6-month-old Labrador won’t settle in the evenings

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a bit of advice as I’m struggling to get my 6-month-old Labrador to settle in the evenings.

At the moment, he goes for his walk around 4:30–5pm. When we get back, I give him his dinner and then put him down for a nap from about 6pm until 7:30–8:30pm. When he wakes up, I take him out to the toilet and then give him a chew in the living room while I watch TV, hoping he’ll settle.

However, since he turned 6 months old, once he finishes the chew he goes completely hyper — scratching, chewing, and pulling at the rug, and even trying to do the same to the sofa. When this happens, I put him in his pen in the kitchen and he settles almost straight away. But if I bring him back into the living room, the behaviour starts again.

Because of this, I’ve ended up leaving him in the kitchen pen until bedtime (around 10pm). This is new behaviour — before 6 months, he would happily settle in the living room and usually fall asleep.

Has anyone else experienced this or have advice on how to handle it? I feel really guilty leaving him in the kitchen on his own for the whole evening, but I’m not sure what else to do.

Thank you in advance.