I have had a few Labs in my life and my last dog was a Chessie that I had to put down last November , she was 13 1/2 years old. I've forgotten the joys of puppyhood. LoL ! So far the positive/negative reinforcement is working as I haven't seen anything new chewed up.
As for his log chewing ? He likes to carry them around and some of them are quite hefty so fetching a goose won't be a problem.
As for baby talk ? I know it's stupid but they do love it for some reason and of course it's not my normal working tone albeit I live alone and YES, I do talk to my dog and know that most of what I say is just blah, blah, blah to him but my commands are one worded and most times don't need repeating.