Doodles and digging: help!

[Pam Pieroni]

My nearly 6 month old labradoodle has suddenly taken to digging large holes in my yard.  Just this morning I found him in about a one foot deep hole; had to hose him down, he was so dirty.  Not to mention, he's ruining my lawn.  Any ideas?

[Bonnie and Kona]

When our dogs would did, I would put some poop in the hole. It seemed to help. Hoping this works for you. It's a process.

[asdfhweriof fdjaofijaor]

We have the same problem here. I picked a spot in the yard where he CAN dig, and I keep burying his favorite toys in it. Now Max (almost 7mo) doesn't dig up the lawn anymore, he moved on to his designated spot and my flower pots... SIGH! Still gets completely dirty almost every day and I give him a bath twice a week which he enjoys. I took him to the dog park every day lately, and that seems to help.

[Adina P]

Ideas:

-- No time outdoors unsupervised until he's completely 100% reliably obedience trained.
-- His own sandbox for digging
-- Lots of exercise to use up that excess energy

In the meantime, put poo in his holes so he doesn't make them deeper.

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin still does this on occasion. He sends me the message that he has not been exercised enough or has been left alone outside too long and is bored. When he first started this behaviour we stayed outside to catch him in the act and provided a correction. That is really the only way I know to teach them not to dig, or dig in a specific spot. If you have to leave him alone outside unsupervised you can give him a treat ball or something to keep him busy for a while. Good luck. I know it is frustrating!

[Toni McCann]

Our doodle is 6 months old and still loves to dig. We found we can't leave him in the back yard alone. There is one spot behind some large bushes he likes to dig. I'm going to try and mulch it there to see if this will help. Look at my pictures when he was about 4 months old. Too funny. I wish I had more answers for this also.

[Pam Pieroni]

Thank you for your thoughts so far. I think we'll fill up the hole, instead of putting his poop in it, since it's right in the middle of the lawn. Meanwhile if he digs again (and I'm sure he will), what do you all think of trying something like spraying him with water to discourage him? And Adina: is your sandbox a real kiddie-type sandbox? Because that might work if he really only digs there.

[Bonnie and Kona]

I fill the hole and put the poop right below the surface to keep them out of that hole. It actually has discouraged the digging for my basically non-digging dogs. I don't know what to do with dogs that are really determined to dig. Hope it goes well!

[Adina P]

Oh I don't actually have sandbox. Just something that has worked for others. Do a search in the forum search box for the word 'sandbox' or is it 'sand box'?