Dog Training Basics

Posts Tagged ‘Stop Your Dog From Digging’

I have learned about an easy and effective way to stop your dog digging in the yard and garden. I went out shopping with a friend of mine the other day. When we returned to his house about 3 hours later we couldn’t even drive through the gate. That’s because his pack of dogs had dug an enormous hole over 5 feet wide and a couple feet down. Since we live at the beach, his driveway is just sand, so it wasn’t difficult for the dogs to excavate a huge hole in front of the gate.  This was not the first time this has happened either. It was clear time to teach these old dogs new tricks, and stop their digging.

There are various reason that may be causing the dog’s digging behavior.  Some of the reasons for digging are boredom, an attempt to escape the yard, trying to dig down to cooler soil in times of hot weather, or because your breed of dog may have a predisposition for digging . I’ll discuss some possible solutions so you can prevent your dog from digging up your lawn and garden. Because my neighbor’s dogs had dug up right in front of the gate, it was probably a mass escape attempt.  At other times his dogs have dug huge holes which are nowhere near the gate, apparently out of boredom. It is also very hot at the beach, so the dogs will also dig up recently watered areas of the yard to get at the cooler soil underneath. The need to prevent these dogs from digging up the whole place at my friend’s house was long overdue.

We used a tip from my favorite dog training book to build his dogs a separate play area, where they could hang out and dig to their heart’s content, without messing up the rest of the yard. We enclosed the chosen area of the yard with some dog proof fencing, and because the ground is sand, we already had made the safe digging area for the dogs. We made sure the enclosure had some shade so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable for the dogs on hot days. My neighbor’s dogs even get to enjoy a little wading pool that he put in for them. These dogs get a lot of love. Now that the dogs stay in the enclosure while he is away from the house, he no longer returns to a yard full of holes.

Even if you don’t live at the beach, you can make the same kind of area in your own yard to prevent your dog from digging. You can find an area of the yard to enclose and create the substitute digging area for your pet by putting a sandbox filled with loose soil mixed with sand for digging. Pick an area to enclose that has some shade  (or add some shade cloth) and in addition to putting in a sandbox for digging purposes, be sure to put in his water bowl and some chew toys to keep him busy.

Besides stopping your dogs from digging up the yard, it also gives them a cool place to hang out while you are gone. Some dogs will stop digging up the yard once they get used to just digging in their play area, and you might be able to once again let him out in your absence. If your dog is digging to escape, though, he should probably stay in the enclosure while you are away. Give this method a try and you should have solved the problem of your dog digging up the yard problem.

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