Goldie Wont Stop Digging

[Snowball]

OK, help please....

Our Goldie is a digger, she loves to dig up the backyard and it is driving me crazy. When I work she is in an enclosed dog run (tiled) so no digging then.

When we are at home she is in the house with us, except for toilet stops, or a bit of a run outside on the lawn. Sometimes she digs and I catch her at it and I tell her off. She stops and will run away or stops and does zoomies. The other time I dont see her, just find the hole.

Today she dug after a 45 min morning walk, half an hour later she was outside and I found her digging, I told her off, she ran away then when I thought I was gone, she went straigth back to digging.

I am really at my wits end. She gets walked every day, she is inside with us most of the time. I only work 2 days a week. She has kongs, and other toys in the dog run, she has toys at home.

What can i do to tell her digging is not acceptable?

many thanks, it is really starting to get to me.

Snowball

[♥Baxter♥]

OK, help please....

Our Goldie is a digger, she loves to dig up the backyard and it is driving me crazy. When I work she is in an enclosed dog run (tiled) so no digging then.

When we are at home she is in the house with us, except for toilet stops, or a bit of a run outside on the lawn. Sometimes she digs and I catch her at it and I tell her off. She stops and will run away or stops and does zoomies. The other time I dont see her, just find the hole.

Today she dug after a 45 min morning walk, half an hour later she was outside and I found her digging, I told her off, she ran away then when I thought I was gone, she went straigth back to digging.

I am really at my wits end. She gets walked every day, she is inside with us most of the time. I only work 2 days a week. She has kongs, and other toys in the dog run, she has toys at home.

What can i do to tell her digging is not acceptable?

many thanks, it is really starting to get to me.

Snowball

How regular are you with her exercises, do you stimulate her mentally by teaching her new tricks etc?

[wuffles]

Some dogs just like digging. Instead of trying to stop the behaviour entirely, I would give her a place in the yard that she is allowed to dig. That may be just a square or corner of dirt, or you may provide her with a clam shell or sandpit that she is allowed to dig in. Encourage her to dig in this area, even put a command to it. Bury things in this area that she can dig up.

You can try putting poo in the holes in the non-digging area to discourage her. If you catch her digging in a non-digging area, interrupt the behaviour then take her to her allowed digging spot.

I have a digger too, but I just let him dig these days, we gave up on a nice yard a long time ago

[Souff]

OK, help please....

Our Goldie is a digger, she loves to dig up the backyard and it is driving me crazy. When I work she is in an enclosed dog run (tiled) so no digging then.

When we are at home she is in the house with us, except for toilet stops, or a bit of a run outside on the lawn. Sometimes she digs and I catch her at it and I tell her off. She stops and will run away or stops and does zoomies. The other time I dont see her, just find the hole.

Today she dug after a 45 min morning walk, half an hour later she was outside and I found her digging, I told her off, she ran away then when I thought I was gone, she went straigth back to digging.

I am really at my wits end. She gets walked every day, she is inside with us most of the time. I only work 2 days a week. She has kongs, and other toys in the dog run, she has toys at home.

What can i do to tell her digging is not acceptable?

many thanks, it is really starting to get to me.

Snowball

I have seen the size of the holes that some Golden Retrievers have dug - they are in the swimming pool class.

My best suggestion is that you make a digging pit for her - rather like a child's sand pit but a bit bigger. Scold her if she digs anywhere else but let her dig freely in the digging pit. Diggers dont seem to outgrow the practice until their knees start getting sore and that could be some years away.

Souff

[indigirl]

I feel your pain. I also have a digging obsessed golden. My solution was concrete. Ive concreted and fenced approx a third of the backyard. That's where she is when she is outside. She is only allowed on the lawn with my supervising. She still digs if i take my eyes off her for a second. I also take her out to the creek 3 or 4 times a week where she can dig to her hearts content. Nothing i tried stopped her digging and believe me i tried everything. My golden has cost me a fortune in broken water pipes (she dug them up) and in repairs to the irrigation system. Its so much easier and less stressful now she is on concrete.

