Inconsistency kills training

My dog is usually fairly well-behaved. He's quiet at bedtime, he doesn't chase the cat, and he NEVER barks. He hasn't peed inside since the first day we brought him home. Yeah, he poops in the kitchen now and then, but I'm pretty sure we're just bad at reading his "walkies time" cues. Mom tells me to train him with a bell, like her dog does, but he's afraid of things like that. All-in-all, pretty good.

We haven't had to put him in "jail" more than once every few months or so for a long time. He's always been fairly good at taking cues on what he can chew and what he can't. I give him lots of toys, so that probably helps. Lately, though, he's been a pretty bad dog. We'll wake up or come home to shredded crap all over the floor. Paper, food, medicine, plastic wrappers, pencils (wooden and mechanical), anything he can find on the table or in the living room trash cans. It's usually Ben who finds it, and he'll fuss at the dog for a few minutes before just cleaning up and moving on. I think this has given Joey the idea that it's okay to do, as long as he doesn't get caught.

When we first got Joey, he'd be in Jail when we were gone, and sometimes all night, too. As he began to behave, we started letting him out more and more until he had complete freedom. I think that he has really taken this freedom to mean that he can do whatever he wants when we're not here.

No more. Joey's in jail as I sit here typing. I'm still cleaning up the mess I found this morning. He ate a cough/cold pill. It's half of the dose, so he's probably going to be just fine, but still. That and eating pencils is bad for him, and I'm sick of the mess. He'll be jailed for every infraction, for at least a couple of hours. Maybe he'll take the hint. Maybe he won't. I don't know, but either he'll start behaving himself or he'll start living in his crate.