When we brought Molly home it was January and snow covered the yard. Molly LOVES to dig in the snow and my wife thought that was "just the cutest thing EVER!" Well now that it's March, almost April the snow is gone and the grass has yet to fill in as nicely as I would like. Molly has taken this change in stride and has changed to digging in the dirt (who wouldn't?) My wife finds this a crime against humanity! I've told her Molly doesn't know the difference between snow and dirt other than one is cold and digging (previously encouraged) is digging (presently frowned upon) I find the battle funny as all get out...my wife not so much
Hee hee, we have the same with footballs in the garden - there is the old rubbish one and the good one. In my husband's world, one belongs to Pongo and one belongs to him. In Pongo's world, they are both footballs and therefore (obviously) toys to play with. I watch and enjoy.
LOL Try some of her own poop in the holes she digs. She'll probably just dig another hole but surely there's some place in the yard a hole is ok. That's what we did, worked for us and they all grew out of digging. For those that don't, some people actually build them a sandbox. Now Oban DID know the difference between snow and dirt. He was a winter puppy too, coming home with us Dec. 8 of one of the snowiest, coldest winters. That he knew the difference became apparent as the snow melted. He was used to performing his bathroom duties on snow. In Spring the patches of snow shrank ever smaller and we wondered what he would do when there were no more left, as he sought out the remainders and would only potty on them. Well thankfully for all of us he did figure this out and did potty on non-snow covered ground.
Harley grew out of digging eventually.........after digging 2 very deep holes that OH filled numerous times. In the end we gave up and still have 1 hole near he back of the garden which we give up filling back in
My two are the same as Oban. They will always go on snow if there's any available. Shadow always wees like a girl on snow, too. They both love to dig snow, and water, but don't dig earth.
We are in the middle of the UK where it doesn't snow much. The night we brought Jessie home it snowed, so I spent much of the night in the snow in my wellies, coat and pjs... With her scampering around and rushing off (much to my horror as I thought she would trot next to me!) The snow melted the next day and she was totally thrown! Jessie started out a digger, but has thankfully lost interest! Good luck!
Ha ha, Ripple is a hole digger as well, and he likes to eat the dirt he digs out . OH classic was letting Ripple play with his old boots when he was a tiny puppy, now OH can't understand why Ripple doesn't know the difference between his old boots and his best boots .
I always redirected Juno when she went to start digging as I just didn't want her digging up the garden. Always found the best course of action was to prevent her from playing with items I.e. old shoes/slippers which would be allowed when little and forbidden when older. A good way to confuse your pup...
Oh dear...Charlie picks up EVERYTHING (delivered to hand for a treat), nicks every shoe and slipper going (it's a great game, we flick our slippers off across the room for him to fetch), and no-one has ever taken a shoe off in our house without the Labrador picking it up and presenting it to the owner. Our shoes are piled up, higgly-piggly, on the hall radiator cover out of 3 year old Labrador reach! We laugh a lot, though.
One of Juno's most important jobs is to bring me my slippers when I come in from shopping etc Her other important role in life is nicking OH's slippers in the evening and running round the coffee table with them (he insists on kicking them off every evening). I'm a meany though as she rarely gets a treat anymore for her 'jobs'.
I have to comment on shoes. We let puppy Jet play with a beat up old pair of the OH's work boots. People were horrified, "Oh no, she'll chew all your shoes" they said. Well she didn't. We figure all the shoes smelled different and she was perfectly able to distinguish the ones allowed for her pleasure from the ones we wore. Even the new work boots from the old ones. In fact, she would bring me my running shoes or slippers or ski boots or hiking boots when asked to. They were all made of different things, they must have smelled different. And, she would bring a visitors shoes when asked to. That must have been because they were the only ones that did not smell of us or did smell of them. I missed an opportunity with that, I should have come up with a hand signal to pick up a visitor's shoes and take them to the visitor. It would have made a great hint to some of them that it was time for them to go home. Jet did take to picking up footwear on her own. When we got home and I took the running, hiking or ski boots off she brought me my slippers without being asked.
Holly's an expert slipper fetcher too. She sometimes gives them a shake to make sure they're dead first. If I'm not quick enough taking my shoes off she gets very impatient and throws them at my feet.
Very important to make sure the slippers are dead. Can you imagine any self respecting Labrador delivering a slipper that is still alive? Horrors.....
I've learnt to add on an extra 5 minutes to getting ready to go out to hunt the missing shoe which is often found in the bathroom next to an empty toilet roll holder. Hubby made a special shelf for my shoes now Homer picks up his boot and leaves it in strange places around the house.
Socks are the thing with my little man. He does love a good sock. Willow only has room in her heart for one old one that is now more hole than sock. In general, Shadow is also happy to play with that one, but he picks up socks that I've taken off for a shower etc, or when I'm sorting out laundry. He'll walk around with it dangling from between his front teeth and deliver it if asked. The other day, after my shower, I couldn't find my clean socks where I'd put them. There they were on his bed. I picked one up, put my foot in it, and straight out through the hole in the heel. Tried the other, exactly the same. It's the first time he's done this, and I had to laugh. If the worst thing that happens is I lose a pair of cheapy Tesco socks once in a while, I don't have too much to complain about!
Ahh! Shoes, there be plenty of em in our house. Sisters has over a hundred me thinks! Well, there's nothing more delightful then seeing good ole Luffy make go for a juicy designer shoe and the chase that entails is all the more entertaining. Yesterday he made off with something in the store that we thought was a slipper on;y to find it was a potato!
In my case it's husband who thinks he knows best based on dog experience from 30 odd years ago whilst I've read all the books and forum posts.
