# Dog Digging 101



## PSDC (Jul 17, 2003)

Ok folks here is my dilemma!

My 2 year old lab has always been a digger, 
constantly filling holes around the yard.

Lately, he is teaching the younger pups the 
correct technique on hole digging!

I have tried everything from cayenne pepper,
to discipline when caught digging!

I swear the dog is attempting to dig to china
with the depth of his excavating.

He so damn good at his profession, the local
excavating contractor offered him a part-time
job!

I even thought of enlisting the mutt, he could
help the marines dig fox holes in Iraq. My 
luck he probably would come back as a 
decorated doggy solider with a pension!

The other day he dug a hole so deep and wide,
after this rain the ducks and geese are using 
it as a roost!

Any suggestions?


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

It's boredom. My dogs have about 600 acres to roam around the house. There is a colony of Richardson ground squirels across the road. So where do they dig? By the front step. :eyeroll:


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

I wish I could say that I had the secret to stopping this but I don't. One thing I have noticed though is my dogs dig more if their nails need clipping.


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## ShineRunner (Sep 11, 2002)

My dogs dad is a digger and my dog thought it was a great game. So I put a (training) shock collar on him and let him outside and watched through the window so he wouldn't know I had anything to do with it. It wasn't long before he started to dig and with a few light shocks he stopped digging. If he finds a mole he trys to get back to his previous hole digging, but for the most part he has stopped. It was really rough on the lawn mower and my back for a while. :beer:


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

loosely defined there are three types of digging 
hot weather avoidance, rodent pursuit and the one I suspect your suffering lack of hard exercise combined with boredom as Dick called it.

If you can, try running the dog next to a bike early in the morning for a few miles. # to 5 at a steady jog is enough for a lab. Start with a mile work up the distance gradually adding about amile every tw days until you get to 5 and don't do it in the heat of the day.
Dogs need a lot more exercise than most of us give them and they are just like us have alot of room to roam or a big back yard doesn't really equate to exercise. You have to force them.

Tired dogs are happy dogs and rarely barking or acting up

heres how I do it

http://www.dogscooter.com/Exercise.html

keeps them out of traffic and its fun


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## Watchm! (Jul 9, 2005)

Don't give him the chance to do it in the first place!!
Kennel him if not under direct supervision. It won't wreck his day.
When you have a chance to give him your 100% undivided attention, get everything you can out of him.
Then, when done, kennel him up again.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

I've had that problem also. Not any more. 

I've tried two things, the first was a shock collar and it works if you can stand my the window and watch them all day, but I've got other things to do. But it does work if you have the time.

#2 is find the spots that they like to dig in the most, over and over again. Depending on the size of the dog use a mouse trap or a #1.5 or #2 foot hold trap right in the hole. First push in the majority of the dirt then set the trap like you normally would on a coyote or fox. same with the mouse trap, just cover it up so they can't see it, and let them get stuck. But just make damn sure you around if you use foot hold traps. it will make them a bit sore for a few days. but they will stop. mouse traps work great also, it throws dirt in their face and snaps their foot hard enough to let them know, and they can get their foot out by themselves.

good luck
xdeano


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

xdeano, A 1 1/2 or 2 leg hold! Thats way too much they can and will most likely break the skin if not a bone why take that chance. I'll give you the mouse trap as thats what I used to stop a dog from getting into the garbage in the kitchen at night. I set the trap on top and about 2 am. heard her walk out into the kitchen Snap! she walked back into her bed and never hit it again.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Xdeano,
The leg hold trap is the dummest thing Iv'e heard in a while :eyeroll: 
Lots of exercise and don't give him the chance.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Well you may think it is dumb. but it works. If you have never tried it don't talk, please i have no time for nieve people. My dog doubles as a trap line dog so she knows to stay out of my trap sets. It only takes a couple of time to learn. don't use this method on young <9months, or small dogs.

cut'em and browndog, i've never heard of a leg hold trap... foothold traps yes.  just stay with the mouse trap.

xdeano


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Okay let me refrase dumb was not the correct word for useing a foot hold trap on your hunting dog ( and yes I do know what a foot hold trap is I have about a 100 of them hanging in the garage) Maybe PURE STUPIDITY would be a better way of discribing it. Just what I want to do let my dog get his foot caught in a foot hold trap after I've spent hundreds of hours training, and then have an injury that I caused :withstupid:


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## Watchm! (Jul 9, 2005)

If you don't let your dog have a chance to dig you will never have to correct your dog for digging.
Pretty simple as far as I can see.
I have never, and I mean never, heard of such an assanine way to "train" your dog.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

to each his or her own. train your dog for hundreds and hundreds of hours as you would like, I was just offering suggestions that have worked for me.

Watchm!, well i'll just go and kennel my dogs up right away so they don't have any freedoms. It is kind of like locking up people, when they get out they either are nuts or they take it out on something else. I'd rather have a dog that isn't neurotic or mean. thats just me. 
xdeano


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## Watchm! (Jul 9, 2005)

XDeano, nothing personal, just my opinion.
If you look at any pro's kennel you will find that his dogs are kenneled unless under direct supervision or getting worked.
You will not find them running loose digging holes because of boredom, which is the main reason for digging in the first place.
Dogs are den animals and I have yet to find one that does not enjoy their own personal time in its kennel. It their own little sanctuary.
If you would ask 1,000 people which method to use, yours or mine, mine would probably win 998-2.
Sorry if I offended you, not my intentions.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Dogs should always be kenneled or chained if not under direct supervision, otherwise they become self hunting, deer chasing ect. disobedient problems that end up getting shot by a neighbor or hit by a car or some other tragic thing.

If its possible go the exercise route first the dogs need it anyway and it may cure the problem or at least minimize it, If it doesn't work build a kennel to keep them in when you can't watch them


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## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

My dog, too, used to dig, but cementing his kennel was what cured him. Not exactly the best remedy, but a remedy nonetheless.

You're best option is what other people have posted: lots and lots of exercise, and when in doubt, keep the dog somewhere where he doesn't have the opportunity to dig.

One thing about digging, it does release endorphines in the brain that actually become like an addictive drug to a dog. Once they get a taste of it, they'll do anything to get their "fix"


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## PSDC (Jul 17, 2003)

Thanks folks,

Lvn2Hnt, are you telling me my dog is "hooked on holes"?

The dog gets about 3 miles in every day and he still loves
to dig. Like I stated earlier, he actually teaches the pups 
how to dig holes, no joke! Sounds like the shock collar
may be my next step.


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## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

PSDC> could be, could be


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## DakotaDog72 (Sep 27, 2005)

My dog used to be a digger...a fast one at that. Leave her in the hyard for second and she had a hole dug a foot deep. My gave me a recommendation that I thought was quite odd. he recomended before to refilled the hole, that I throw some dog sheet in there. Like I said, sounds stupid. He said that all dogs dig for different reasons and that in many cases the dog smells something underground and just Has to have it. Well, with the crap in there, your dog will never dig in that spot again. Now, one would think that "we geez wouldn't they find another spot". Yes, but oddly enough, I only had to fill 5-6 hole with a couple of terds before I put the dirt on and she stopped.


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