Help! Dog Constantly Digging Out!

[charliehotel]

Over the last couple of months my lab X has been digging her way out of the yard by digging under the house and escaping out the front yard.. I can't figure out why.......she gets walked almost every day with lots of off lead time (including swimming in a creek), she's got my other dog there for company, they sleep inside with us at night, there's lots of different toys on rotation, there's comfy beds under shelter, she gets lots of attention........she used to dig out occasionally, I'd block up the hole and spray it with citronella to put her off, and things would be okay for a while, but over the last couple of weeks she's doing it every few days. I block up the holes, she just digs somewhere else

Does anyone have some ideas for dog proofing around the base of a house? Like I said, I can't figure out why she's doing it, but I need to keep her in!!! any ideas are much appreciated.

[Sandra777]

She digs out because she's learnt that getting out is more exciting than staying home. IMO it'd be best to confine her (run, running line) while you do the DIY - every time she gets out she's risking cars and pounds

For a digger you have to either bury something in the ground - like dig a ditch and bury wire netting 1-2 feet (at least) depending on the breed or lay things flat on the ground, like paving stones or just flat sheets of board if nothing else. Real pain, dogs that have learned digging or jumping gets them places!

[poochmad]

We used to have this problem with our old dogs and found that digging along the fenceline and putting chicken wire down with bricks on top soon cured the digging.

[alpha bet]

You havent mentioned the age of your dog, but does sound like a dog around the 12 month stage.

As you say she used to occassionally dig out..... now (a few weeks later) its becoming more frequent. You need to beware as you could be effectively making her a smart digging dog. By patching up the holes and hoping that would work has just allowed her to start looking for more and more alternatives. Similar to a dog who jumps a low fence and you raise it 6 inches, they learn to jump higher, you raise it, they jump higher etc etc...

What you need to do now is create an effective barrier to prevent her digging. Thus she doesnt profit and therefore she learns to stay in the yard.

Step One - You need to have a skirt put around your yard. That means the wire (strong gauge chicken wire) needs to be attached to the fence perhaps a 30cm on the vertical and then about 90 cm along the ground, pegged firmly or buried. Any and every place you think that is possible to dig needs to be secured. An alternative is a concrete plinth but even that must have some decent depth to secure.

Step Two - Give her somewhere to dig...... dump a huge load of river sand in the middle of the lawn, bury some dog bikkies if needed to build interest. If she loves to dig she will have a ball playing in the sand. Once the pile of sand has been spread all around the lawn you get more sand. Good for the lawn and cleans the dogs coat.

Best of luck.

[sandgrubber]

I had this problem on a 2 acre piece. Couldn't afford to dig in chicken wire everywhere so put up some electric fence. Problem solved.

[Dodo]

This is what we did to prevent any potential escape artists digging under weather board house.Sheep yard mesh dug in at least six inches .The last few sections can be bent outwards before burying but we did not do that.We only had one side to do as two sides in front garden and back section has concrete .Front is fenced but dogs only go there supervised as always worry someone will let them out. Dogs sometimes dig under houses not originally to escape but it is a refuge for all sorts of interesting smelling critters Not cheap to do but cheaper than potential vets fees and council fines .

I have to say after just reading this OH did the work I just supervised .

Edited February 25, 2010 by Dodo

[GoldenWei]

Is she desexed? I had a golden retriever, and the one time she tried to escape, and succeeded was just before coming into season. As others have said, the more times she does it, the more determined she'll become as she knows whats on the other side. We have put large heavy stones infront of the areas of our fence where they could dig out, fortunately mine don't try and escape, but they do like to dig in the garden bed close to the fence which is always a worry.

[mita]

We had a porky sheltie who once dug under the house from the back....& then barked her head off, because the slight slope meant she couldn't get back again. Then we had to do the digging, to get her out.

There's lots of good ideas from others. Like setting up an OK place to dig, with treats buried to keep her at it.

On farms, they used to keep foxes from digging into chicken coops, by attaching the long side of chicken wire about 18 inches up the coop wall. Then stretching the wire back across the ground & securing that length with a line of heavy logs or rocks. To get to the coop wall to do some digging, the fox would not only be faced with walking on chicken wire...but uphill, too. So, no go!

Edited February 27, 2010 by mita

[charliehotel]

Thanks everyone for the ideas.....chicken wire is going to be the way to go for us due to some tight budget constraints, but it should do the trick once we get it in. BTW she is desexed, and she's nearly 5 years old. We had some digging issues with her in the early days but not for years until now.