Pooch in garden

[Chilkootteacher]

OMG, we had an underground fence installed by Mike Anderson last fall - which I would HIGHLY recommend. The only disadvantage to having this underground fence installed is now my dog is digging like crazy in all of my gardens - because she has access to the entire yard. We have tried watching her (she knows, she's not stupid - she won't dig when we're looking). We have tried spying on her (although by the time we yell through the window or run out the door after her she doesn't seem to be making the correlation). We have tried putting her outside for short periods of time vs. longer periods of times. Every time she digs we fill the holes back in but this only seems to make it like a game for her. I stuck a little white flag (from the underground fence system) in the garden - as soon as I did this and walked back in the house I looked out the window and saw her running around with the flag in her mouth. My whole back yard is not landscaped and could care less if she dug there. The only 3 places she digs are in my 3 gardens. Hubby won't let me get any new plants this spring because he knows the dog is just going to wreck them. I do love my dog. She's a sweetie - Hershey, a 1 yr old choc lab. If she comes in the house one more time with muddy feet and dirt all over her furry brown face I'm going to scream. Help please.

[MrsBeasley]

You can buy deterrants in the gardening sections of most stores. Products like "Get off my Garden" etc.

One of my dogs seems to dig holes every spring, once things dry up he tends to stop (weird)

One thing you can also do (as told to me by an animal Behaviorist) is make sure that when you are doing any work in your garden, your dog is in the house or somewhere he can't see you digging around in the dirt, if he sees you doing it, he therefore thinks that's an acceptible thing to do.

[Chilkootteacher]

I've never heard of "Get off my Garden." I'll have to check this out. And duh, I've also never thought of keeping her in when I'M digging in the garden. This is great advice. If you happen to think of anything else, please let me know. Thank you so much ( :

[domarloc]

I actually just had the dog trainer at my house last week for this same problem....the only difference is my dog seemed to think she wanted to know what was under our swimming pool:eek: . She recommended using filling a kids swimming pool with the type of dirt your dog is digging in (mine likes crushed rock and sand, yours would clearly prefer soil...lol :biggrin: ) everytime you catch your dog digging your should scold her with a firm voice and take her to her digging spot and encourage her to dig there. She even recommended hiding some of favorite toys in her digging area to show her that it hers. When she does dig in the right spot praise her. We also took it one step further and raked all of our gravel back and layed a heavy gauge wire sort of like chicken wire a couple inches down and covered it with the gravel again so it cannot be seen. Apparently dogs do not like the feeling on their toenails and it discourages them of digging. This would work in a garden as well because the flowers will grow through the holes. We took the extra step just because she was going to ruin our pool. I have also heard of spreading cayenne pepper around the area you do not want them to dig.

[Chilkootteacher]

Great advice, thank you...I will have to try this ( : The digging has hit an all new low. She has dug a hole large enough in my flower bed so that she will fit under the lattice on my front deck. She now goes under the deck and digs and dirt is now being flung in all directions through the lattice. There is dirt everywhere.

[Chilkootteacher]

Wouldn't the dog LOVE that...she'd be in doggy heaven... ha ha ( ; If I can't get her to stop digging it might come to that. She's pretty persistant. I LOVE my plants and can't stand seeing her destroy them.

[DannyB]

The same troubles:o But instead I have home pigs:cool: & they use to dig in the garden for all time.

[puppyluv]

Ahhh here is what my animal group recommended...fill the hole with their feces and then cover it up.. Also get critter ridder and spread it over the areas to irritate their feet when they step on it etc.

I know the these work because Jake my male can dig faster than anyone I know...big strong dog..I just wish i could teach him to dig on command. hahaha. He doesnt dig now...
also another idea I saw on "Good Dog" bury chicken wire an inch or two under where they seem to like to dig....it bugs them and they shouldnt be digging there once they realize it hurts.