WHY DOGS DIG

Why do dogs dig holes in our yards, dig up our carefully planted flowers and dig escape routes under our fences?

• Instinct is the main reason.  Some dogs such as Dachshunds were bred to dig out game.

• Boredom can be a trigger.  If your dog is left unattended in your yard or penned up without good entertaining toys, they will sometimes turn to an alternative source of amusement.  And those pretty geraniums with the fresh, loose, mounds of dirt sure do look inviting.  Provide lots of challenging and entertaining toys along with playtime with you to help fight boredom.  Also, if your budget, time and other resources allow, you may want to consider adopting a canine brother or sister for your dog.

• The saying goes that "the grass is always greener on the other side".  Well, to your dog, that saying might read "the world is always a lot more interesting on the other side of the fence."  Oh, those inviting sounds and smells!  There are people to lick, cats to chase and other dogs with butts to sniff.  And, with a little dig action, he's under the fence.  This is especially true if your dog has not been spayed or neutered and and he's looking for a little love in all the wrong places.  One possible solution to the under the fence digging involves a little digging on your part.  Dig down about four inches and out about six inches from the fence.  Lay a piece of mesh or chicken wire fence bent to form an L.  Cover the wire up with the soil.  This helps keep him from making an escape.  Or, as an alternative, consider an invisible dog fence.

• Sometimes another reason why dogs dig is  to provide themselves with a cool place to lie down.  The soil down deeper is a nice cool bed awaiting.  Make sure, especially on hot days that your dog has a cool shady place to bed down.  

• Dogs are instinctive "savers".  When they have something they want to save for later enjoyment, dogs dig a nice safe hiding place.  This comes from the pack instinct to protect their food from the rest of the pack.  And, they always seem to have a much better memory than humans when it comes to finding items that have been stored away.  Sometimes nothing will take the place of a freshly dug hole as a hiding place for a treasured bone but you can try the Kong Dog Toys that have hiding places for treats.

• Fertilizers containing bone meal or dried blood can attract a dog's attention.  They think there is a bone hidden at that spot and dogs dig endlessly trying to find it.  This is easy, read the labels and avoid fertilizers that contain  ingredients that smell like your dog's favorite bone.  However, don't do this if you are substituting it with something that is harmful or poisonous to your dog.  Much preferable to have rearranged plants than a sick or dead dog.

• Female dogs, pregnant or not, will sometimes dig to make a nest.  Sometimes an old blanket placed in her favorite place will provide what she needs (something to dig at, turn around in and arrange into a nest.

There are of course times when nothing will divert the desire of your dog to dig.  Then we are left with the choice of either not leaving him unattended in the yard or deciding that we never really liked those flowers after all.  And, those holes in the middle of the yard make a really good area to practice our golf putting!!  Why dogs dig may not be the question so much as Why Not?