Chocolate lab with anxiety issues

[gutsnthegrass]

I will start this with saying that my lab is not a hunting dog, but more of a family pet.  He is 10 years old and has always had separation anxiety.  I don't know what's happened to him, but in the last couple weeks it has gotten severe.  In the past, he would bite at his metal kennel and bend the door.  We cant leave a dog bed in his kennel or he will shred it.  My wife leaves for work at 8 and comes home to let him out on her lunch around 11:30-12:00 and I get home at 3:45.  For the last several months, we found that if we leave his door open, he would stay in the kennel and be somewhat content.  The last two weeks he has changed.  He now gets out and tears everything up.  He even chewed and ate at the door casing leading into the house.  He is EATING our house!  We have taken him to the vet, they gave him something herbal to calm him down.  We tried that for a week and it didn't seem to help.  Now they have given him Prozac.  He has been on that for a couple days also with no change.  I know this sounds bad, but I'm thinking about that he just isn't right in the head anymore. Has anyone on here ever had to deal with this before?  I don't want to put him down, but I'm considering it.

[Special T]

Im not sure if this will help you but its worth a try...

My older dogs hips have been giving him trouble, so i started giving him a couple of drops of Bacon Flavored CBD oil before bed. The bottle is $30-40 and should last you a month or 2... given your level of destruction it is a cheap attempt at reducing destruction.

sorry for you and your buddy.

[jackelope]

We have friends who have a dog with serious anxiety issues. They swear by a jacket/vest type getup they put on him. It seems to work. I still think the dog is a freak but they say it calms him down significantly. The one they use is a Thunder shirt. Might be worth a try.

[ghosthunter]

I would give him the biggest chew bone I could fine just to keep him busy.
Take it away when you are home.

[Bushcraft]

That dog sounds bored out of his mind. Have you tried exercise and teaching him something new?

[Spuddieselwwu]

Don't laugh - but we gave ours CBD... Calmed it right down.

[jagermiester]

Have you tried working with him on a new hobby. Maybe training for tracking or finding truffles or blind retrieves. Heel and stay are probably done but you can do remedial training to stimulate his mind.

[blackpowderhunter]

i was just going to come in and say the same thing as others.  dog sounds bored which is leading to anxiety.  we have a dog that is also a family dog, and not a hunting dog (2 year old lab)...but the dog has SO much drive to work I do things just to keep her occupied.
how often is your dog walked/trained/played with?  i have no idea what you do or don't do, so don't take any of this as an accusation at all.

We wake up at around 5 am, and give the dog a minimum mile to two mile walk before leaving for work.
Maybe try walking the dog or something before work?  Otherwise the dog sleeps all night, wakes up to get let out and fed, then hes right back in his crate with no stimulation. 
First thing i do when i get home is take the dog on another walk or to the park to practice things.  then we do training/games every night if we dont do another walk or two after dinner.
one thing we do is have the dog sit and wait in a spot in the living room, and hide one of her toys throughout the house and tell her to go find it.  she will sniff the thing out anywhere in the entire house. 
it's like a part time job, but it also keeps me active even when i want to be lazy.