DIGGING PUPPY! please help.. i dont want 2 have 2 get rid of him..

Question

My 6 month old Border Collie x Husky, Eli (Elijah). He has got into a bad habit of digging at the moment there is about.. 10 holes that are more like trenches in our backyard. We also rent our house which doesnt help. Aswell as the digging he gets out of the yard via digging under the back fence, he wouldnt go far but we are on a street away from a main road,where my kitten got ran over & killed a year ago. I know that he is going through the puppy stage & also that Border Collies need alot of exercise etc. he has plenty of toys etc to play with and occasionally goes to the beach & visits my auntys dog. I walk him everyday & when it isnt possible for me to walk him he behaves & doesnt dig? on the days i do walk him he will come home & dig. I dont believe in smacking pets when they misbehave so when i try to show him that its bad ill say "naughty" & point at what he done and he usually barks back at me or runs and thinks its a game, which he also does when i tell him his done something wrong like chewing shoes or other things. he is a good dog and has manners most of the time but because he is doing so much damage to the yard we might have to rehome him which i would really hate to do. I feel terrible because at night or when im not home he has to be tied up so he doesnt get out and onto the main roads. i had to put my dog of 8 years down due to problems we couldnt help, a couple of months before we got Eli & i dont want to have to lose Eli due to something i could fix. Thankyou, please help me! Louise.

xxgawjuzuxx · Answer

thankyou for the comment = ] i tried the poo thing from the start but it doesnt seem to phase him his a bit of a grub lol. i had also tried the spice thing but he just sniffed it all up and didnt even sneeze! my mum bought a spray from the produce that is suppose to detere dogs from digging and so far is working. i am a teenage lol im 15 && i take him 4 long walks/runs every afternoon && play with him. as far as another dog =( we arent aloud right now because we rent but he are suppose to be moving soon so if were aloud i think we will. he does get to go 2 the beach with us && my mums friends dog, and sometimes has sleepovers at my auntys with there staffy && the 2 great dane x's next door actually knocked down the fence && there was 4 of them! = ] thankyou heaps. ill soon see whether this spray works its been the best so far. =]

Jaybay · Answer

You're right.  You've got a dog with two very active breeds in his genes.  That "need for speed" is going to come out one way or another if his exercise and energy burst needs aren't met.  Some of the digging is just a phase that all dogs seem to go through.

You're also right not to hit your dog for misbehavior.  The idea is to redirect the behavior to something that IS acceptable.  Not an easy thing when you can't supervise your dog 24/7.  

One thing I've found that helps with digging, particularly in areas like flower beds and along fence lines, is to shovel the dog's poo into the hole.  Fill the hole back in and top it off with a poo.  LOL!  Sure, he'll keep on trying new spots, but if you're consistent with filling in and topping off the holes every day, he'll gradually stop.  

If you've got a really stubborn case, can you set aside a particularly inviting part of the yard just for digging?  One part of my yard is always trashed because I've got bird feeders hung.  It's always either a dirt pit or a mud pit, and the dogs just love it because it's cool.  They also restrict their digging areas to that spot because it's easier.  Scraping out a shallow hole in the dirt to chill out in is normal dog behavior.

Other than that, keep that puppy as worn out as possible.  Maybe hire a teenager to come over and walk him and play ball with him.  Have you thought about getting another dog to keep him company?  There's nothing like playing with another dog to wear them both out.  :-)