Our boy Jesse has been digging for Rocks in our backyard. I take him for walks 4 times a day including to Stores that allow pets, and to the local park. I train him to reenforce in basic commands we play fetch and his has a playmate the female lab we adopted they play well together. I usually in the backyard with them, but when he gets a chance he will run and dig for rocks. We cleaned our backyard as much as possible. We are working on leave it and drop it, but it is a work in progress. Any Ideas what do to, lately all I seem to do is fill holes he digs in the backyard.
I have heard of other Labs that loved to dig for and play with rocks. I have always found it interesting and wonder what is is about rocks that they like so much.
Our old Lab, Scooby, was rock-obsessed. He would seek them out on the beach, dig them up, rescue them from rivers. He always wanted to carry a prize rock, so I insisted he carry a Kong Safestix instead. He saw this as an OK alternative, but he'd still put down the Kong if he wanted to dig up a stone.
What does he do with the rocks? Our friends' Lab did damage to his teeth by chewing on them. My dogs would dig just for the sake of digging, they didn't seem to be looking for anything in particular. Their own poop in the hole discouraged further excavations in that hole. Then they just moved to another spot to dig and when they got to a spot I didn't care about I let them go to it. I wonder if that would work for you? I have heard of people providing sand pits, burying toys or treats to encourage digging and then letting their dog play in the sandbox. Since your pup is looking for rocks I wonder if that would help. Do you have enough rock to build a small fence? Maybe you could use those rocks.
My new puppy was like this with plants in the garden. Drove me nuts. All she seemed to do was chew plants. Constantly, all the time. It was destructive, annoying and seemed a bit obsessive. So, I had to ask myself what did I want her to do instead of chewing plants? And the answer was what my older dog does in the garden - pay attention to me in case I'm going to do something interesting. That's what he does in the garden. He watches me, and engages with me. So that's what I set about rewarding with my puppy and sure enough, she soon started paying attention to me and leaving the plants alone. Both of my dogs will wreak things and generally be a nuisance if left to their own devices in the garden (or indeed anywhere) - it's just what they are, young dogs with a fair bit of energy and the desire to 'do' things and it's never something constructive if they are left to choose what to do! So they are not left to choose what to do. They wee and poo on cue, then we do stuff together. If I left them alone, they would both soon chew plants, dig, and make a mess.
He likes to push them around the yard the bigger the better, when he see it we remove the rocks and distract him with his ball. They usually not left alone in the back yard and if for a few minutes sometimes I can't avoid it. Our vet told it is often a puppy thing and it will get better. I have been working with him on leave it and drop it, and most of the time he will. Thanks for the responses.
