Well, I guess I need to alter a few more things. He is in the ex pen most of the time in the house. When he's not, he is on the leash, although I have problems with him wanting to chew on that alot too. I guess I can stay standing or seated on the couch or chair when I play with him in the house. I personally don't really want to keep play limited to outside. To be totally honest, I work 6 days a week so that my wife can work part time to be home with our boys. My job is extremely physically demanding. So when I get home, I don't always have the energy to be outside running around. I know that's an excuse, but that's how it is. I can devote more time to that on Sundays and the occasional day that I get home earlier than normal.

I don't know how to do the quote thing, but Betty, I feel guilty sometimes because I honestly can't wait until he's grown and better trained/behaved. I very much prefer that over the puppy stage. My wife would completely disagree with me.

Nothing wrong with standing or even sitting on the couch to play. JMHO!

Kory...you reap what you sow. He's not going to magically turn into a well behaved/trained dog (when he's grown up) without a GREAT deal of effort on your part NOW.

Overstimulating the puppy playing in the house & expecting him to NOT behave accoringly is unrealistic.

I don't know what you expect this puppy to behave like...he's a PUPPY...doing what puppies do!

If you didn't have the time, energy or ability, due to work or other obligations, to commit to what is needed for a puppy & all that that intails to raise him...maybe you should have adopted an older dog.

Anne-I completely understand what you're saying. My original question on this was weather or not I should be doing something about him going after me when I redirect him from chewing on something he's not supposed to. I understand he's behaving like a puppy and I don't expect him to act differently. I just was wondering weather him going after me in that instance was play, or was he doing that because he didn't want me stopping him from chewing on the object I didn't want him to chew on. And if it is because he doesn't want me to stop him, how can I go about stopping that. I get that I can avoid that all together by not playing in the house and always tethering him to me. I just don't choose to do it exactly the way most of you guys do. But, maybe that's the only way to stop him from doing that.

As for me having the time for him. I also have a wife and two kids at home that help out with him and play with him alot of the time that I'm not home. They take him out more than I do. I just don't always have the energy to do it when I get home from work. He's not just my dog, he's the families dog. I'm just posting these questions for my own knowledge and I pass it on to them.

 Quote: Kory Fox

Well, I guess I need to alter a few more things. He is in the ex pen most of the time in the house.

I very much prefer that over the puppy stage. My wife would completely disagree with me.

I think smell a solution! Since your wife loves the puppy stage, and she's home a lot more, maybe she could lovingly be convinced to do some outside play/exercise during the day. She might even be interested in making some LB lady friends that could give her some advice on puppy training.

I agree with Anne; my dog knows that being inside means quiet time for EVERYONE... i.e. for me AND for dog. Best to start asap.

We musta been typin' at the same time!

Kory;

As far as chewing/redirecting, you're going to have to be persistent, patient, and consistent. He gets too hyped, you shut him down. He will figure out he's not getting what he wants. Keep him occupied. Exercise and outside during the day; calm in the house, or to the ex-pen you go.

You haven't even gotten to teething yet. You're gonna have to make it work, and then stay consistent. Keep redirecting.

Duane-My wife and kids do take him out to play more than I do. There's really no issue with him having enough time outside to play. I just am not the one that does it all the time. I choose to play with him in the house when I get home simply because I'm exhausted and I can sit and play with him at the same time. I have been very persistent about redirecting him and when he gets too hyped he does go back in the pen. That was more so I didn't have to deal with it for the moment, but I guess I was sort of doing the right thing there by accident.

Really my only question was weather or not, when he goes after my body when I redirect him from something he's not supposed to chew on do you all feel that's just play or is he trying to stop me from doing that? No one seems to want to answer that.

I was typing at the same time as you were earlier. I got it, and mentioned it. I'm on your side, and in no way have criticized you or assailed you.

Noone can answer specific questions on the forum because we don't get to observe for ourselves. What we tend to do is analyze and visualize based on the info that we're given. The typical response is to try to guide the poster towards behavioral adaptations that the owner can make to train a dog to be what he wants in the future.
I can tell you how to train the pup to do back-flips, but I can't tell you why he would rather chew on you than the toy. I CAN make a suggestion based on the visualization that you provide.

I have met a member of this forum personally. She lives near me and agreed to my request to meet me and help me with an issue. She was looking for help with one of her issues, met my trainer, and ended up joining our club.
Where do you live? I'll be glad to see if I can help.