holes in the yard

[marcia hill]

my doodle is 5 months old and has been digging lots of holes in the yard. Does anyone know what to do for this? thanks marcia

[2wpu1zztl11wu]

I know this is gross...but it works. Recover the hole with dirt then add a piece or 2 of dog poop to the top. This will keep them from digging in that spot.

[April Cliber]

You can also put their poop in the hole and then cover it with dirt. You are correct, it absolutely does work! We joke that our front yard is so green in the summer because of all our "fertilizer."

[Richard Crowe]

Dogs dig for several reasons:

1. boredom - it is something fun to do
2. keeping cool - a nice hole is a cool place to beat the summer heat
3. gopher or some other vermin - many dogs will dig for gophers. We had a cat/dog combination (Sara Lee and Felix) which made a gopher busting team. The cat would actual put his ear to the ground and listen for burrowing gophers and then somehow communicate to the Sara that there was an intruder below. The dog would dig, exposing the burrow and then get bored and walk off. The cat would remain there all day until the unsuspecting gopher stuck his head out and then Felix would grab him. They got a lot of gophers this way but also dug a lot more holes than they got vermin. We have the same cat who gets still a lot of gophers, especially in the spring. However, although Felix likes Holly, they haven't teamed up as "Gopher Busters". I wish that I had videoed the dog/cat team; it is hard to believe that two different animals could communicate like Felix and our dear Sara Lee did. Holly will dig for gophers but, Felix still keeps the property pretty clear of those pesky rodents.
4. terriers dig because that is what they have been bred to do...

You can reduce digging by removing the digging incentives:

1. give the dog mental and physical exercise
2. provide a cool place to lie down
3. reduce the vermin - (Yeah, right - easier said than done!)
4. don't get a terrier

We use an electronic training collar. Ours has several levels which can be selected from the transmitter. We use the lowest level for Holly. It only took a few incentives to teach her that digging is not a good idea. Holly, however, is a very mellow and trainable dog. It might take more collar work with a dog that is stubborn or not intelligent (Of course, no doodle could be like that!).

I notcied some dog/cat repellant sold at Lowes Home Improvement Center. I don't know if it works but, it just might.

[Debbie V & Daisy]

I don't have this problem with my goldendoodle yet but I did with my Golden Retriever/Alaskan Malamute when he was a puppy.

I read this somewhere....
We found a special place where we allowed him to dig. We taught him the command "Dig" and pointed to the place. Whenever he started digging elsewhere we redirected him back to "his" digging spot. Worked like a charm immediately. He loved having a place to dig, it tired him out, and the rest of the yard was hole free. He actually started digging less when he had a place to dig. Now whenever we go somewhere like the beach I can just point to a pile of sand and say "dig" and he goes to town.

I found this link on the web: http://www.dogproblemsolutions.com/how_stop_dogs_from_digging.php
It gives several suggestions including the one I used.

We tried to poop thing origianally but it didn't work very well for us and I hated buring poop all over my yard. Also, the digging seemed to keep him out of other trouble because digging tired him out.

Good luck.

[Belinda Stevens]

What I did was get a small kiddie pool, dug it into the ground, level and filled it with sand. I hid toys in it and Stella loves digging there to find new toys. This hasn't entirely stopped her from digging in other spots but I had a dachshund who encourages her. It is much harder to teach a dog that was breed to hunt underground.
Just a thought... maybe give it a try in the spring.

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

LOL sorry I have 2 doodles and 1 golden the only I found is the poop in the hole works....My Zoey that I have just 1 week now is also a little digger....I have a feeling that my backyard is not going to look so good this summer.

[Sandy]

I fear Toby will be a digger too. He digs in the snow, he pulls low branched off of shrubs, etc We probably have a couple more months before things are really thawed, but then, oh boy, we could be in trouble.

[kbradshaw]

I'll try the poop in the holes, certainly enough of that to go around!

As for eating branches off plants, do you really just throw in the landscaping towel when you decide to get a dog? We have a 5 month old that has had a field day on just about every flower bed in the back yard and 3-4 grass holes.

[Stella]

We let our labradoodle puppy have one spot where he was allowed to dig. Whenever he tried to dig anywhere else we stopped him and took him back to 'his spot' which was the first place he tried to dig. He is really good and only goes to that one spot now (well not right now, as the garden is completely frozen!!). We didn't have any problems with him attacking the plants, but he was fascinated by the vegetable plot last summer. I once caught him running around the garden with an onion in his mouth, I was freaking out because I remember reading that onions are poisonous, and of course because I wanted it from him he thought it was an exciting game of chase! I think we are going to put up somekind of netting or something this year to keep him off the veggies.

[Tracy]

Katie is 4 months old now and digs in the backyard too if we leave her outside any longer than she needs to do her business. We stand at the back door and keep our eye out and call her right back in when she is finished and that helps a lot with the digging. The holes in the yard don't bother me as much as having to give her a bath everytime she digs. Not letting our older dog out for longer than necessary helped a lot with her digging when she was a pup too (she dug more than katie) and eventually she stopped doing it and we didn't have to worry about it. Good luck.