Hi

i was just wondering if there is anyway you can stop puppys from digging flaming great holes in the garden?
my 5 month old puppy keeps try to dig her way out of the garden! she is so cheeky! while im filling in a hole she has dug she will stand right next to me and dig a new one!!
she is also very crafty! at one point i was able to tell if she had been digging whilst she was outside by looking at the tops of her paws, because they would be covered in dirt! but now when she comes in there is no dirt on her paws! but i know she has been digging because everyday the holes are bigger or there are new ones!!

Emma

Sorry I can not offer any help, my one did do this but now only digs under a little little tykes climbing frame. We beleive he thinks we can not see him lol, I keep telling him stop digging to china but he refuses to listen

> at one point i was able to tell if she had been digging whilst she was outside by looking at the tops of her paws, because they would be covered in dirt! but now when she comes in there is no dirt on her paws! but i know she has been digging because everyday the holes are bigger or there are new ones!!
>

It is funny the paws are not dirty but holes are bigger I wonder how she is keeping her paws clean. lol you have one intelligent dog on your hands.

Our dog used to dig.
We were told two things might work: pour vinegar into a hole, then she won't like to dig there again, or put a blown up balloon covered in earth into her favourite hole which will burst when she digs. I thought the balloon idea a bit excessive. We tried the vinegar and it did put him off the hole he was digging, but didn't stop him digging another one. We then put a fence round the top end of the garden where there is just a patio, so he is allowed in that unsupervised, and only allowed into the lawn and flowerbeds bit of the garden when we are with him, for a while i'd only let him down there on a lead, to break the habit.

The only way I have found is to stop the dog going on the garden ;-) My back garden looks like it has been used by the military for their b*mb runs! I have so many holes I wonder why they haven't all joined up yet :-D

Honestly, you will either have to put up a fence to keep him out, or concrete the garden over. I have heard that giving them an area where it is ok to dig can stop them digging elsewhere (ie their own sand pit :-) ) though I've never tried it.

My dog digs and its the same area over and over. It gets filled in one day and its an even bigger holes the following day. I have tried chilli flakes, chilli powder and also tabasco sauce. None worked for my boy, but it may for yours.

Also tried the sandpit idea which was suggested to me previous. He lays in the sandpit and doesn't dig at all. I've taken him to the beach and he's not interested in digging.

Is there a pattern to him digging, like being left alone, or is due a walk?? I know some breeds do it to keep cool, others seems to be a breed trait and others out of boredom.

Hi
my puppy digs, too. I find though that she does it when she's bored... So when I let her out, I go out with her and after she's done her business we play together for a little while, and then she's coming back inside with me. I feel I cannot blame her for digging if I can't spent time with her and she just tries to occupy herself somehow. But then we have the additional problem that she's eating absolutely everything, i.e. snails and stones, so I cannot really let her out by herself anyway...

To Suejaw,
Had a dog that did this in just 2 places, we got a bit of weldmesh/chicken wire a good bit bigger, filled the holes in, put the wire down and pegged the edges so she couldn't shove it or drag it, her face was a picture when she started trying to dig but it worked.
If you try make sure the egdes are folded under so no sharp points.
Chris

Hi Katt

Yeah i think she is intelligent lol! she does make me laugh sometimes! especially when im talking about her to people and she looks at me as if to say 'i am here and i can understand you'!!

Hi RReeve

Thanks for the advice i might give the vinegar a go especially on her favourite hole! i dont think a balloon would work with her as she has got hold of my daughters balloons in the past and popped them and she was'nt bothered by them, she just looked a bit puzzled by where it had gone and went after another one!!

Emma

Hi LindyLou

Thanks for the advice, i have been thinking about putting up a fence so that she can only go on the concrete area when shes outside alone.
I think that maybe the way to go!

Emma

Hi Sawjaw

> Is there a pattern to him digging, like being left alone, or is due a walk?? I know some breeds do it to keep cool, others seems to be a breed trait and others out of boredom.

No there does not seem to be a pattern to her digging, she does do it mostly when im not outside with her but if i do go outside with her she sometimes digs or if not she will go and find something to chew on (like the wood off the neighbours fence! or stones!) its like she ignores the fact that im there with her! she will just pick something up to chew on and sit underneath the trampoline until she gets bored! she will also do this even if she has just been for a walk!

