Circling and scraping.

[Colin]

Does anyone else's Cocker scratch and scrape at the floor as if digging a hole before settling down to sleep ? Jimmy has recently started this, much to my annoyance. :evil:  There's just not stopping him either, no matter how much I tell him off he just pauses before doing it again. It goes on for about 15 minutes, on and off.

While he is digging his way to Australia, Misty can be found literally hopping around and around in circles. After a few minutes of this she will lie down and start suckling on a soft toy. Her eyes half close and she goes into a kind of trance, her body moving back and forwards and sometimes her paws tapping away.

I've been told that the scraping is to remove damp soil and the circling to flatten grass ...... both ways to make sleeping more comfortable in the wild. As they have never slept outside in their lives, you'd think they'd realise this isn't really necessary by now . :roll:                      

[Mike]

Both of mine have started doing this very recently too Colin. I had been wondering if it had anything to do with having heating on in the house making them uncomfortable?

ps nice avatar!                      

[Mary]

Lottie often digs and circles too Colin :roll:   She also tries burying her rawhide chew in the corner of her crate, if she's dragged her blanket out then it means she's constantly trying to claw her way through the plastic tray :roll:

She is also a suckler too...she sucks on her vetbed (no matter how many times I wash it it always looks disgusting within a couple of days :? ) and like Misty, she goes into a little trance.  It's just like a child with a comfort blanket or dummy                    

[Loraine]

Hmm v. strange.  You mentioned this to me the other day and I said that neither of my two did it. But, as of this week Georgia has started to dig at her cushion in her crate and go round in circles before settling down.  I bought her a new cushion to see if this would make a difference because I thought she was uncomfortable but there has been no change yet.  I wonder why they do it?  Perhaps Mike's theory about central heating is right?  Only thing is I've had the heating on for ages now...

Loraine.

PS Candy doesn't do it at all.                    

[*Jay*]

Brooks done this for as long as I can remember :roll:  Vegas just circles a couple of times and settles down but Dallas has recently started the scraping and digging - only on my aunties leather chair though :shock:                    

[Magic Star]

Yep Indie does this too!!  She even tries to dig in the sofa :twisted:  She digs and digs and digs with both paws  in a mad fury :roll:   Only to move somewhere else and start the whole process again :?

Emma and Indie                    

[Pammy]

Yup - count mine in. Jasper is the most aggressive and is another who likes to give the sofa a good going at :?  Buddy jusy does it to the floor - hard or carpeted :?                    

[Shirley]

Morgan scrapes his bed too and he sleeps with his jaws clamped around a huge teddy - I'm sure he must wake up with a very sore mouth but he does it regardless.  When he's settling down for a sleep he also does a very strange thing with his claws - it's like a cat does, lying still but digging it's claws in, first one set then the other - weird animal  :?  :wink:                      

[Sheryl]

Chloe does this too.!!  She has a bed by the side of my bed which she scrapes and claws at and pushes until it is in a heap and then she sleeps on the carpet :?  :twisted:   Mind you, that is only until she gets fed up and then she gets on the bed with us. :x                      

[Gilly]

Butty is a digger to :wink:  it's almost like she's trying to arrange some kind of bed out of the carpet  :?  she actually never ever does this in her proper bed...only on the carpet.
I wonder if this is some kind of natural instinct  :?: I don't think is anything to do woith central heating with Butty as she always done this...along with the "howling" which is becomming more and more frequent  :shock:  :?                    

[LeeC]

Both our cockers have had this habit for a while, we thought they must have heard someting moving under the floor (god knows what!).  It must only be a cocker trait.                    

[Shell]

Tell me about it - I am getting a couch re-upholstered this week that is a victim of Bailey's "digging" on it (& ripping the fabric)!

If anyone has a cure I would love to hear it - as long as its not destructive I dont mind.... but - oh well - he's worth it !

Shell                    

[Mary P]

Hi,
Tia has also done this since we've had her, although it has calmed slightly. She tries to build a nest if on a blanket by scraping it up and has thankfully stopped now on the sofa and in the car without ripping the seat.
She'll also bury items in this way to save them until later!                    

[FionaM]

Poppy does this too. Both in her bed and on the sofa and armchairs. She's done it for as long as I can remember. When we bought a new suite we were very careful to choose one that had fabric that wouldn't get too badly damaged with her digging.                    

[Eljay]

Alfie can join the club too. He has always done it, but last night he woke me up cause he was trying to build a hill out of his blankets :?  and I'd got some things in a carrier bag at the side of my bed. (One of those noisy bags made out of that stiff plastic) He obviously thought it was ok to add the bag to the mound he had made out of his blankets :roll:  Not all that funny at 3am!!! Still my fault for letting him sleep in our room.
We've got throws on our furniture in the conservatory and he loves to scuff it all up into a heap before he settles down on it. He seems to like to have a pillow.