How to Stop Digging
Dog Digging
Stop Dog Digging. Dogs dig when they get bored and are left outside unsupervised. Digging is fun for your dog to dig in soft dirt, or red clay, or your new flower garden. There are many smells to find and the soil is nice and cool on a hot summer day.
It’s not so aesthetically pleasing to your landscape, nor is it safe to walk around a yard full of holes.
So how do you stop your dog digging in the dirt?
That’s the tricky part right? Well you have to supervise. When your dog starts to dig you must interrupt, redirect and make sure he’s stopped from digging in the garden.
Some people will tell you a variety of solutions. Like:
putting dog poop in the hole they dig and cover it back up. The dog usually goes back to the same spot, but chances are he’ll just move to a new hole.
Or putting down chicken wire under a layer of soil and pine needled/mulch. I don’t like this idea as chicken wire breaks and would put your dog at risk of injury on sharp metal edges.
My suggestion — a sandbox of their own. A place you give them an opportunity to dig, find toys, bones, etc. They can lay in the cool sand. You can do this with a sandbox or even a kiddie pool!
All other places are then off limits for digging.
So to stop digging you have to supervise, interrupt 100% of the time for digging in places they shouldn’t, and redirect to the sandbox. To be clear, leaving your dog outside unattended won’t help you get this solved. As the dog matures and understands the rules, then they can have a little less supervision for playtime.
Some of you may need to consider moving to a more corrective measure would include using an ecollar if you already have one to give a quick tap at a moderate interruptive level on the collar as an interruption of behavior every time you catch him digging. The key is no freebies — you have to supervise! Every practiced opportunity that goes uncorrected gives him hope of trying again tomorrow.
So if you’re leaving your dog outside all day or have a doggie door, the best option is supervise for several days in a row and redirect every time.
Ellie May dog digging