around the house. He also is kenneled and never once went potty in the house.
I have one other dog a border collie/Australian shepherd mix. He's an awesome dog if it weren't for the other two messing with him he would be a great candidate for frisbee or agility contests. All my dogs are great which is a wonderful thing. If I owned each of them singly I think they would have so much more potential, three at once is a little much, at least for me.
As far as tips, just continue with what your friends above have said and be patient, your pup will come around and the incorrect behavior will stop if you maintain consistency. Not everything works for every dog. When our little princess (Kaley Boo Canyon) was still chewing on stuff the Petsmart trainer recommended placing pennies or small rocks in a pop can and bending the tab over the opening and tossing it in the general direction of the dog. The noise was supposed to scare and distract her from the bad behavior. It didn't work. The noise got her attention, then she looked at the can and started chewing it. Good times!
Best wishes to you on your efforts!
