It is a nuisance – any suggestions on how we stop it digging holes other than sub contracting it out to Extrata?

Dog gets ½day or sometimes longer out in the garden, gets at least 45mins exercise morning and evening, kongs, bones, hidden food, toys all that but still wants to contact her relatives in Australia it seems.

See that wall at the end of the garden ….

pack animal– needs company

dogs can’t dig through concrete….. and grass only needs mowing, again and again and again.

its simple, we encase the dog in concrete

I don’t care too much about the asthetics of it but the holes are pretty deep and getting deeper..

dog is a legend and enjoying itself. give up on lawn. accept doggie loves to dig.

stop burying women, i’m sure the dog will relax then.

also if that’s your mrs she seems happy enough. just let him go mad!

*stops wondering where the OP got his login name from*

Do you live, in true Scooby Doo fashion, on an ancient Indian Burial Site?

I have no sympathy. I do have envy though, envy of your garden and surrounding land 😯

Looks Awesome!

We had an Airedale that used to dig bloody big holes in the lawn. Tried everything to stop it. In the end all we could do was to back fill the hole with bricks, then a thin layer of soil and re-seed the patch. She used to like to dig the soft earth from a previous attempt. the hard brick stopped her efforts and after a few attempts she just gave up.

What about giving the dog a specific digging area with a softer top compound, bark chippings etc?, sounds a daft idea….. may even be a daft idea but what have you got to lose?. If you bury toys/chews just under the surface she might just tend to search in the one area rather than all over the place, then again she may get carried away and undermine the corner of the house so prob a bad idea.

Nice dog, garden, views, surrounding area – I’ll give you 9/10

Sounds like the dog needs mental stimulation. I suggest dog training.

These should solve the problem

or the more butch ‘outdoor’ version

Sorry I can’t help with the dog, but where’d your missus get that hoodie from?

Milkie – Member

Sounds like the dog needs mental stimulation. I suggest dog training.

Training for what exactly? Crochet? or diamond mining? I’ll have you know she just passed her Silver Good Citizen Award 😆 as adjudicated by the Kennel Club – she has the stamina of a Kenyan Olympic champion, huge paws for running long distances and is only 18months old.

Anyone need foundations dug for a new shed/skyscraper? will work for bones…

Do like the idea of backfilling with bricks as she has re-dug holes after I filled them in.

Looks like a young dog. That could be more than half of the problem.

Of my two Spaniels one loved to dig. The other used to look on and would occasionally wander over and sniff at bottom of the crevasse like a foreman on a building site then go and lie in the sun again. Back garden eventually looked like a scale map of Passchendaele but she grew out of it. The lawn would never have passed STW muster anyway as the builders did their normal trick of putting all the crap below two inches of topsoil. Had the garden redone when she stopped at about three and all is well.

I would think she’s just bored and/or anxious at being shut in the garden for half the day….dogs human company

I would think she’s just bored and/or anxious at being shut in the garden for half the day….dogs human company

Yes another Dog is a regular topic of discussion – Flowerpower may well be along in a minute to tell me what to do! – And what sort of Dog I would like..no need for another of those threads 😀

Sorry…I meant dogs need human company

dog is a legend and enjoying itself. give up on lawn. accept doggie loves to dig.

Dogs are originally burrowing animals, it’s just a throwback to his ancestory. To solve it you have to catch him doing it to show him you disapprove. If Fido is bored, he’s making his own entertainment up, then you arrive home and possibly make a fuss around the hole, meaning he sees you do this and thinks ‘cool, they like the holes’, reinforcing his behaviour.

I’ve currently got a 6 month old German Shepherd who, If left alone for a couple of hours, rapes my 7 year old Lab and turns into a 25kg paper shredder. Little git..!

Of my two Spaniels one loved to dig.

LOL my two labs did that except the bitch started the dig with a few scrapes then stood back and let her brother do the remaining hard graft until they escaped into next doors garden. They grew out of it after a year or so but not before I had lined the garden fence with upright slabs buried a foot down 😀

No stimulation, other than digging, in the garden where she spends half a day so can discount that as exercise or any form of challenge. 45 mins morning and evening but what sort of exercise is that? Pavements? Hard running? Ziva gets an hour on pavements when I have work til 1pm but if she only had that twice a day she’d be climbing the wall by now. When I get back from work she does 8 miles with me on the bike and on non work days she does 10 or more miles on none work days. She did 18 round cyb beast on Saturday. She hasn’t got the energy or inclination to do anything after all that. Having said all that my brother has a doberman two months younger than ziva and he gets nowhere near the same amount of exercise. Maybe once or twice a week! But he is mentally extremely slow… I’m sure all he can see is birds flying round his head all day. I also know other people don’t exercise to the same level I do so I’m not saying your doing things wrong. I’m merely saying what works for me!

Also it’a good idea to have one section where she’s allowed to dig. Bury some treats or bones. The only problem is communicating that it’s allowed there And not everywhere else and that’ll take supervision and redirection so a fair bit of time to crack so it really depends on how serious a problem it is.

