Digging comes natural to your dog so it may be somewhat difficult to get your dog to stop digging. The dog’s relatives, foxes and wolves, naturally dig for many reasons. Understand why your pooch´s favorite activity is digging up the garden and how to solve this problem.
Why Your Dog is Digging
Why do dogs dig ? As stated, digging is natural for dogs. A dog, for example, may dig to cool down in the summer time. Have you ever felt soil in the summer time? It is still very cold and provides an excellent cool down session for a hot dog. Your dog may also be digging because he is bored. If the dog gets bored, he will dig a hole, perhaps to place items in. Your dog may also be attempting to capture an animal he senses is directly under the soil.
When Digging Becomes a Problem
Your dog digging is natural; however, there are times where the pet parent becomes very frustrated with the digging problem. If your dog is suffering from separation anxiety, which is very common in dogs, he may be digging to try to escape and find his pet parent.
Solve the Problem
How to keep dogs from digging holes?
There are several methods available to you to get your dog to stop digging. If your dog is digging in an attempt to cool down, you can attempt to provide the dog ice cubes (also provides mental stimulation) or allow the dog to sit in an air-conditioned area if there is one available. If the dog is digging because he is bored, you can provide the dog with a mentally stimulating toy, such as a Kong. Stuff the Kong full of peanut butter and your dog will remain busy for hours.
As with any behavior, please do not use physical punishment to “teach” your dog. This will only damage the trust and bond associated with the pet parent. Physical punishment could also lead to the development of other behavior problems.
Amber Johnson, Animal Behaviorist
Miss Amber Johnson has many years of experience with pets and is a licensed cat and dog nutrition and behavior specialist. She currently collaborates with PetPremium where she counsels clients in pet behavior and nutrition. The statements made in this article are the personal opinions of Miss Amber Johnson and based on independent experiences and could be different from the opinions of PetPremium Pet health Insurance or any other pet health insurance provider.