She is a Labrador...is that a breed trait??

Thanks

Emma

Hi ulrike

Thanks for your response, i feel i can't win with her, its like i said to Suejaw-if i go out with her she will just go off underneath the trampoline and ignore that im there, even if i kick a ball about for her she will not budge from under there til she is good and ready! so i leave her out there on her own, then she just digs her holes! she won't even come indoors when i call her! i have to wait til she is ready! which is the other problem i am having with her!!

I never knew puppies were sooo naughty, or is that just my puppy?!

Emma

Most of ours have wanted to dig when they were pups. Sometimes we've fenced bits off until they forgot about digging there.  They all grew out of it in the end. Good luck!

Hi Misty

Thanks! i keep thinking oh i can't wait for her to get a bit older maybe she will calm down! then i look at pictures from when i first got her and think, aww how cute i want another one!! then poppy will do something naughty and i think no never again lol!!

Emma

Not to laugh at your post just the way you mentioned that your pup is digging as your filling :-) It has reminded me of the Sims pets game!
I was addicted to a couple of years ago!

All my dogs on that would be continually digging at least I wasn't literary filling in holes just simulated ones lol xx :-)

OK,here's a suggestion for all the owners of digging dogs...let them dig their holes and once the hole is deep or wide enough, lay a piece of old carpet down, cover with a carefully tailored bit of butyl liner, hide the edges under stones or earth and hey presto! A frog pond. A few small 'bucket ponds' are ideal and probably better than one large pond. Many benefits come to mind: your dog is doing most of the work and will win lots of praise for a job well done, it's a task guaranteed to keep your dog interested, it's less mowing for you and you are providing a much needed habitat for endangered animals--yes, sadly this now includes frogs.

Jay, I wouldn't be able to go out into my garden if I did that. It would be one big pond ;-) My 4 year old is the worst for the digging, but her daughter seems to have the family trait :-) I just leave them to get on with it in a couple of holes. I think we're getting close to China ;-)

It is a good idea though, so long as the dog doesn't decided to go paddling. Having a breed that loves water I think I'll give it a miss. Though I have been thinking of a pond for my front garden where the dogs aren't allowed. Maybe I should let them dig the hole for me :-D

Mine dug as well, and the gardener spent a lot of time filling in the holes, now its down to one hole, Whistler tends to bury whatever he has "released" from the kitchen, plastic jug, bit of bone, bit of vet bed.
Jake tends to just play now, chuck a flower pot in the air, fly around the garden, "kill" the flower pot again and back around the garden.

The pond that we have is treated as an obstacle to jump over when flying around the garden. We havent given up, but the patio is "our" area and the lawns their area and the veg plot the gardeners area which he fenced off, well actually the birds and slugs area as apart from onions nothing survived thie year.

They do seem to grow out of so many holes, they just cant grow out of the instinct to bury...

As you have said puppy, it sounds if he is having great fun with you. He has a great playmate ill dig you fill it. I would not let him see you filling the holes up. give him something to distract him.
I  am afraid I have Samoyeds and they are all great gardeners all there lives. I never let them see me putting bulbs and plants in the boarder we only now have, as they would dig them up straight away, we had most of the garden blocked paved with hanging baskets and large pots. The turf was a mud bath.

I think maybe paving is the way to go. Next spring's project I think. The dogs will think we're real spoilsports though, still as long as we keep the bushes they can still get up to no good. And the pots are always good for peeing competitions :-)

Hi all

Well Poppy made her escape at 7am this morning into next doors garden!
She had gone behind the shed, pulled a piece of wood off the fence and dug up enough of the ground to get through!!
Luckily she came back through when i stood the other side of the fence!(normally she ignores me when i ask her to come to me or come back inside!)
I have now temporarily blocked up the entrance to behind the shed, but she was not impressed when she went to go back behind there again later on and realised she couldnt get round there! she looked at me as if to say you spoill all my fun!!lol

Emma

Reminds me I looked out of the window the other day to see cocker with bone sat on a huge pot, he didnt get to bury it there that day!! My first memory of said cocker was sat in a pot biting the heads off the tulips he was so tiny..... As you say now they are just convieniant pee stops.