Her exercise is fairly varied, we live in a rural area and she is rarely on the lead, this morning I ran 8-9km with her, last night it was all by the river and other days it is through woodland with a bike – 10k+ including hills. Weekends she will range/follow as far as you let her and never gives in. She is as fit and lean as they come and very bright, thing is if we spend the day at home she just lies about sleeping or staring out the cat (who sleeps with her eyes open, I’m sure!) she gave up the puppdom of chewing and jumping up etc with a bit of training and perserverance. I am just curious to see what the STW Doggers sorry, doggie people had to suggest.

Landmines ?? (spot the Cat Person)

I would think she’s just bored and/or anxious at being shut in the garden for half the day….dogs human company

or you could be talking compleye bollocks. I would stop giving it bones. Give our dog bones and she will happily spend all day burying it and digging it up again. If we dont give her a bone she just sleeps. You could always build a smaller run for while you are out.

Landmines ?? (spot the Cat Person)

Might improve the look of the garden, but suspect the dog wouldn’t notice!

My mothers dog is a digger and she has managed to reduce the destruction it caused.
How long are the dogs claws dogs dig sometimes to trim them up.

If the dog digs in the same place all the time bury a balloon then cover it over the bang it causes quite often helps stop it.#

Alternatively bury its crap in the hole its a tad more harsh but does work.

Run reduction also works but hey he has an nice area to roam thats far better for him than being penned up all day.

Finally a really tired dog doesn’t dig holes

Good luck trying to regulate this type of behaviour can be a real problem.

oh yeh i did the crap thing – that works.

he is less of a digger than yours, tends to just go for specific spots.

i just moved a fresh nugget onto his favourite spot – no more digging.

win!

could you try that? or is location random?

Spray with hose pipe if you catch her in the act?

But maybe there is something under the garden that it is trying to dog up? Maybe some bodies or treasure. I think you should get a digger in and rip up the garden and see 😀

Another vote for buying her some big f-off cow bones

if she’s going to be digging holes, she might as well be doing it for something worthwhile 😀

balloon thing has worked really well for a few friends over the years

If Fido is bored, he’s making his own entertainment up, then you arrive home and possibly make a fuss around the hole, meaning he sees you do this and thinks ‘cool, they like the holes’, reinforcing his behaviour.

Unless you catch an animal in the act, it won’t associate getting a telling off with the act you’re trying to discourage.

If you get home and give the dog a good shouting at because of the holes, it’ll just think “I’m outside, he’s home, and he’s shouting at me” and just become anxious at being in the garden as that’s where he gets (as far as he’s concerned) a random rollockings. It’s possible the digging is a continued response to being anxious at being in the garden.

Jeez – i go in to a meeting for half a day and leave SBH alone with a camera…

tracknicko – Member
dog is a legend and enjoying itself. give up on lawn. accept doggie loves to dig.

Guess we’re heading down this route… but just wondered if there was anything else we could do.

captaincarbon – Member
…In the end all we could do was to back fill the hole with bricks, then a thin layer of soil and re-seed the patch. She used to like to dig the soft earth from a previous attempt. the hard brick stopped her efforts and after a few attempts she just gave up.

We have tried back filling and reseeding, keeping her off the lawn for a few weeks, but she just loves clearing out the fresh compost when she gets a chance (guess this links into giving her a nice soft area to dig)… the bricks idea could work…

Milkie – Member
Sounds like the dog needs mental stimulation. I suggest dog training.

Agreed. We are gong through the kennel club training route and have also just registered to start agility. I try to mix training in with walks, sometimes using heel work etc instead of letting her run etc to try and tire her mentally as well as physically.

JEngledow – Member
Sorry I can’t help with the dog, but where’d your missus get that hoodie from?

Spokeshirts 🙂

Twodogs – Member
I would think she’s just bored and/or anxious at being shut in the garden for half the day….dogs human company

I know owning a dog and working is a compromise. She comes to work with me a couple of days most weeks, and the MIL is around for two half days, but sometimes she has to be alone… A second dog is possible, but we would wait until she is a bit older.

hels – Member
Landmines ?? (spot the Cat Person)

Suspect our cat is already planning that – or maybe we have just got the wrong culprit 😉

Thanks for all the other suggestions, looks like SBH has got a busy few weeks ahead!!! 😛

EDIT – She doesn’t actually get a bollocking for the holes, it is just frustrating to me who would like a nice lawn, and potentially dangerous to the kids / dog running across the lawn and getting a foot caught.

Is that the Ochills in the background?

What food do you feed it?

Kelpies need sheep like I need beer, if you haven’t got any sheep I’ll take her off your hands…
Edit – I agree with the above though, the are very intelligent dogs that need both mental and physical stimulation. Do very well with agility trials etc. do watch she doesn’t manage to get over your walls though… They can get over virtually anything if there is something worth herding on the other side.

Maybe the obvious reason is obvious? Get rid of your dog?