# Puppy Digging Help



## azgolden (Sep 22, 2020)

Hello! We have a 20 month old golden that we absolutely love! We've been pretty consistent with training, and he is great on and off the leash in most circumstances. That said, there is one thing that we just can't seem to train him out of. We want him to be able to lounge in the backyard without constant supervision, but he tends to dig. We walk him a few times a day, and he gets plenty of other exercise playing tug a war, and fetch during the day, so he's pretty well exercised. When he is alone in the backyard though, he still digs. That has led us to not allowing him in the backyard alone, and now its almost immediate when he gets back there.

What we've tried:

Distractions- using toys or treats to distract him when he starts digging (It almost feels like we are positively reinforcing the behavior though by rewarding him immediately after he does something wrong)
Having him on a leash in the yard- He does ok with this, but as soon as he gets off the leash he runs to a spot of grass, bites it first, and then starts digging quickly!
For his sake we'd love for him to be able to have that outside time alone, but we can't do it if he's creating potholes in the grass!

Any advice would be much appreciated! (Also, if its something he'll just grow out of, that'd be good to know too!)


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## azgolden (Sep 22, 2020)

I realized this should have gone into the training forum, I just don't know how to edit it!


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## OscarsDad (Dec 20, 2017)

Happy to move it for you and welcome!


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## CCoopz (Jun 2, 2020)

Hi Azgolden,
I’m afraid no significant words of wisdom. I’m going to follow this for others wisdom! But I’ll tell you our experience. We have a recently turned 2 year old male golden.
We adopted him 8 months ago and he was into digging to Australia in our garden!
He made 3 fair sized holes and was going back to them to dig deeper and roll around in the dusty mud.
Then I read that you could try putting down cooking chilling powder or cayenne powder. That seemed to really put him off digging the existing holes.
He only made one more new hole after that. We filled in the holes with shingle stones from our driveway. That also put him off.
He gets two long walks a day, Plenty of interactive play games with me a couple times a day up to 30 minutes at a time. That seems to keep the digging at bay. He can now chill on his own in the garden.
However, we just got home from a weeks holiday abroad. To a new hole! I think friends dog sitting him didn’t play with him as much. Not sure that’s much help!
oh but he moved onto attacking our bushes and ripping off whole branches. Photo of Teddy’s gardening today


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## azgolden (Sep 22, 2020)

Thanks "Oscarsdad" for moving it!

CCoopz, thanks! I will try the chili powder for sure. I wonder if it impacts the grass growth, he never does it in the rock, just the nice grass areas. We keep him pretty tired as well in hopes that he will be too tired for that craziness. Thanks again for the reply!


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## 153330 (Dec 29, 2016)

Our Scott _loves_ digging...
Can you make your dog a place where he is allowed to dig? His own digging sandpit/soil wallowing area?
It might be easier to redirect the behaviour to a harmless place than try to stop it altogether. 
If he digs because it's fun, let him dig?
If he digs because he's stressed or bored, that's a different issue I think.
:0)


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

I know someone that puts down a wire fence/chicken wire mesh pegged onto the grass Spots her dogs like to dig. Seems like a good solution as the dogs can’t dig because of the fence and the grass can still grow? It’ll have to be moved when you mow the lawn of course. (I have no yard so I cannot attest to how helpful this is just sharing!)


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## azgolden (Sep 22, 2020)

Thanks, appreciate the help! 

HollyB- We'd rather just get him to a place where he doesn't do it, but its not a bad idea. He is, for some reason, only attracted to the grass though. There are a few dirt spots outside of the grass area and leaves those alone. The big goofball only goes after the nice lawn!

Ffcmm- Thanks, another good suggestion! He doesn't seem to have a single spot, just wherever the wind takes him that day!

We started yesterday working with him on the yard with a 50 foot leash. He seems to know that he can't get away with stuff when he's on a leash. We'll keep this up for a while and hopefully he'll just forget about digging altogether. He seemed to enjoy the freedom of being out there again, albeit with some restrictions.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

My neighbors Golden was a digger as a puppy but I'm pretty sure it was too much time alone outside so he dug from boredom. He did eventually stop on his own. Sometimes they will dig to make a cooler spot to lie down on. A quick fix to stop a hole in progress is to put their poop in it but they will just start another hole. Walking seldom uses up enough energy for a young Golden. Are your fetch sessions enough to give a good tongue lolling, heavy breathing session of 20 to 30 minutes? A session with a playmate can really help drain energy so he'll be too tired to bother digging.


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## azgolden (Sep 22, 2020)

Thanks cwag, I understated the walks, he's my jogging partner in the mornings. He gets pretty tired haha. That said, the only grass that he ever digs is the backyard, and its immediate. He won't try when we stop on our jogs or walks to try and dig in park grass, its just something about our backyard! The leash seemed to work yesterday, so we'll keep going with that!


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