My dog is obsessed with picking up rocks, placing them in different areas of the lawn and digging. Any ideas?

So my working line GSD is 5 now. He is trained, I would say intermediate level.

But he has this issue when we are at home only. He will grab a rock in his mouth from the backyard then goes and place it in positions all around the back lawn and digs.

Some of the trenches are 500mm deep. The only way I stop him from doing this is by locking him in the laundry when I'm not home. Although he is less likely to do it if I am not home. But if I get home let him out the back yard for 10min even. I will call him to come inside and he comes up covered in mud, more so when it’s been raining a lot. His claws are next to nothing on his front paws.

Any ideas?

Cindy's Answer

This sounds like a working line dog channeling their drive into an obsessive activity. I purchased a working line GSD from Europe many years ago and he also did something similar. Not only did it destroy the yard and his feet, but his teeth were wearing down from carrying the rocks. If he's 5 years old and he's done this for an extended time the only way to do something about it is to take away the option.

If you can't supervise and stop the behavior, he'll have to be contained in an area where he can't do this. I set up a large kennel run on a concrete slab for my dog so he could not access rocks or dig.

I wish there was a way I knew to fix it but unless you are there to interrupt the behavior I would expect it to continue.