My dog keeps digging holes?

Question

We rescued a dog (pit bull) from the pound about 1 1/2 months ago. She is a great dog. 1 yr old, but for the past 2 weeks she digs holes all over the yard. What can we do? My hubby wants to get rid of her now. Our yard looks like a mine field. Help!!!!

Answer 1

sprinkle some Cayenne pepper just below the surface after you fill the hole, and around her favorite digging spots. Digging will then become a negative thing, and she will lose interest. Make sure you provide water for her after you fill holes so she can have a drink. You will know if this is working if you check the holes you filled and there is a small hole where she put her paw.

Another way is to give her a sandbox, and bury some of her favorite toys in it. Praise her when she digs in the sandbox, and Cayenne pepper the others.

If you don't have pepper you can bury a balloon in her holes so she pops them and it makes a loud noise. If she is persistent bury a water balloon, so she will get two negative effects. This is also good if your dog is used to loud noises, or hates water.

The reasons she could be digging are:
1. she is hot, and needs a cool place to lie down
2. she is bored, so make sure to keep her busy
3. she smells something and is trying to figure out what it is

If negative things continue to happen, she will give up on digging once and for all.

Good luck and please don't get rid of her!

Answer 2

Dogs often dig holes because they are bored. Make sure you have interesting doggy toys for her to play with, like a Kong toy or the balls you fill with treats and the dog has to roll it around to get the treats out. Also, she is at a very active age, be sure she is getting a lot of exercise, long walks, fetch that kind of thing. If she is tired, she will be less likely to dig. The person who said to put the dog's poop in the hole is right, the dog won't dig in that hole again, but unfortunately, she will still dig.

Answer 3

First and foremost your husband needs help.....
If he had any balls to deal with this problem he would.
You two should have made this dog a priority BEFORE deciding to get it.
I am sorry for the rant but, As a dog breeder who works very hard for my dogs to make sure they are the happiest healthiest dogs and having to hear all the time from the idiots that think I need to change because "there are too many dogs, stop breeding", all the while people decide not to take dog ownership seriously and, get them , don't take care of them, don't train them, and don't seem to think about what happens to them afterwords.
That being said.. there are allot of good ideas above. Try putting his poo in the holes, make sure he gets allot of exercises (pit bulls are very active) and give him something to do while alone.
Dogs need a job to do. Pit bulls don't make good guard dogs so they aren't content to take care of their property like most guard dogs. They need another activity such as chewing on something, or you can throw a small animal over the fence every once in a while for sport... Just kidding.
just make sure he is busyand worn out.

Answer 4

Getting her to stop digging is nearly impossible. She will probably outgrow it though. But for now, you can try a shock collar or watching her all the time. But the most effective way to deal with it is to not let her do it. We have a kennel and plan to cement it so the dog CANT dig. I assume you leave your dog outside by himself all day, and if so, that is asking for problems. Expecially with a pit bull. You are encouraging the dog to be extra territorial. Also, he's probably bored, so he digs. It's fun, he sees results, he may find gold. Leaving him out there is just cruel and like poking yourself in the eye. I'd get rid of him too rather than leave him outside.

Answer 5

We had a marvelous beagle mix, who, of course, was a great excavator. The problem is that he'd undercut the surface of the ground, so there was no place in the yard where one wasn't in danger of stepping on the grass & breaking through into one of Rocky's holes!

What we did to solve the problem was to give him one "project hole". We tied him up with a long line and told him to dig. He was so proud to show off his digging ability! Every day we'd tie him up, give him time to work on his project & praise him for his 'work'. He ended up with a subterranean room into which my 9 year old son fit, over which we ended putting boards covered with soil to avoid a possible cave in. When we had guests over, we'd bring them out to the back to show them the dog's marvelous engineering work. He was so proud that he never dug anywhere but there, and the rest of the yard was kept in tact & without puppy holes.

Maybe this would work for you. It's impossible to keep a digging dog from digging, but you can direct that energy where you want it.

Answer 6

If she is just now digging it could be various reasons. There might be moles in your yard, she could be bored, she feels left out. The others answers seem like good ones but in order to remedy the problem you first have to find out and understand why she is digging. Good Luck.

Answer 7

If putting her poop in the holes doesn't work, try putting crushed red pepper over the holes she already dug. Another possible solution would be to fill the holes up with water and put her nose in it while telling her no! (I don't like doing that to dogs, but it does teach them that it is wrong)

Answer 8

Try putting her own poop in the holes,its worked for my dogs

Answer 9

He may be looking for a place to ease itself.

Answer 10

punish her when she does that so that she knows not to do it