[Snowball]

oh Indigirl I dont know wether to laugh or cry . I had hoped to here some more positive goldie digging stories. Lucky they are so beautiful - right :D

Providing a digging area might be the solution.... how does that work, do you have to fill up the hole regularly, how do you contain the size so it doesnt spread? A clam shell would quickly get emptied of sand sorry for the obutse questions, but I need some solutions, before I pull my hair out and cry

I do love her........ but boy it can be difficult at times

[Red Fox]

oh Indigirl I dont know wether to laugh or cry . I had hoped to here some more positive goldie digging stories. Lucky they are so beautiful - right :D

Providing a digging area might be the solution.... how does that work, do you have to fill up the hole regularly, how do you contain the size so it doesnt spread? A clam shell would quickly get emptied of sand sorry for the obutse questions, but I need some solutions, before I pull my hair out and cry

I do love her........ but boy it can be difficult at times

Make a big sand pit in a corner and just smooth it over/top it up regularly :D

[Snowball]

just adding - yes we walk her daily.

[Bubitty]

Snowball, I have what I call the “feral” patch in my yard. I grow sugarcane in it as well as random herbs that smell nice. Bitty loves to dig in this patch, pull out the sugar cane, rearrange the herbs, shove toys into her holes she has dug but she keeps to this patch.

It is a about a 2 sqm patch full of dirt and junk which I spruce up with goodies every so often.

I really think this has helped her leave everything else alone!

[whiskedaway]

We have a Sibe who is a digger. Our solution was to put down fake turf. So far she hasn't tried digging it at all, but it has only been down since Sunday, so who knows! The real test will be tomorrow when she's by herself all day for the first time since it went down.

[Erny]

Hi Snowball

One of the main things in working out what best to do to stop an unwanted behaviour is to first try to discover the possible CAUSE/s for the behaviour.

There can be a range of reasons, including boredom, attention seeking, genetics, anxiety, self-reinforcing (which ties in with what I've already listed) and therefore a learnt behaviour, etc.

If you're able to work out the cause, you're already part way there to being able to stop it.

You've mentioned a couple of times that you walk her every day. Forty five minutes.

It's great that you do that, but walking is often not enough. Walking does not necessarily equate to sufficient mental stimulation. Which is why it is necessary to ask about the other activities you engage with her, such as training (obedience; tricks; retrieve; etc).

The other question I think needs asking is the age of your Goldie? I know many Goldies who dig. Especially when they are youngsters. That is not to say that they will simply "grow out of it" when they are older. It is potentially a "phase", but without training and guidance to show your Goldie digging isn't what you want (and showing her other ways to satiate the reason that is at the moment motivating her to dig) the chances of her moving through and past that phase reduces significantly.

Putting your dog's poop in the holes and covering them back over has IME a reasonably high success rate in stopping the dog from digging the holes up again, but you will most likely find that your Goldie will simply go dig elsewhere. Until you are able to convince her that EVERY hole she digs will culminate in "fresh/yucky self-poo discovery", then she is likely to continue.

Providing a place where you Goldie can dig is a good strategy to put into place and certainly worth a try. A couple of things to bear in mind : (a) If the sandpit is not deep enough your Goldie may find this frustrating/unsatisfactory and (b) it takes some training to teach a dog that "digging here is what I want (and is fun/satisfying for you) but digging elsewhere is not what I want and doesn't get you as much fun). Certainly, this is not an impossibility though.

After all is said and done, it is a matter of trialling a variety of things and definitely in the meanwhile, working on the mental stimulation side of things.

