We have a 10 month old dog.....she has been with us about 5 months. No matter what I do I can not stop her from digging holes. I have caught her several times and disciplined her, but she won't stop. My front yard looks horrible and my patience is wearing thin. When I catch her in the act she slinks down , so I feel she knows it is wrong...but does it anyway. Has anyone had any luck stopping this kind of behavior?
She does not know it's wrong. Dogs LOVE to dig. She knows YOU ARE ANGRY. 2 suggestions: Make her a digging pit, a sand box, and put some cool things in there for her to find. Encourage her to dig here. Next, fill the holes she digs elsewhere with her feces and cover them over lightly.
Our dogs stopped digging when we moved to Wyoming, well almost completely - our lab still dug a hole next to the dog house to have a shady coll place to sleep. Dry, hard, rocky soil seemed to stop them pretty well. Is she digging because of boredom? trying to catch that darn gopher? looking for a cool place to lay? If you can figure out why she is digging, maybe you can find a way to redirect the energy or at least the location of the holes to a more suitable location.
I agree with Wyo, you need to figure out why she's digging. She's a puppy and needs LOTS of attention. She has no way to entertain herself when left alone, so she can chew or she can dig. Oh, or bark! that's always a popular one with the neighbors. If you have to leave her alone during the day sounds like you need to confine her where she can't dig, or where it's okay to dig.
Make sure she gets plenty of mental stimulation, she needs exercise obviously but just don't over do it as she is only 10 mths, brainwork will tire her more than running around as well
I agree with Redyre on this. The dog is reacting to you being angry - but does not understand why you are angry. My Pap LOVES to dig!!! He is almost 6 mos old....and has a lot of energy We chose to give him an area where it's okay to dig. It took about a week for him to totally get it, but now - he only digs there! We made a 4'x4' area with landscaping timbers and filled it with children's play sand - all for less than $50! We buried hard dog biscuits, squeaky toys, carrots (which he loves!)....he's happy and I'm happy. I'll see if I can get pics tonight....
She shouldn't be too bored, we have 2 dogs and they play together. I am also home all day. I think she is digging to find stuff in the soil...her nose is always covered in dirt like she is rooting around in the hole. I will plan to work her some more and see if it helps. I do have an area with sand in it that my chickens dig around in I wouldn't mind if she dug there....she isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer...if you know what I mean...so I hope she could get that she can dig here and not anywhere else. Thank You all for the advice.
Either give her a real digging box to play in or use her talents to your advantage and train her to do something useful on command- hunting moles, preparing soil for you to plant, etc. She might make a great search and rescue partner. Any of these will help her to direct her efforts to situations involving praise and reward. If she does start something without command drop a moth balls are an excellent
