artep

As some of you may be aware, we had our 'once lovely' puppy Milly desexed last Friday. We've been told by the vet she's not to have any exercise for 4 weeks & she's not to get too excited as she may burst her stitches

Milly was feeling really sorry for herself on Friday night but by Saturday morning was back on form in true Zeberdee style.

This morning I decided the house needed vacuuming so in my wisdom I shut Milly outside as she goes mad at the hoover....barking her head off and racing round like a loon.

To keep her occupied I gave her a huge lump of ice to lick/play with. Well, in the time it took me to vacuum the house Milly has dug a hole the size of Wales in the back garden. The split second I saw what she'd done I gave her a good yelling at,cleared up the mess and planted a couple of huge Milly parcels in the said hole as I'm told this deters them from digging there again.

Has anyone got any bright ideas as to how to stop this mutt from digging (she's done it a bit before, but not to this scale!) any more?? I'm hoping the poo thing works...if she does what Donna's (madsad) dog did & starts eating it I'm stuffed & so is my bond

biggy

You can buy a liquid which you can spray on parts of the garden u dont want the dogs to go......ours is a shit for digging we got some...not used it yet tho....Am also goin to spray the front garden as somebody elses dog keeps shitting on the grass

annqldau

Could always get her delegged as well as desexed. Unfortunatly on a serious note you may find that scolding or giving her a fright with something she doesn't conect with you works every time she starts. You have to catch her in the act. Try throwing a beer can full of pebbles right near her and giving her fright... musn't see you throw and she may end up with horrors of people with beer cans...

See also

http://vtvt.essortment.com/dogsdiggingpro_rvjd.htm

http://www.bestfriendspetcare.com/bf_behavior_35.cfm

http://www.dogproblems.com/gardendigging.htm

http://doityourself.com/pets/digging.htm

Right enough of being a sad b*gger i'm off to work... .

artep

Biggy - what's the spray called??


annqldau - Thanks for those links!!!

I think she's dug this hole just for the sheer hell of it...plus prob to stick 2 fingers up at me for shutting her out & stopping her from harassing the vacuum cleaner

biggy

Its called...'Stop diggin ****in holes in the garden"

hehe

D-Ter its called I got it at our local co op

artep

cheers

moneypenny20

So all sympathy and warm fuzzy feeling has gone now I take it. Have you threatened her with the vet again

artep

hmmmm....the vet had crossed my mind. Trouble is she then looks at you with those bloody big brown eyes and you think 'you swine! you know exactly how to look too bloody cute'

Think she was just kicking up because I'd shut her out.......trouble is...when I manage to get myself a full time job..what on EARTH (s'cuse the pun ) is she going to do for the 3.5 hours she'll be alone while one son leaves for school and the other comes home?

NickyP

How long are you planning to stay in the rental property? If it is a while I might be tempted to do my best but resign myself to reseeding the lawn before I left. It would take the pressure off and you could leave an immaculate lawn.
Just a thought.
One training tip that I heard was to teach your dog to dig where there is no problem with her doing it (the beach or a wooded area) train her to dig on command then it is easier to teach her not to do it in the garden. I have no idea how easy this is to do in practice but it sounds reasonable enough. It would also be well worht investing in one of the chew toy balls which they have to work at getting treats out of for when she is on her own.
Good luck.

Bordy

Can't you just take her spade away.

furkew

I know it won't help the digging problem, but if you need peace and quiet for a little while, I always used to give our dog a big ol bone out of the freezer on hot days. If you can get them from the butchers, just throw a couple in the freezer in a plastic bag, and take out when needed.

Oh and BTW Bix I said give the dog a BONE and not a B....

artep

...there's always one

artep

Nicky - We're planning on being in our rental for another 6 months yet. Not sure if I want to fork out for a new lawn...but your idea of a toy she has to 'work at' sounds good...think I may give it a try.

furkew - silly q - do dogs have to be a certain age before its advisable to give 'em raw bones?? Can you give them to pups?

jad n rich

Pups can have marrow bones, think its cause they are a bit softer less brittle. Never give them cooked bones they can splinter and cause a lovely vets :scared: bill. Have you got her on heartworm pills yet you have to do that here, or once a bit older they can have a yearly vaccination based on weight.

annqldau

Carefull with the bones as our Spinones loved to burry the bones in the garden so you may make the problem worse.

Not very nice but another alternative is to get her one of those bark collars where you can zap them and every time she starts to dig zap her.

We put dog in cage when we go to work as he is normally due for asleep around then, you can get quite big dog cages as well or make a pen.