I am sure digging is a given Labrador right.... I dont and never have encouraged or goaded Rolo to dig... but he seems to be enjoying digging patches up in my garden, now he is never left unattended but I watch from my kitchen window while he sniffs around and the last week or so he has been digging and eating the mud. Now Im not too fussed as the garden is a mess, but we plan this year to get the whole thing renovated. We wont appreciate him digging then.... Any ideas to stop him? Even if i go out and play with him or we do outdoor training when he has had enough he goes to his dig spots and begins and I cut it short and take him indoors...
I read advice a long time ago to make a digging area for your dog where you hide treats and toys and encourage digging there. If he digs elsewhere, redirect to his digging area. We have a tiny garden so there was no point designating an area. But Snowie has one area he likes to dig in when its hot and he wants a cool spot. As soon as I see him going there I call him inside. He only does it if I'm gardening and he wants to be outside with me but it's too hot. He far prefers being inside where it's cooler. It does put an end to my gardening as I go inside with him. He dug a lot more as a puppy but grew out of it when he was about two. Our garden looked terrible when he was the gardener!
I like Betsy digging. I think - particularly for a small pup - it's great natural exercise. She is a bit more of a digger than Charlie, but I don't anticipate any problems. I plan to plant fuchsias in the holes next spring! Once she's older, she'll probably grow out of it, and even if she doesn't once she's older she will have her attention on me in the garden. As they grow up, the length of time you can ask them to do other things instead of getting into mischief gets much longer.
I have a sandy corner for digging - if they dig in any other area I distract them with a game or redirect them to the digging area. My garden is only small so any holes are very noticable!
