why my large dog digs holes in his dog house

[sweetpea827]

I have a lab/rott & he is about 11yrs old i would say,he has dug out part of the floor in his dog house and took the dirt out also, then he stand with his front feet in the hole & he butt sitting on the floor part inside his house barking. Like we are to come out & fix his mess he made It is still like this & winter is coming we put the dirt back in & put straw over it he left it alone 1 night BUT the next night the straw was out & hole re-dug,WHY, WHY, WHY. does he do this and bark inside like that & have a hole in his floor not whats up with that? He will get cold on that ground this winter if he doesn't keep the straw in place,HELP FAST  its october old man winter is coming!!!!

[bearsmomma]

Is he chained to the dog house or does he have the run of yard. If he is chained to the dog house all the time maybe he is just bored.

Is there a reason why you have him in a dog house all winter?  Winter weather is very harsh  even for dogs.

I have a lab/rot mix...He's the best dog in the world!  We got him at the humane society when he was 9 months old.  He's about 9 years old now.

He enjoys being outside even in the winter.  He plays in the snow and eats it and then sits out there on guard for a while, but then he is back scratching at the door to come in.  I'm certain because he gets cold because when he comes in the drool is frozen ice cycles hanging from his mouth.  We used to have the invisible fence on them so they couldn't leave the yard, but now that they are neutered they never leave and we don't even use it.

My husband doesn't like the dogs in the house so we compromise.  The dogs come in but they are only allowed in the kitchen unless we call them in other parts of the house.
When we leave the house usually I put them out so they aren't stuck in the house, but I have beds in the garage with a heating pad in them that are on a thermostat.  There is a pet door in the garage so they can go out if they want.

Maybe thats something you could concider.  Do you have a garage?  Or maybe you could get the heating pad for his dog house if you must keep him outside.  I got the heating pad at Tractor Supply.

[Vpetit]

Hi,
do you regularly bring your dog for a walk or exercise regularly? If not, he could just be bored out of his mind and find a little pleasure in digging holes.
You could try to go for a walk with him everyday for the rest of the week and see wether or not he keeps digging.
Good Luck!

[Jaybay]

I think he already knows winter is coming and is busily perfecting his den.  You can't forget that our domestic dogs all descend from the wolf, so there is still a genetic tendency to digging out a den.  Another possibility is that there is a critter under his house that he's trying to get to.  Maybe a mole our a ground squirrell?  Even a mouse would be enough for him to smell out.  We had a dog who actually dug through the drywall in our hallway to get to.... a small lizard.  LOL

I've never been a fan of keeping dogs outside in the winter, particularly where it snows, unless the dog is a breed like a husky that is naturally prepared for it.  Even then, they still have to have some kind of shelter.  While labs do have a dense undercoat, rotties don't.  Is there any way you can bring him inside for the winter?