How do I stop him digging???????????

[jaffajuice]

Jaffa is now 8 months old and just loves digging, the problem is though he doesn't dig in the flower beds...oh no i have huge great holes all over the garden in the grass! It's as though we have a mole infestation!!!!
By the time i cover and fill in one hole hes dug another. I've now taken to putting his extendable lead on when we're sitting out side and not playing football with him!!
He knows he does wrong because when i tell him off he runs around like a mad, demented thing.
It's driving me crazy, 
any ideas please??

[beth@dallas]

I'm afraid I dont have any ideas...Im kinda having the same problem....except Beth is trying to escape under the fences!

Im currently not letting her have any alone time in the garden....Im always out there with her!!  Time consuming, but she's settled down with it alot recently!

Jill & Beth

[emms]

How about getting a kids sand pit for him, so he has somewhere where he can dig    and hopefully leave your lawn alone

[LoveCatz]

With great difficulty unless you can cordon off your lawn. It's natural for dogs to dig. Pepsi once dug a hole int he middle of our lawn so big that Woody (as a pup) fel in it and couldn't get out 

[debrand]

Take away his spade!
  Sorry couldn't resist.
No ideas I have one digger and one fall into holer myself!

[Joelf]

How about getting a kids sand pit for him, so he has somewhere where he can dig    and hopefully leave your lawn alone

I was going to suggest the same thing; I read an article in a magazine about making a sand pit for the dog to dig in - apparently you then bury all sorts of interesting things like stuffed kongs & treats & encourage the dog to dig & find them. I've never actually tried this myself so don't know how effective it would be but it's probably worth a try if you're a keen gardener & your garden is starting to resemble the surface of the moon!! 

[Nicola]

I agree with giving him a designated area to dig in, or do as I've done and just accept the holes as an interesting landscape feature 

By the way when he runs around when you tell him off he's doing that because he is reacting to you telling him off not because he knows he has done 'wrong' by digging a hole, dogs are incapable of making that connection unless you scold him as you catch him in the act of digging but as soon as he stops it's pointless scolding him as he has no idea what you're scolding him for. He is reacting to your tone of voice and body language but you could be telling him off about literally anything and his reaction would be the same. Dogs don't recognise and acknowledge things that they have done like that and they are incapable of feeling shame or remorse, it just looks like they do to us because their body language changes as they read your body language  ;

[Cazzie]

Hi

Maybe the sand pit might keep encouraging him to dig? Depends if you want him to keep digging or not? 

One of my dogs Daisy a JRT was a really bad digger when she was young, she even dug a hole in the lounge carpet right through to the floor boards which was directly in the middle of the room  She also dug a hole through the carpet in the boot of the car through to the spare wheel and used to dig holes in my garden.

I fenced off the grass in my garden and constantly discouraged her from digging with various toy's. It also helped when I got another dog. She is 5 now and it never enters her head to dig anymore thank goodness.

Cazzie

[Cob-Web]

How about getting a kids sand pit for him, so he has somewhere where he can dig    and hopefully leave your lawn alone

I was going to suggest the same thing; I read an article in a magazine about making a sand pit for the dog to dig in - apparently you then bury all sorts of interesting things like stuffed kongs & treats & encourage the dog to dig & find them. I've never actually tried this myself so don't know how effective it would be but it's probably worth a try...

From the attention that lil'bits sandpit got yesterday from all four of the dogs, I would say it is very effective - Molo took his ball in and played with it, Rocky dug two holes to Australia in the corners and Snoopy and Bonnie got covered when they went to investigate......there was no room left for lil'bit 

[Penelope]

When I had a dog who dug many years ago, someone suggested that I put her pooh in the holes!!!! Didn't try it cos didn't fancy her having pooh on her paws! 
I have seen people use doggy sandpits and I think they are a good idea, so long as you cover them so cats can't poo in them or you will have a whole new problem to contend with!
Good luck - cos Josie and Suki are working their way to Australia at the moment in one huge hole! (unless they are trying to bury Buffy  or just showing her how its's done! )

[MaxG]

Either just get used to it or put in a sand pit - that's what we did!! 

Max was a champion digger at the same age & he LOVED his sand pit & then eventully grew out of it for whatever reason.

We've totally given up on our garden though - he loves going on 'border patrol' so most of the plants & bushes etc are squished &/or chewed & the lawn has never looked so terrible, as a result of all the ball games!! Ah well - he's worth it, bless him!! At least he's never practised his garden destruction techniques in the house, thank god!! 

[emilyjw]

I've found that my dogs only tend to dig open soil, so I tend to cover the soil with something, either spreading plants or decorative stones and they tend to leave it alone.

Am planning on getting them a paddling pool for the summer, maybe they need a sand pit too....no wonder I think they are my children