Who doesn’t love to dig in the dirt? As children, all of us would have spent enough hours digging in the lawn outside our houses. Dogs are no exception. If there is one thing that the dogs love to do, it is digging and they like to find some bone or meat in the garden, and they will spend hours looking for the same. Whether they find something edible or not is besides the question. What is pertinent is that dogs like to dig and you should devise strategies to wean it away from this practice. Dogs find the process of digging amusing and they do have a mind of their own. Hence, they take every available opportunity to enjoy themselves and digging is one facet of their pleasure seeking behavior.

You can put up a fence around your garden or your lawn so that your dog is barred from entering the area that is fenced. You may not want to lose your well manicured lawn and leave holes all over the place. Hence, putting up a fence might just do the trick for you. Alternately, whenever your dog goes into the lawn, turn on the sprinkler or the hose and ensure that the dog gets sprayed with water if it goes near the lawn. Among all the things that dogs hate is the fact of getting wet. This would deter your dog from going in to the garden or the lawn and digging it there.

The next thing you can do is take your dog on walks frequently. Dogs love to expend their energy and digging is one of the acts that gives dogs the freedom to do what they want and expend their energy as well. If you take your dogs on walks, it would help him to exercise as well as spend its energy on other things. This would ensure that your dog does not go on digging. Furthermore, you can always buy your dog a plastic or a synthetic bone to keep it occupied. The dogs can then suck on the bone to its heart content and leave your garden alone. Do remember that if you observe the dog and punish it for digging, it may stop momentarily. But, once you are not around, it would resume its behavior. The best bet for you would be to wean it away from the habit itself.

Apart from trying to dissuade it to dig, there are other things that you can try. For instance, giving him a sand box or a dirt area is a good way to ensure that it does not ruin your yard. However, you have to train your dog to dig only in the box that you have provided. Along with giving him a plastic bone, this is one sure way of ensuring alternatives for your dog. As mentioned earlier, dogs dig out of boredom and to spend their energy. So providing him with something to do may be your best bet.

Jonathan Pitts

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