Digging!
My dog showed no interest in digging until a long hot day.
Suddenly he started digging a hole in the middle of our
garden!It was time for me to search the net on dogs digging! Originally I was searching for ways to stop him, but he loves his hole and gives a little dig during play sessions, so there is no point in trying to stop him - he'd only dig again, and he gets so much fun from digging! (I however don't get fun from all the muddy pawprints!)
I read that dogs enjoy digging very much and can dig for all sorts of reasons. They might want to lie in a hole on a hot day, or they might be bored and trying to escape. They might want to bury things, or dig them up! Well, Cray seems to just enjoy making a hole, and find it fun in itself rather than doing it for a reason.
It is fun to watch - Cray sticks his front paws down into the hole and throws the dirt out behind him, then moves round in a circle around the edges of the hole getting faster as the dust rises and clods fly out hitting the fences behind him. So it's a spectacle to watch!
He doesn't seem to want to bury his toys. When we play fetch
in the garden, what actually happens is I throw a toy,
Cray fetches it, then runs around madly with the toy in his
mouth, sometimes tossing it and catching it again. Eventually
he drops it for me to throw again, or runs in to chew
it in his bed. Now there is a third option - he touches it
to the bottom of his hole, then takes it out again. He does
this a few times, then eventually leaves it just on the edge.My partner and I decided to leave the hole where it was. It isn't very near the fences, so no chance he will escape. When we are ready to clear and tidy the garden, we will give him his own corner for digging.
If you don't want your dog to dig, suggestions I have read include burying his faeces in his hole or putting a layer of chicken wire under the surface so he bangs his claws on it - ow! However, the best solution might be to make him his own digging pit, bury a few toys and encourage him to dig there instead. That way he is still happy - and so are you!
This page last updated: 01 September 2022
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