Digging At The Carpet

[Guest shivelyeg]

Hi all! I'm still new here but I am so thankful to be able to ask questions and get advice!

 

We've had Koli since April and I feel like she is still making adjustments. I don't think she has separation anxiety, but maybe she does. She is only "herself" when both me and my husband are home. She'll be happy to see one of us, but then will sulk and is over the moon when the other gets home. I feel bad leaving her at all because I know she misses us so much!

So our recent problem is, she will dig the carpet in our room at night. When we first got her, she would sleep in the corner on the floor and we had trouble with her pacing a lot...but it was just the new environment and confusion, and soon she started sleeping through the night. Then, for about a month or two, she was sleeping in our bed with us (which was a little disruptive to our sleeping because she takes over the whole bed, but we didn't mind because we like her close to us and knew she was comfortable). Then, we had the crazy winter storm where we were snowed in for 3 days straight and I think she got very used to us being home and never leaving...because after we started going back to work, she got moody again, which is understandable, but she started sleeping on the floor in her corner and never jumping into our bed anymore! Which, it's nice to get good sleep without her moving around and waking us up...however..she will get up several (way to many) times during the night and 'nest' but will start digging the carpet like CRAZY. it is so loud and wakes us both up. we tell her no and she'll go back to sleep but will just get up and do it again. we think she's cold, because there's 2 windows in that corner. so I added even more blankets down there and thought it would help her nest more but she still goes for the carpet. She has slept with her fleece coat on before but we haven't tried it since the digging, so we're planning on trying that tonight. I don't want to have our space heater running all night. any ideas? I feel bad telling her no because I know she's probably nesting to get warm. I appreciate any thoughts or advice!!!

[Houndmommy03]

Based on an experience we had with our grey, I'm guessing she's cold. Can you put a dog bed in that corner? I think that might offer more warmth than just blankets (could add the blankets to the bed). Good luck!

[Guest shivelyeg]

thanks for your respons! sorry, i should have mentioned-there is a dog bed there. it's made out of 2 pillows and fleece so maybe it's not warm enough. she just crumples it up like a blanket ha. sometimes we'll wake up and she's in the corner on the carpet with the blankets surrounding her-not touching her! we cover her up but she never stays that way

[Time4ANap]

The fleece coat may not be enough when the temps are cold. I would try some 2 legged or 4 legged pajamas.

 

Rocket is a nester. When we put the PJ's on him, he sleeps through the night.

[OwnedBySummer]

She sounds cold to me, too. When she's being vigorous in the middle of the night, have you ever felt her to see if she feels cold? Especially her ears? My girl has been sleeping in jammies since late November, otherwise she will fidget. Another good indicator of them being chilly is if they stop sprawling and roaching. Cold hound = ball-o-hound, generally. You might also do better with a dog bed with a bolster all round, to reduce drafts on her. It sounds like you don't have central heating and I have always found that they are draftier. It would also be impossible for her to mush up a bolstered bed, although I suppose she could flip out the cushion from the middle. There's lots of great bed choices out there, like Slumberballs or Bowser. Costco also has popular beds although I haven't seen them have a fully bolstered one yet.

[GeorgeofNE]

Some dogs are just devoted nesters.

 

I would get a more "solid" dog bed (those pillow ones are good, but they're so easy to smush around!) and give her at least two things to nest with. And teach her "knock it off."

 

George actually tore my carpet with his nesting--it was cheap builder grade, but still! I came home to find a 28 inch tear in my carpet that couldn't be repaired. I was pretty upset!

[Moonsmom]

I've seen hounds do this that simply are just looking to nest. First time it was a friend's hound that was over visiting and I thought the sweet guy was going to tear a hole thru my carpeting down to China the way he was going at it! I grabbed one of my grey's blankets and tossed it on the floor and he immediately turned his attention to digging at that to "fluff it up" (I guess!) then laid down and went to sleep on it. A verson of .. ."making your own bed and laying in it??"

