we've a new pup (9weeks, cavalier king charles spaniel) - she's generally adorable although have had some trouble w play-biting (see other post!)

The only other thing she does that i'd like to train her out of if at all possible is that she digs the garden and eats grass like a little calf! :) We don't mind the digging too much, and i know a lot of small dogs do it, its a natural an instinct as chewing, but is there any good way of generally discouraging it?

Where she's dug a little hole, i tramp it down while she's asleep and spray some (natural) anti-chew spray on it, that seems to put her off. I say "No!" while she's doing it but i don't want to be too super-strict all the time or shout at her all afternoon, as she'll just end up getting hyper.

Any suggestions?

Hi, pups explore the world with their mouths so eating grass can be curiosity or it can be a sign of indigestion ( im told) although our pup is 11 months and youd think he was a friesian. If you have space she could have a digging pit of her own where you hide treats or toys for her to dig up. We have a stamp sized garden so we use a sand pit and direct him to this. Another way might be to distract her with a game with you instead of digging.:)

Hmmmm - she does tend to get hiccups quite a bit! Maybe it is indigestion..... I can well see a sand pit or special digging pit/area being created before v long!:) At least she doesn't eat my mum's flowers (yet ;)...!) Also think its a way she burns off excess energy - maybe it will help once i can take her out for walks.....

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news but you may find you will have many more months of digging ahead of you. The only way to stop it will be not to let the pup in areas you don't want to resemble a hoard of moles ( so what do you call a group of moles apart from pests ! :D) has gone through your garden !!

Lucy

As with many other 'bad habits' our dogs exhibit, often the best way of controlling it is to provide a way they *can* dig (or whatever) with our blessings - and if we make it easy and more satisfying for them to dig there than anywhere else it's often appreciated. Perhaps you could designate a small area of the garden for digging, fill it with sand pit sand, and let her see you bury some tasty treats in there - then encourage her to dig them out again - repeat this for several days, and it will soon become a special area where she never knows what she's going to find - stuffed Kongs, alsorts can be hidden.......

im afraid you may have to put up with it, i have a labrador and at the age of almost three still digs in the garden which is really annoying, so to solve this i have had to pave my back garden it looks better and she cant put any more holes in it