Dog Training: Digging Behavior and Correction

When it comes to dog training there are two differing sides of opinion when it comes to dogs and their digging habits. Firstly, many dog trainers think that a dog is a dog, and we should permit him to express his true canine nature by allowing him free reign over the yard and flowerbeds. The other dog training experts feel that a flowerbed is a flowerbed, and no dog should even think about expression his dogginess if such an expression comes at the price of a ruined flowerbed.

Most leading dog training experts favor the middle ground for training your dog. Although many dogs do love to dig, and it is healthy for them to be permitted to dig once in a while, there’s a difference between allowing your dog to express their inner puppy, and allowing him to run rampant in the backyard. No dog training professional would agree that a dog should have to come at the price of a garden, and vice versa. When if comes to dog training, flowers and dogs can coexist peacefully if you train your dog correctly. If your dog’s developed a taste for digging, it will just take a bit of time, and some ingenuity, on your part to resolve the dog training problem satisfactorily.

To start with, if you have yet to adopt a dog and your concern for the fate of your garden is purely hypothetical, consider the breed of dog that you would like. If you've got your eye on a specific mixed-breed dog, what aspect of his mixed dog heritage seems to be the most prominent?

Dog breed often plays a significant role in any given dog's personal opinion of digging as a rewarding and valuable dog pastime – many terriers and Nordic breeds in particular (Huskies, Malamutes, some members of the Spitz family for example) seem to particularly enjoy digging.

Every dog training expert will, of course, say that when you get right down to the sum and substance, every dog is first and foremost an individual, and there’s no real way to predict whether or not your chosen four legged friend is going to be a burrower or not. However, if you’re trying to reduce the likelihood of an involuntarily-landscaped garden as much as possible, It is suggested you stay away from all breeds of terrier (and for those that did not know, the name means 'go to earth', after all!) and the Nordic breeds.

Why do dogs dig?

Dog training professionals often agree on the following reasons, and they are in no particular order, as to why a dog will dig:

* General Lack of exercise. Digging is a good way for a hyped-up, under-exercised dog to burn off some of their nervous energy.
* Boredom. Bored dogs will find a 'job' to do, something rewarding and interesting, to help the time pass by.
* Digging is often the ideal solution for a bored dog: it gives him a sense of purpose, and distracts him from an otherwise-empty day.
* The need for broader horizons. Some dogs are just escape artists by nature – no matter how much exercise and attention they get, it’s nearly impossible to confine them to an area. For a Doggy-Houdini, it's not the digging itself that is the reward, it is the wonderful unknown that exists beyond the boundaries they were confined to and dogs love to explore a world of unfamiliar scents.
* Separation anxiety. Often when a dog is seriously pining for your company, digging under those confining walls represents the most direct path to you. Separation anxiety is an unpleasant psychological issue relatively common among dogs – but because it’s so complex, we won’t be dealing with it in this article but keep an eye out because I will be writing about that in detail in another article.

Training the habit out of your dog

Dog training experts agree that most of the reasons contributing to your dog’s desire to dig suggest their own solutions. If your dog’s not getting enough exercise (generally speaking, at least forty-five minutes worth of vigorous walking per day), take him for more walks it will help you and your dog stay fit and healthy. If your dog is bored, give him some interesting and durable toys and chews to play with during your absence, and wear him out before you leave so he spends most of the day napping. As for an escape-artist dog, they might need to be crated, or at least kept inside the house where he’s less likely to be able to break out of his or her confines.

For those dogs who just like to dig as a pastime in itself, though, here are a few basic dog training tips for controlling inappropriate excavation as much as is reasonably possible:

* Restrict your dog’s access to the area concerned. This is the most effective thing you can do: if he’s never in the yard without active supervision, there’s no opportunity for digging his own personal tunneling system.
* Use a natural deterrent. Almost all dogs will shy back, horrified, from the prospect of digging anywhere that there’s dog poop. Even the ones who like to eat poop (a condition known as coprophagia) generally won’t dig anywhere near it as it offends their basic natural, fastidious dislike of soiling their coat and paws.
* Use nature’s own protection. If the continued digging is bothering you because it’s upsetting the more delicate blooms in your garden, plant hardier blossoms: preferably, those with deep roots and thorny defenses. Roses are ideal and a natural deterrent.
* A more time-consuming, but super-effective way of dog training is to roll up the first inch or two of turf in your yard, and lay down chicken-wire underneath it. Your dog won’t know it is there until he’s had a few tries at digging, but once he’s convinced himself that it’s pointless (which won’t take long), he’ll never dig in that yard again. As we say, time consuming but very, very effective.

Accept your dog’s need for an outlet, give him a place to dig

If your dog is set on tunneling your yard into a pot marked, grassless lunar landscape, but you’re equally determined to prevent this from happening at all costs, take a moment to consider before embarking on a grueling and time-consuming preventative strategy.

Setting yourself the goal of eradicating all digging behavior, period, is pretty unrealistic. It is not fair on you (since, really, you’re setting yourself up for failure), and it’s not really fair on your poor dog either. If he’s a natural-born digging machine, it’s just part of his personality, and he needs at least some opportunity to express that in some form.

But a lawn and a dog don’t have to be mutually exclusive. The most humane and understanding thing for you to do in this case is simply to redirect his digging energy where you can live with it and he can love you for it.

The simplest dog training solution in this case is allocating him an area where he’s allowed to dig as much as he pleases. Once this zone’s been established, you can make it understood that there is to be absolutely no digging in the rest of the garden, and you can enforce your rules with a clear conscience. As set these boundaries you know your dog now has his own little corner of the world to turn upside down and inside out as he chooses and all parties are happy.

But what if you don’t have a "spare corner" of the backyard for your little digger to call his own? What if the whole thing, grass, flowerbeds, and gravel path, is just too dear to your heart? This is ok, there is a solution to this as well. You can invest in a sandbox, which you can place anywhere in the garden.

You can even make one yourself (the deeper, the better, obviously). Fill it with a mixture of sand and earth, and put some leaves or grass on top if you like for effect and get your dog interested in it by having a scratch around yourself, until he gets the idea.

Ensuring the boundaries are clear

One great dog training tip is to make it clear to him that the sandbox is OK but that everywhere else is a no-dig zone, spend a little time supervising him. When he starts to dig in the box (you can encourage this by shallowly burying a few choice marrowbones in there), praise him energetically – and if he starts digging anywhere else, correct him straight away with an extended finger or hand command and state a firm "No!" or "ahh-ah-ahhhh".

Then, redirect him immediately to the sandbox, and dole out vociferous praise when digging recommences.

To really clarify the lesson, give him a treat when digging gets underway in the sandbox – the close proximity between the correction (for digging out of the sandbox) and praise/reward (for digging in the sandbox) will ensure that your point strikes home and you will have dog training success.