[Guest shivelyeg]

that's what i was saying-that she must be digging to china! this is getting pretty frustrating. we have done everything we can to get her warm-kept her jacket on at night, added more blankets, arranged them so it was more difficult to dig. but the problem continues. i know she's comfortable, and since we added things she hasn't been cold. but she is still digging like a crazy dog! she will get up at least 5 times a night and do it. husband is firm with her and sets her straight, but it doesn't make a difference. the bad nights of sleep are really starting to get to us. it seemed that she was scared of the snow plows outside because whenever we would hear one or a loud car (we live right on a busy intersection) she would get up and dig or act fearful. but it's even happening when we don't hear noise. i don't know what to do next!

[Guest Giselle]

It has only been 4 days since you tried putting on her coat at night and adding blankets. It is possible that the changes you implemented aren't exactly what she needs. How do you know she is no longer cold? If she sleeps between two windows, can you feel a significant draft? I'm in upstate NY and my bed is next to a window. I can *definitely* feel the cold, but I like it and have a big comforter. My dog does not. So, she copes by sidling up to me and using me as a heat source. Is it possible for you to microwave a bag of rice, wrap it in some towels, and let her use it as a source of warmth? Or how about a small electric blanket? (just make sure it's placed so that she can't dig and destroy it) If she likes her crate, can you cover up and crate her in the interim? At least, this way, you can ensure that the crate doesn't get drafty v.s. sleeping in between two drafty windows. If this works, then, you'll also know that the issue was the cold.

 

Also, telling a dog "NO" and "setting her straight" doesn't teach the dog anything useful. They don't know what it means to be "set straight" It's better to address the digging issue by making sure her environment is comfortable, and try to find a solution v.s. reprimanding her.

[Guest shivelyeg]

that's what i was thinking-that the "telling her no" wasn't doing anything because i'm sure in her mind she isn't doing anything wrong so she doesn't get it. i figured she wasn't cold because when we would get up when she's digging, her ears and body were warm. when she slept with her coat on she seemed to get too hot...panting a lot, which she never does at night. i don't know why she doesn't get in bed with us if she is cold (that's what she used to do). we also put towels between the windows and blinds to insulate it a little more and that helped with the drafty cold

[krissn333]

Mom and Dad's boy Sunny digs at the carpet - just with one foot, like he would if he were moving blankets around. Some of them are just very dedicated nesters and they dont understand why this nice soft carpet won't just MOVE to their specifications

 

I'd guess she's cold too. I'd put a sturdier bed there (the rectangle beds from Costco are great and affordable!) plus blankets (find some big comforters at Goodwill) that she can pile up big and scoot around. That, plus jammies, should help.

 

Ozzie likes a big TALL pile when he nests. He makes a tall pile and then flops down on top of it

[GeorgeofNE]

My dog digs and nests and it has NOTHING to do with being cold. Some dogs are heavy nesters.

[cristar]

Frannie's a huge heavy nester. She'll even grab rugs and drag them all over and try

and nest with them. Blankets, rugs, towels, whatever is on the floor is fair game to her.

She's not doing it because she's cold, she's doing it because she's just a nester.

Yup, she tries to nest up the carpet too, although she gives up on that quickly because it

doesn't 'bunch' up like blankets and other things do.

 

She sleeps in a kennel in our room at night with two big blankets. She will nest them around

for a couple minutes and then lay down and sleep through the night though.

[sobesmom]

Doesn't sound like she's cold at this point. It sounds like she's quite a nester - I'd consider buying a good-sized 4x6 ft area rug to put under her bed so she doesn't destroy your carpet. ($20 at walmart or dollar general). Put the dog bed and a couple blankets on top. My Diana LOVES to dig carpeting. The only room in my house that has it is DD's bedroom - and she's destroyed it with her vigorous carpet-digging.

 

The issue to me is - Why is she awake so much in the night? Waking up and rearranging the bed once or twice per night - a few seconds at a time - is not unusual, and shouldn't wake you up. Vigorous digging 5 times per night - is. I think she needs to get her sleep schedule straightened out. It's not unusual for a dog in a home for 6-9 months to go through a change. She's waking up too much at night. SO - more exercise during the day! How about a vigorous play session or long walk in the evening? I don't know your schedule - what's her exercise?

 

I'm just spit-balling it here - but it sounds like more of a sleep schedule issue than a digging issue. Root cause. I see the digging as "something to do while I'm awake" side-effect.

[OwnedBySummer]

Yeah, if she's not cold or uncomfortable, definitely sounds like a nester and/or a bored dog.