7 ways to Stop Your Dog From Digging
Stopping your dog from digging in your front or backyard shouldn't be too hard especially with these easy-to-follow steps. Good thing that you are reading this right now. You might be the person that tried everything to just get your dog to stop digging. For example, if you planted a brand new patch of flowers and your dog instantly tore it down. Well, don't be frustrated, because your dog isn't digging to get you mad, but your dog is digging because maybe he doesn't like something new in the yard, or for the more common reason: just because he likes to dig.
Sounds simple right? But you might be the person that tried to lock your dog inside, punish it, or maybe even scold the poor pooch. Trust me, I know how this feels. It feels like you went through everything but just can't seem to get this to work. Well, don't sweat it.
Step One:
As the first step, don't be too creative. Let's just start with the obvious. Your dog likes to dig, and therefore you give him an especially designated digging area. Now, unless you want a huge hole in your backyard, I wouldn't recommend letting your canine dig in the ground. If I were you, I would buy your dog a sandbox, so your backyard wouldn't be ruined. And to make it even more fun for the dog, then get some of its toys that it usually isn't interested in anymore, and bury them in the sandbox, so it would be fun for your dog to dig them out.
Step Two:
I bet your dog already likes the first step. You finally leave it alone and give it its own personal digging area. Nice. Now, your pooch probably digs also because he has too much energy inside of it. Find some kind of way to get your canine exhausted. Yeah, it might sound mean, but that's not what my point is. What I'm trying to say, is take your dog and walk it at least two times a day, depending on how old it is, give it plenty of toys to play with, and limit its time out in the backyard.
Step One:
As the first step, don't be too creative. Let's just start with the obvious. Your dog likes to dig, and therefore you give him an especially designated digging area. Now, unless you want a huge hole in your backyard, I wouldn't recommend letting your canine dig in the ground. If I were you, I would buy your dog a sandbox, so your backyard wouldn't be ruined. And to make it even more fun for the dog, then get some of its toys that it usually isn't interested in anymore, and bury them in the sandbox, so it would be fun for your dog to dig them out.
Step Two:
I bet your dog already likes the first step. You finally leave it alone and give it its own personal digging area. Nice. Now, your pooch probably digs also because he has too much energy inside of it. Find some kind of way to get your canine exhausted. Yeah, it might sound mean, but that's not what my point is. What I'm trying to say, is take your dog and walk it at least two times a day, depending on how old it is, give it plenty of toys to play with, and limit its time out in the backyard.
Of course, if you have a puppy still, walk it preferably four to five times a day, give it all sorts of toys, and probably, in the end, your puppy won't remember that it needs to go out into the yard and mess it all up. A puppy is usually distracted very easily, so you don't need to put much effort into that.
Step Three:
This step is going to be an easy one, I promise because you are probably already worn out from the second one. All I want to say in this one step is to stop putting out fertilizers, nice smelling flowers, and temporarily give your backyard a dull look, so it doesn't attract the dog.
Step Four:
Well, what now? You probably are ready for a mental breakdown. Like I said don't sweat it. Your dog is still digging, probably now in its designated area, but you sometimes catch it digging in other places where it's not allowed to dig. A typical reaction of an owner would be to run over to the canine, take it by its collar, lead it inside of the house and scold it. Well, that's not going to be so smart. When you yell at a dog for digging, it doesn't know why you are yelling at it.
Step Three:
This step is going to be an easy one, I promise because you are probably already worn out from the second one. All I want to say in this one step is to stop putting out fertilizers, nice smelling flowers, and temporarily give your backyard a dull look, so it doesn't attract the dog.
Step Four:
Well, what now? You probably are ready for a mental breakdown. Like I said don't sweat it. Your dog is still digging, probably now in its designated area, but you sometimes catch it digging in other places where it's not allowed to dig. A typical reaction of an owner would be to run over to the canine, take it by its collar, lead it inside of the house and scold it. Well, that's not going to be so smart. When you yell at a dog for digging, it doesn't know why you are yelling at it.
In fact, all you need to do is supervise it, and if your dog betrays your trust and digs somewhere else, then take it by the collar, firmly say, "No," and lead it inside for five minutes as a time out. No scolding needed, just one firm, "No," and you are done.
Step Five:
Now we already agreed that your backyard will temporarily look dull. Well, here is more good news. Put a chicken wire fence around your dog's designated area, and drape some kind of cloth on top of it, so it won't recognize that it's a fence, and wouldn't want to dig a tunnel under it. After a while, your dog will understand that it can't go outside of this fence. After it learns that, you would want to take down the fence, finally, and put up smaller borders, to gradually get the beauty of your backyard back.
Step Five:
Now we already agreed that your backyard will temporarily look dull. Well, here is more good news. Put a chicken wire fence around your dog's designated area, and drape some kind of cloth on top of it, so it won't recognize that it's a fence, and wouldn't want to dig a tunnel under it. After a while, your dog will understand that it can't go outside of this fence. After it learns that, you would want to take down the fence, finally, and put up smaller borders, to gradually get the beauty of your backyard back.
If you have some kind of temporary spray paint or even some kind of rope to put as the small border, then that would be perfect. You will soon be able to take that down too after your dog gets the hint.
Step Six:
Now for the good news....and this isn't a joke. You could finally beautify your garden again but only do it gradually, so the canine will get used to the first changes before the second ones happen. If your dog gets excited again and starts to dig in different places, you will still have that rope or spray paint technique. Sometimes the dog won't understand what all of the physical distractions are about. When I say physical distractions, I mean things like that rope or the spray paint.
Step Six:
Now for the good news....and this isn't a joke. You could finally beautify your garden again but only do it gradually, so the canine will get used to the first changes before the second ones happen. If your dog gets excited again and starts to dig in different places, you will still have that rope or spray paint technique. Sometimes the dog won't understand what all of the physical distractions are about. When I say physical distractions, I mean things like that rope or the spray paint.
The dog will understand what the chicken fence was about, because obviously no matter how hard your dog tries to go past the fence, it will never be able to make it through. So what I'm saying is if your dog doesn't understand what the spray paint on the grass is about, then try to keep the fence there for a bit longer, and as your dog will start to understand the signal again, draw the spray paint line inside of the chicken fence, or just apply the rope inside.
Maybe that way your dog will understand that it is a double border technique. Whatever you, and whenever you do it, never allow your dog to see the actual chicken fence. What I'm trying to point out to you is for you to always use the drape over the fence.
Step Seven:
This is quite an easy step, and it is also an optional one. There is a type of deterrent spray specially made for the pooch, and the pooch's digging problems. If you spray it on the grass wherever you don't want your canine to dig, then your dog will make out a type of smell that doesn't attract dogs, and it won't dig in that spot. It's just another idea on how to stop your dog from digging in the backyard.
Trust me, you are not the only person in the world that felt this exhausted with having to deal with a problem like this. Yes, you might think that you are crazy for even temporarily ruining your backyard for this tiny dilemma, but in the long run, you will look back upon your experiences and will see that actually, it wasn't that hard.
Step Seven:
This is quite an easy step, and it is also an optional one. There is a type of deterrent spray specially made for the pooch, and the pooch's digging problems. If you spray it on the grass wherever you don't want your canine to dig, then your dog will make out a type of smell that doesn't attract dogs, and it won't dig in that spot. It's just another idea on how to stop your dog from digging in the backyard.
Trust me, you are not the only person in the world that felt this exhausted with having to deal with a problem like this. Yes, you might think that you are crazy for even temporarily ruining your backyard for this tiny dilemma, but in the long run, you will look back upon your experiences and will see that actually, it wasn't that hard.
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