Stop Your Dog’s Digging Problem
I have learned about an easy and effective way to stop your dog digging in the yard and garden. I went with my neighbor to run some errands the other day. Upon returning to his house, we couldn’t drive through the front gate. The crazy pack of dogs he keeps in his fenced in yard had dug an enormous hole, at least 2 feet deep, with a diameter of probably 5 feet. We live at the beach, so it is easy for his dogs to do a lot of damage digging in a short amount of time. This was not the first time this has happened either. Obviously my buddy needed to learn how to stop his dogs from destroying his yard and driveway.
There could be several reasons why your dog may be digging up your yard. It could be because of boredom, or separation anxiety, an attempt to escape, an attempt to dig down to cooler moister soil during hot weather, or a predisposition based on the type of breed you have . I’ve got some good tips on how to prevent dogs from digging up their yard or the garden. In my neighbor’s case the dogs dug right in front of the gate, so it was an obvious attempt to escape. However, on other occasions these same bored dogs have dug holes in the middle of the yard. It is also very hot at the beach, so the dogs will also dig up recently watered areas of the yard to get at the cooler soil underneath. It was obvious my friend need to learn how to stop his dogs from digging his whole place up.
Using the advice I found in my best dog obedience training book, we decided to build his dogs their own play area where they were welcome to dig all they wanted to. We enclosed the chosen area of the yard with some dog proof fencing, and because the ground is sand, we already had made the safe digging area for the dogs. We made sure the enclosure had some shade so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable for the dogs on hot days. My friend also treated his dogs to a small wading pool to refresh themselves in as well as some chew toys and some fresh water. He obviously loves those dogs. Since the dogs only dug up the yard when he was away he has now learned how to prevent the dogs from digging up his yard using a win-win type of solution.
Although your yard may not be a natural sandbox like my friend’s, you can still easily make a special area and stop your dog digging up your yard. Once you’ve picked a suitable area for the enclosure, you can put a sandbox filled with a loose soil and sand mix inside it for your dog’s digging pleasure. Pick an area to enclose that has some shade (or add some shade cloth) and in addition to putting in a sandbox for digging purposes, be sure to put in his water bowl and some chew toys to keep him busy.
Besides stopping your dogs from digging up the yard, it also gives them a cool place to hang out while you are gone. Some dogs will stop digging up the yard once they get used to just digging in their play area, and you might be able to once again let him out in your absence. However, if he was digging for the escape reason, you should keep him his play area while you are away. If you follow this tip, you’ll have stopped the yard from ever getting dug up again.
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