Does your yard look like a minefield? Or perhaps a playground for gophers?
What about the floors near your back door—are they covered in dirt? Or do you live in a wet part of the country, where you have to mop the floors after your dog just to keep the house even remotely clean? How are your ankles? Have you fallen into any pits recently?
Sounds like your dog is a digger! That means no matter how hard you try, your yard always looks like a war zone with multiple holes, dirt everywhere, and no grass to be seen from one side to the other.
Dogs love to dig! It’s great exercise, always exciting, and does wonders for relieving pent-up anxiety from their tough daily lives. Some breeds are worse than others. The word “Terrier” comes from the Latin terra, meaning earth. In fact, your Jack Russell might feel out of place anywhere but in the dark, cool recesses of a hole.
How to Manage a Digging Dog
So how do you stop a digger from digging? In all honesty, you don’t. Once a dog develops the habit, it’s very hard to break without also breaking the dog’s spirit. What works better is to compromise—designate an area for them to destroy as they see fit and encourage them to dig only there. Meanwhile, the rest of your yard remains intact and attractive, with no danger of twisting an ankle or falling on your derriere if you’re not paying attention to where you’re walking.
How you teach them where it’s appropriate to dig and where it isn’t is a simple training and reward system. First, remove the grass from the land you’ve relinquished to King Digger. Nothing looks worse than partially dug-up grass. Instead, keep it either bare soil, or if that doesn’t fit with the rest of the yard, use cedar chips. They tend to float to the surface when filling holes, and they’ll look better than bare soil with a bit of upkeep.
The amount of space you give them depends on the size of the yard and the size of the dog—bigger areas for bigger yards and bigger dogs. It’s also handy to have a fence on at least two sides. One of the toughest parts of keeping the mess contained is the dirt spray that happens while they dig. A fence on two sides will help contain the soil within the designated area, reducing your work in the long run.
Next, loosen the soil nicely so it’s easy for your Terra Dog to dig. Normally, a dog will choose an easy spot to dig rather than a tough one, so they’ll gravitate toward softer ground. You’ve already made the area more attractive to your earth-moving pooch, but there’s an even easier way to convince them this spot is the place to be for digging—reward them when they pick the right area!
Start by picking out a few yummy and/or fun toys and treats from the pet store. Rubber toys, Kongs, lacrosse balls, and Frisbees work well. For treats, buy a few bones and cow hooves. Now bury them in his area about a foot deep. Let him out, and he’ll be in his element, digging up all the treasures.
Next time, bury them a little deeper. The digging will get easier as he continues to loosen the soil, so each time, go a few inches further down. How deep you end up burying them depends on the size of the area and your dog. For a small dog like a Jack Russell, one and a half feet is deep enough. You don’t want to make it so difficult that he gets discouraged and finds an easier, less deep spot away from the “Digging Zone.”
Every day or two, rebury the items he’s dug up and pat the soil down well, adding a bit of a challenge to the digging. Both the physical and mental exercise will keep him stimulated and content, leaving the rest of your yard alone.
And as an added bonus to the chore of all that shovel work, it’ll keep you in great shape—not a bad trade-off when it comes to protecting your begonias from certain death!
