Digging

A friend of mine has a young mixed breed dog that loves to dig. He is not digging to get out or anything like that, he just digs up the lawn, he is not bored he is kept busy but he seems to enjoy digging. She brings him in each time he starts to dig. Any suggestions on ways to save her lawn? Thanks.

Some breeds are bred to dig. They chase, catch and kill varmits that burrow in the ground. A dog like this would be very difficult to stop from digging. We don't have enough information at this point to give more help.

Oh, I almost forgot. She could set apart a small section of yard, put in a sandbox and encourage him dig there.

I think Bill is right, beautiful lawns and pets don't really mix. Has she thought of fencing part of the garden to keep the dog out? If not maybe she will just have to accept a few holes in the lawn.

By the look of the dog he is mostly terrier, so as Bill said he probably has digging in his genes. A couple of months ago we saw some garden ornaments like moles heads as if they were coming up through the lawn, my friend joked that she needed those ornaments to make her laugh when she looks at all the holes in the lawn. If she has to choose between dog and lawn I know that there will be no contest, she loves that dog.

Yes .... oh yes. One day my dogs decided to bring me a treat -- I think it was a mole. Scared me to death. Fortunately in my view, they didn't kill it and it made a getaway after I ordered my dogs to leave it alone.

It is a good thing that you didn't try to rescue it Orrymain, moles look very cute but they can give a nasty bite.

No, I wasn't interested in that. Actually, what happened was that I got the dogs to put it down, then I used a reacher device and gently picked it up and put it outside the fence. I actually called pest control the next morning, but it was long gone, so I assume it was alive and fled the scene (smart mole).

Bill is VERY right, my digger could get to China in a heartbeat. This is a natural thing that they do, my yard was full of holes, really big one's, I made him his own digging spot. It was about 4'x4' area.

Once you have your place ready you play with your dog in this area, using his toys, treats etc, dig with him and have some fun.

Next you will need to catch him at digging in any other place but his place, and stop him, with "bad dog", then quickly play with him in his digging spot with alot of "good dog".

This was great for my dog and my yard.

Syn, thank you that is very helpful advice.

Syn thank you so much for your suggestions, that is very helpful, I will pass it on to my friend.

I hope it works as well for everyone as it did for me...

I learned alot with this dog, I learned to work with, compermise, and say no, and really mean it. He is and will always be the foundation of how I teach my dog(s).

I also learned with him.... how to stop jumping on people, and made it HIS idea.

I love the way you expressed that Syn, our dogs can teach us so much about them - and about ourselves!

It is true, we learn a lot about our dogs but in the process we learn a lot about ourselves too. We should never underestimate dogs.