I am going to share a tip I learned about how to prevent your dog’s digging up the yard. I went with my neighbor to run some errands the other day. When we got back, we were unable to drive through the front gate. That’s because his pack of dogs had dug an enormous hole over 5 feet wide and a couple feet down. We live at the beach, so it is easy for his dogs to do a lot of damage digging in a short amount of time. His dogs have done this every so often for years. My friend didn’t have a clue how to prevent his dogs from digging up his yard.
There could be several reasons why your dog may be digging up your yard. Some of the reasons for digging are boredom, an attempt to escape the yard, trying to dig down to cooler soil in times of hot weather, or because your breed of dog may have a predisposition for digging . I’ll discuss some possible solutions so you can prevent your dog from digging up your lawn and garden. In my neighbor’s case the dogs dug right in front of the gate, so it was an obvious attempt to escape. At other times his dogs have dug huge holes which are nowhere near the gate, apparently out of boredom. It is also very hot at the beach, so the dogs will also dig up recently watered areas of the yard to get at the cooler soil underneath. Finally my neighbor said enough was enough-let’s put a stop to this.
I checked out the advice on stopping a dog from digging in Secrets to Dog Training and used those tips to help him out. Click here to learn about Secrets to Dog Training. Secrets to Dog Training Review This book has a great section on stopping digging dog problems, as well as advice on every other aspect of obedience training.
We used the book’s advice to build his dogs a separate play area, where they could hang out and dig to their heart’s content, without messing up the rest of the yard. My friend’s yard is all sand, so it was only necessary to enclose the desired area with fencing to make the acceptable digging area. He also was thoughtful enough to his pets to provide shade cloth above for protection from the heat. My neighbor even put in a wading pool and some chew toys. He obviously loves those dogs. He keeps his dogs in their enclosure while away, and they are having a pretty good time, and no longer digging up the yard while he’s gone.
You may not live on a sandy beach lot, but you can still make a suitable area for your digging dog in you own yard. You can find an area of the yard to enclose and create the substitute digging area for your pet by putting a sandbox filled with loose soil mixed with sand for digging. Pick an area to enclose that has some shade (or add some shade cloth) and in addition to putting in a sandbox for digging purposes, be sure to put in his water bowl and some chew toys to keep him busy.
Besides stopping your dogs from digging up the yard, it also gives them a cool place to hang out while you are gone. If you later notice your dog is only digging in his new area, you can try letting him loose again even if you are not at home, and it is quite possible he won’t dig up the lawn. This probably won’t hold true for the dogs that dig for escape purposes. Once you’ve provided the special area, you’ve prevented your dog from any further digging in your yard.
You can read more about stopping dog digging and other dog training tips by clicking here-Stop Your Dog From Digging.
To get your copy of the best on-line dog training program for teaching your dog at home, click here to get Secrets to Dog Training.
