Stopping Digging?

[kolarik1]

So Marble is digging holes in the back yard...which means she is covered in mud when she comes in. She did it a little bit last fall, but stopped once the fosters left. She picked Noah, so I don't know if this is out of frustration or boredom.

 

Any ideas on how to train a dog not to dig...I should add, I have a dog door so they can go outside when I'm gone. I work 10 hour days, so if I shut the dog door I would need to have someone come in while I'm gone. I shut the dog door for while I'm here so I can watch her while she is outside. Rather than being white/fawn brindle she is currently mud/fawn brindle.

 

TIA

[tuff]

I feel your pain. Four of my five dig and I have a dog door. They have clearly missed digging over the winter, if you know what I mean. No solution here. At least we have sandy soil.

[kolarik1]

I should add she is still somewhat skittish although she's been here since the end of July. It was all I could do at first to hold her still to get all the mud out of her paws...she finally stood there with her tail tucked so far underneath that it just about touched her belly.

 

This is the same dog who for the last week, has asked for a belly rub each time I go to give her the benadryl she has to take before her meals...she loves belly rubs in general and asks for them whenever I walk near her laying on a bed.

Edited March 22, 2014 by kolarik1

[3greytjoys]

Any idea about what might be motivating her? Some examples...

Separation anxiety (or other types of anxiety)

Sight hunting an underground "moving" critter, or smelling critters that tunnel (any paths noticed in her digging design?)

Digging attempts to escape under fence line or gate

Focused interest around tree roots

Attempts to bury goodies

Self-entertainment (digging holes anywhere/everywhere in the yard without any pattern)

Digging near the house door

 

As difficult as it is, please try not to punish her after the act. Reprimanding dogs for anything after their undesirable action does not work, and often increases problems.

 

If she's simply bored and has excess energy, try walking/exercising her longer before you leave for work (weather permitting). Otherwise, there was recent thread re: ideas to help stimulate a hound's mind with indoor activities during winter. (We play with hounds by running up/down carpeted stairs to help keep their blood circulating well during crummy weather, etc.)

Practice happy, positive obedience training or other interactive games to help stimulate her mind while building her confidence.

 

Rotating dog safe toys every few days helps keep their interest to redirect energy in a positive way. (Multiples of each toy type ensure every dog in a multi-dog household gets that desired toy type. Example: We have dog-safe/non-chewable hard soccer size balls that dogs can roll around a yard. Depending on the dog, some tough Kong toys are okay to have around; however, "workable" food toys are not recommended for homes with multiple non-supervised dogs accessing the same spaces. (Too easy for fights to happen over food toys.) Avoid "tennis balls". Since you have a cat, I'd avoid GH lures also.

 

Many people build a designated "doggie sand box" as an "approved" play area.

 

The dog door should work from both directions for Greyhounds; otherwise, that could be a problem since Greyhounds' body temperature drops very rapidly in cooler conditions (or increases too much during warm seasons). A hound's body discomfort could cause such anxiety that desperation is channelled inappropriately by not being able to access the dog's indoor environment (including water).

 

Existing holes could be filled with rocks, etc. but it often takes more than one solution to correct dogs since they usually move to another soft digging zone. There are other ways to handle critter holes, etc. if you happen to notice those things as her possible motivation.

 

ETA: Please use caution if using any chicken wire. Even if dogs' nails are trimmed short, nails could potentially catch on wire and rip a nail.

Edited March 28, 2014 by 3greytjoys

[Guest june]

I don't know if this will help you but Nova recently started digging in one spot right next to the sidewalk in the yard. I've redirected her and she stopped digging when I was around. I have someone who lets the pups out at noon. When I came home yesterday she had been at that spot again. She was outside standing by the spot looking at me. I went in the house and took some Dawn liquid mixed with some water and drizzled it over the spot and walked away. I watched her walk over and sniff it (she likes to get her nose in there), sneeze, look at me disgusted and walk away. I know I will have to "replenish" the Dawn but for right now it is working.

[Fruitycake]

Is there any possibility that you could make a "sandbox" or "acceptable location for digging" area for her? Maybe digging is just plain exciting for her! If you could make an "acceptable" area, maybe you could follow June's suggestion and use scent to try to dissuade her from digging in those areas that you deem off limits? Stinky (to the dog) perfume, air fresheners, or other "sneezeable" smells might help persuade her to dig elsewhere, as long as there was an elsewhere to dig. If you created a real sandbox, maybe that would alleviate some of the "mud puppy" effects for you and for her.

 

Monty doesn't have access to a yard whenever he wants, but we have to watch him exceptionally carefully when we take him to my sister's house (fenced yard) early in the year when there's a nice, soft, rototilled garden for him to play in. He never digs anywhere else, but he can make a 2' deep hole in about ten seconds (and a huge mess of the fence and yard with the tossed dirt) if he realizes the garden is soft. He just likes the action of digging, I think, and will paw the soil, then dig furiously for a few minutes and then go pell mell around the yard to fly around in circles a few times until he goes right back to the garden to start it again. (He did this twice, two years in a row, before we learned to immediately fence that area off so he can't even feel the soft, beautiful soil under his toes. Both time the garden wasn't planted, and was very freshly - that day - tilled, so it was fixable. And man did we all laugh!) Our Allie is a digger when she wants to lie down, inside and out, so we have to watch her and interrupt her immediately or she'll make a little depression to lie in. She couldn't care less about soft, beautiful, flingable dirt, and just wants her "bed."

 

I'm afraid that there may be no way to train her not to dig at all, other than by making it completely impossible for her to do so (pave the entire backyard or prevent access). And that sounds like a lousy option for everyone!

[Guest Scouts_mom]

Good Luck.

[kolarik1]

It's random, not near a fence...I would consider a sandbox for her and the puppy...just hoping it doesn't turn to "mud" as I have plenty of that already. The dogs don't get in to trouble for digging unless I catch them in the act...then it is a stern "no." She did dig near a tree stump once, but this one is a few feet from a tree...

[brianamac]

One thing that really helped us with the mud pit our yard had become last spring was buying a few bales of straw from the garden centre and scattering them in the backyard to make a bed of straw that completely covered the yard.

Boy, did it look ugly.

However, our yard is small enough and the straw was cheap, so it worked to help avoid mud-monster dogs after playing/digging/running. We just raked it up once spring was over and things dried out. And ignored the judgement from the neighbours.

[3greytjoys]

Good idea about temporarily spraying the area with a smell that dogs don't like (as long as it's eco-friendly and not harmful if ingested).

 

This may not help in Marble's case, but if our hounds don't have a cushy dog bed while we're outside gardening, a couple hounds will try to dig since they refuse to lie down without a bed. Our hounds are supervised during outside time so it's easier to correct the behavior but their digging appeared to stem from boredom, critters, and/or self-entertainment. We cover an underground critter area with extra bags filled with bark (as storage until needed for replenishing hounds' potty area).

 

Of course, prevention is optimal to nip digging in the bud before it becomes a habit. A dog door presents a bigger challenge. Please let us know what ends up working best for Marble.