Lately one of my bitches has started 'digging' at certain areas of the sitting room carpet and the mattress she sleeps on. She goes at them like a giant cat sharpening her claws. She is 5yo and entire and doesn't appear to be in any distress or pain. In all other ways she is quite normal.

She came to me at 1yo from a home where she was trained by the methods recommended by a certain TV and popular book training 'expert'. The methods certainly didn't work on a sighthound and when she arrived she was a nervous wreck, always uptight and frightened that she might do something wrong. It took all of 2 years but since she is now a normal, occasionally naughty, affectionate girl.

Could the digging be a recurrence of her anxiety for some reason? Or has anyone any ideas as to why she might be doing it? Or of how to stop it? When I'm there I can tell her to 'leave it alone' and she stops but her mattress and the area of carpet are looking ragged from times I'm not around.

I don't know how to stop it  but just wanted to say my bitches do this as well -on the painted concrete floor in the kitchen, it's full of marks were they dig every evening. I think they just like to dig and so try even when not outdoors. :)

At least she's not digging up the kitchen tiles - yet! :)

My two always have a dig before they settle down on their bed :)

Moose also likes a good dig when she is out and about :)

Many years ago I knew someone whose miniature poodle liked to dig the lawn up - so she trained her to dig on a frisbee.  If the dog started digging anywhere at any time, the owner would thrown the frisbee on the floor in front of the dog and tell her to dig - which she did!

my two sighthounds dig at their bedding and occasionally have been known to attack and rip it with their teeth, as            a result i dont buy them expensive beds, they get charity shop blankets .

Banya does this occasionally, she seems to go through phases. She didn't really do it for her first couple of years at all.

If you are concerned it may be due to anxiety, you could try a DAP diffuser as that should take off the edge of her anxiety :)
However, perhaps it is just showing that she is confident enough to display normal dog behaviour without any fear? Maybe it's a good sign? :)

Another suggestion - is she at all affected by the problem with the herding as it could make the home a bit less relaxed?

Lindsay
x

However, perhaps it is just showing that she is confident enough to display normal dog behaviour without any fear? Maybe it's a good sign?

Hadn't thought of that Lindsay but you might be right. It took this girl a long, long time to come out of her shell. When we got her at first she wouldn't come out of the dog room to the kitchen for 6 months because she was so terrified of doing something wrong. Even when she did finally allow herself to be persuaded out, she didn't accept affection or show trust for a long time. It was at least 2 years before she began to behave like a normal deerhound. She hadn't been mistreated as such, just subjugated to a very rigid training scheme that was totally unsuitable for her.

Now that you mention it she has only recently started other minor naughties like begging for scraps and for cuddles and jumping up and down when her dinner is being prepared. But the point is that she started those minor misbehaviours at the same time as she began to dig. I thought she has been 'normal', albeit very well behaved for a deerhound, for the last couple of years, but maybe it is actually only over the last few months that she has begun to trust us enough to act up in these small ways.  And in her case I'm very glad to see her being naughty! Mattresses and carpets are a small cost for this girl finally getting completely over her depression and worries. :)

Touch wood, I think we are getting on top of the herding. In the house I keep an eagle eye on the shelties so that I can stop them before they start, and outside they quickly learned to go to their own gate. It still isn't perfect, but I think we are slowly getting there. Will update that thread in a month or so when I hope to have some reliable results. In the meantime thanks to you for your advice and to Carrington for the two gate idea. :)

Could try that, but I think I'd need a dustbin lid rather than a frisbee! :D