And remember that your dog is being a dog. If you had a lot of land or if your dog were out in the wild, this behaviour would not be undesirable and might even be considered "cute" or "funny". If you remember this, it might help to ease the frustration of your yard not looking like the yard you once had, or had in mind.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Erny

[stunshaz]

Some breeds are just "hardwired" to dig have ya tried puttin chicken mesh where the dog is diggin? dogs can dig for a number of reasons as ya know durin the summer months they dig to get down to the moist cool soil underneath also there maybe somethin there of interest under the topsoil it can smell? its not diggin where ya empty the fat from the frying pan is it?

To break the habit of diggin with my dog when she was a pup (Australian Kelpie) i watched her outta sight from her and patiently waited for her to start diggin then bolted out with a bucket of water and threw it on her and in a deep voice said "NO" it did not take to long for her to break the habit and some people may see that as cruel to me it is far from it and very effective.

Dogs can also dig through boredom or like an energy displacement behavior i think they call it, in the case of workin dogs like the Kelpie they need stimulation and thrive on bein given a task their lives revolve around it, also as someone mentioned takin the dog for a walk is also a very good idea, my method of gettin a dog to stop diggin works and is very effective ...... and don't worry ya dog will not hate ya for it.

I will just mention a common mistake people make is scolding the dog well after it has dug the hole like when they get home from work, this only confuses the dog as it has no idea of what ya on about as their sense of time is much different to ours ya gotta be patient and catch the little sneaks at it and usually a stern "NO BAD DOG" a few times is enough to deter them from doin it again.

Good luck with breakin the habit i can imagine how frustrating it would be especially if ya "garden proud"

[Aidan]

Have you ever thought about doing some retrieving with her? It's a lot of fun, you can start off really simple and progress as far as you like. For a retriever it really scratches the "itch" (probably the same itch which is responsible for the digging).

[Snowball]

Thanks everyone for your lovely detailed replies.

Sorry I am in a rush, I have to go to work soon, ( half a day today) but

- she is one year old

- we will try and up the mental stimulation, but to be honest to me she just looks like she is having fun when she is doing it

= by retrieving, do you mean the casual throwing things in the backyard to bring back or is there a place to go for proper retireving with other dogs sort of practice

I really must rush off, but thanks again and will check in later.

Snowball

[Bubitty]

Snowball I don't do "proper" retrieving but I started off by playing fetch with my dog

Then I taught her to hold objects and eventually to bring objects to me and hold onto them until I asked for them back

Then we moved onto her finding one particular object that was hidden somewhere and to bring it back to me etc etc

Some days I will line up 20 toys and she will have to go get them one after the other. Or we do it at the park.

It seems to tire her out and I do find that on days where she is play bowing me and has that glint in her eyes, it helps her calm down somewhat.

[Aidan]

- we will try and up the mental stimulation, but to be honest to me she just looks like she is having fun when she is doing it

That's right, she is having a blast! Getting rid of some pent-up energy, which is the reason why exercise and mental stimulation go such a long way to curbing or even stopping inappropriate behaviours such as digging - we channel that energy into more productive pursuits.

= by retrieving, do you mean the casual throwing things in the backyard to bring back or is there a place to go for proper retireving with other dogs sort of practice

You can start off in the back yard, but I would go to a reserve or field somewhere (with short grass, less likely to harbour snakes). Later on you will want some water, a river, dam or beach. If you have a gundog club nearby it's a great place to start, but that is probably not likely. The Golden Retriever club should be able to put you in touch with someone.

A good recall is important, and the dog must also know how to sit in front and beside you (at first, later on sit at a distance is important).

There are a lot of different ways to teach the retrieve itself (retrieving is more than just the actual retrieve, but I'll just talk about the retrieve itself here). Some people prefer a really formal style which is particularly good for reliable "obedience" style retrieves and dogs who are not natural retrievers. Others like to start off with games of fetch to build drive, then start adding the rules. An excellent example of the more formal style can be found here: http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve.html

Once you get into it it all starts to make sense (eventually). Basically the dog is to stay in a sit beside you until commanded to retrieve, then run out enthusiastically, pick up the dummy, carry it with a soft mouth in a straight line back to you, then sit in front and release the dummy to your hand and return to heel. If you're just doing it for fun you will be throwing the dummy yourself, or someone else will throw it for you.

