When your dog has spent an unusually long time in your backyard or garden and comes in with muddy paws and a happy smile on her face, chances are she's been digging.
While digging is a normal behavior for dogs, it’s a maddening one for guardians, particularly when a prized herbaceous border or a much-loved lawn has been destroyed. Destructive digging is the definition of a ‘nuisance’ behavior, and like most nuisance behaviors the focus almost always goes on finding ways to stop them from happening. This usually means teaching an alternative behavior or managing the situation so the dog can't practice the behavior, but one of the best ways to discourage destructive digging is to actually encourage your dog to do the activity, just in a more appropriate way.
Why do dogs dig?
Dogs are more likely to dig if they are consistently reinforced by the pleasure the activity brings, like digging for prey or other sources of food. Dogs might dig a hole to find a cooler spot to lie in if it is hot outside and there is no shelter, or if they are trying to escape from a particular situation. This is especially true for male dogs who dig under fences or other boundary lines so they can visit with the neighborhood female dog that has just come into season, or for dogs that are driven to get to exciting things beyond the fence or to just go walkabout.
Dogs will also dig when they are frustrated, bored, lonely, to hide something or as a displacement behavior when they need to find a way to cope with a difficult situation or cope with an environment that has become overwhelming.
How do I stop my dog from digging?
As with any behavior it’s important to find out why your dog is digging and address that need. Once you know why (is he escaping to go walkabout or is she digging to find the source of the sound she has heard coming from under the ground?) you can better meet your dog’s needs. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does my dog need more exercise and enrichment?
- Would my dog benefit from a doggy playdate or go to day care where her social needs can be met?
- Is the environment too overwhelming for my dog?
- Is the digging exacerbated by an emotional issue that once addressed in another context might quell her desire to dig?
Your dog’s world is dominated by smell, so if there a particular area of your garden or yard that your dog gravitates to, it might be because there is a certain smell in that area that keeps attracting her back. This is more likely to happen if you have field mice, chipmunks or other prey running around your garden or if your dog likes to bury her bones or other items in certain places and dig them up at a later date.
Seeing the world from your dog’s point of view might help you understand why she digs and help you find a less destructive alternative activity for her.
Teach your dog to dig!
It might seem counterintuitive, but teaching your dog to dig in a different place can help curb the digging in the places you don’t want her to do it. If you identify why your dog is digging and meet her need in other ways, then you have already gone a long way in stopping the behavior, but if the digging continues, you can encourage her to dig in a more appropriate environment – an area like a dirt or sand pit - where she is allowed to dig. Hide some of her favorite toys in the dirt and encourage her to dig them out, and keep changing the prizes she gets daily so it becomes a fun game, rather than a destructive irritant.
Regardless of what you do, it is best not to leave a dog that likes digging in the back yard or garden unsupervised as this will only encourage her to indulge in her favorite pastime again and undo all the good work you have done.
