Digging

[Glenn and Beth M]

OK, I know he is 8 months old and the equivalent of "the terrible twos". BUT, he is now digging in the backyard with his nose and teeth. Little holes everywhere. When he looks up, his golden face is black! Anyone been through this, have any ideas on how to control this other than never letting him out alone?

Glenn and Beth

[Joy Williams]

I feel your pain! Ours will be 2 in November and they are doing the same thing. Especially Maddie. When they go outside, they seem to wait until they know that I am not watching, and then start biting the damp spots, get a big clod of dirt and then go lay down and chew it. I've gotten to the point that I will stand out there with them the whole time they're out there. But it was so cute last weekend. I caught Maddie in the act so I scolded her as she came running inside with a mouthful of dirt. I kept saying Bad Girl, Bad Girl, and of course that seemed to just break her heart. So Morgan went running upstairs and came back down with her favorite toy and dropped it at Maddie's feet and laid down beside her as if to console her. So I couldn't stay mad too long. But if you come up with a good way to stop it, let me know!!

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Can you set up a sand box for him and let him dig in that ..hide his toys and put kong's filled with treats in it...so he knows to dig just there...only problem is you will have to brush sand off of him...but it beats black dirt..and holes in your yard.

[Adina P]

I don't believe 'digging' or dirt eating has anything to do with the ''terrible two's'' or a certain phase in a dog's life. Usually the teenage period/terrible twos has to do with a sudden independence, testing boundaries and 'forgetting' the things you'd already taught them (i.e. ignoring commands they previously obeyed). Digging wasn't, I assume by what you said, wasn't an issue before so it's not his age as much as perhaps his discovery of this new bad habit.

I'm struggling with my two and their recent interest in this mouth digging. I'm getting MUCH better about catching them in the act/being vigilant but if they think they can get away with it they try. I don't think there is any other way to deal with it but to PREVENT it by not giving him freedom to do it or not leaving him unsupervised in the yard.

It is only in ONE area mine do it in and I think they are finding earth worms. One person I mentioned this too thought perhaps they need a supplement in case they are eating dirt due to a nutrient deficiency but I'm not sold on that idea because they only like one, wetter section of our lawn.
Also in the case of actually EATING dirt...a sandbox wouldn't help. Mine don't eat the dry sections of dirt sprinkled through our lawn...only the wetter stuff in the shade.

[Sandy]

Toby eats dirt, but doesn't necessarily dig. One tip I got from this board was, as disgusting as it sounds, to bury "poop" in the whole when you fill it back in. Honestly, when Toby does dig, which admittedly isn't often, he won't dig there again when I've done that.

[Adina P]

Yeah we usually have done that too with the poop. They STAY AWAY. I think I need to do that myself per my post above...but I'm hesitant this time because it's SOOOO close to the house--BUT it may be I need to asap! They are pretty shallow 'holes' but that part of our lawn gets so much traffic it's hard to keep the grass growing.

[Heidi]

The sand box might be something to look into or let them dig somewhere where it is OK. Bear will dig forever at the beach, very deep holes everywhere. If we don't distract him from it he will continue to dig until we leave. But he doesn't dig at home anymore, he use to when we first got him. Hopefully this will stay that way!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

A trainer once told me that you can discourage digging by blowing up a balloon and burying it in a prime spot. When they dig they will pop the balloon and ....... no more digging! Mine don't do much digging unless they are at a dog park that has gopher holes so I haven't ever tried this myself.