You can build complexity by throwing more than one dummy and introducing directions, or throwing the dummy somewhere where it cannot be seen and guiding your dog to the general area then letting her pick up the scent herself to find it.

[Bubitty]

Have you tried clicker training?

That really tires them out and may help with the digging.

Somedays Bitty is very "ants in her pants" and I find that after 20 mins of her trying to work out a new trick, it wears her out and she settles down very well. I am quite a terrible trainer but the act of concentrating and trying to work something out really knackers them!

[Bubitty]

Aiden, are you allowed to guide the dog to the area?

One of the problems I have is that we lose objects in the grass at the park and I never know whether I should give her a hint or not?

[Erny]

= by retrieving, do you mean the casual throwing things in the backyard to bring back or is there a place to go for proper retrieving with other dogs sort of practice

Apart from the things Aidan has mentioned regarding retrieve, coming at your question from a slightly different angle, think of it this way......

When you were little, small learning exercises (eg 1 + 1 = 2) were pretty interesting when we were working out how this simple mathematical equation works. If that was your source of mental stimulation, but you were never 'trained' by your teacher to go beyond "1 + 1 = 2" then I'd expect you would have become really bored with sticking on that level, once you had mastered it.

Similarly with anything you teach your dog. "Sit" is something we tend to teach our dogs pretty quickly. It is a simple exercise but is mentally stimulating when the dog is learning it. But once learnt, it becomes as boring as "1 + 1 = 2" and becomes such a no brainer. So you might think to take that "sit" and ask the dog for more - example, begin extending that to meaning "sit + stay put whilst I walk away a little bit". This might equate (if we're talking analogies) to "1 + 1 = 2 x 1 = 2". Then you might extend that "sit/stay" to meaning "sit whilst I walk away a little bit and stand on my head", which might equate to "1 + 1 + 2 x 1 = 2 divided by 2 = 1".

Get the drift?

So what I could have probably said far more succinctly was that at the beginning, training for simple basics of running after the ball might be great for mental stimulation when it carries with it some novelty, but after a while becomes an exercise that whilst enjoyable doesn't necessarily mean the dog's mind is taxed in any way shape or form in the performance of the action. So you would want to add in a bit more complexity and then a bit more and more and so on.

At the beginning, my boy was so chuffed at his cleverness at being able to discriminate and retrieve one of his toys by name (my command). This is normal for him now. He still enjoys it and still minces around like he is just soooo smart, but it is just a basic thing for him to do. I upped that to me hiding 3 of his toys and getting him to go find the specific toy I ask for. That's becoming a bit easy for him now, so I'll be soon upping the degree of difficulty - in this way, I keep him thinking .

So as to what you do and how you go about it will depend on what you ultimately would like for your dog to be able to give you. If you're not really fussed (although a good reliable retrieve saves you a lot of running around and many lost toys, lol) then it doesn't matter too much, so long as it is something that you can continue to build on to keep your dog mentally active.

Here am I - prattling on far long than is probably necessary. I need to go train my Board/Train dogs so I hope in part that this explanation has helped if not you then perhaps someone who might end up reading here.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Erny

[jamesanddean]

Our Golden also loved to dig holes in the lawn from time to time. We tried most of the things suggested on here to stop the behaviour but the thing that worked for us was building a sand pit which is long and deep enough for him to dig and lie in. Our boy likes to dig frantically and then will often sit/lie in the hole he has created watching the world go by (us!) before he dozes off.

The clam shell is good when they are puppies, but if they don't have the ability to dig deep they will get bored and move to other less desirable spots. We built ours approx 3ft wide x 5ft long x 3 feet deep and lined it with wood. We bought the sand from Bunnings and top it up from time to time. You don't need to go to this much effort though, just find a place that is acceptable, dig it out, fill with sand and hide some treats and/or toys in there and he will get into the habit of going there.