 digging in new back yard
#193242 - 05/03/2008 01:50 PM |
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My 6 month old German Shepherd puppy just got a new back yard. A new back yard that she loves to dig holes in, unfortunately. She gets about 2 walks a day around the neighborhood for exercise. What should I do to keep this from happening...
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 Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: **DONOTDELETE** ]
#193252 - 05/03/2008 02:33 PM |
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Tara, someone will probably be able to give you a specific answer, but I'm sure I've seen either an article or something here by Ed addressing this. It could have been in a thread here on the forum, I could be confusing where I saw it. If you search around on here though I think you'll find it.
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: **DONOTDELETE** ]
#193254 - 05/03/2008 02:40 PM |
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I've had many dogs with a variety of hole digging issues. Every dog I've had digs at some time or another. Some dogs are more into it than others. I had a Rott that dug holes maybe 5 times his whole life. He was 12 years old when he died. I had one GSD wthat I could never break entirely.
The best way to stop it is to kennel him when you aren't around so you can see him if he starts to dig.
Two walks around the neighborhood are probably not enough exercise for the pup.
The digging seems to go away to some extent as they mature.
Other than that you can try lots of different things to see what works with your particular dog. I've had some success with poop in the hole, mouse traps, hot wires and ecollars.
Lee Sternberg |
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: lee sternberg ]
#193259 - 05/03/2008 03:07 PM |
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Mine did it only a few times, but I could see China!
An e-collar fixed that in one or two days.
 Brenna
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: Mike Morrison ]
#193270 - 05/03/2008 04:32 PM |
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Thanks for the quick responses. I will look on the website for any info that I can find on digging. My husband and I thought about buying an ecollar, but I am a little hesitant. Will this make her nervous??
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: **DONOTDELETE** ]
#193277 - 05/03/2008 04:50 PM |
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JMHO, don't leave dog out in yard unsupervised and redirect if she begins to dig...you gotta teach her how you DO want her to behave before you institute corrections. You have to be more fun than digging a hole. (challenging, I know)
That seemed to work well for me...also, the dog was engaged daily with exercise, fun markers/ob stuff. I did take my dog to the park and taught him "DIG" in the sand...boy was that a treat for him! He'd dig a big old hole and lay down in it, all proud of his accomplishment.
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: **DONOTDELETE** ]
#193278 - 05/03/2008 04:53 PM |
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My husband and I thought about buying an ecollar, but I am a little hesitant. Will this make her nervous??
I bought an e-collar basically for this specific problem, and a few other things like this. As long as you collar condition the dog properly it's not going to make her nervous.
Basically in a nutshell you collar condition the dog, then do your level setting technique from Ed Frawleys' video first this takes a few weeks.
Then set the dog up in the problem area, watch the dog. Once the dog starts to dig give the dog a 'nick' the dog will shake its head and scratch its neck and then when it puts the paw down to dig again .. 'nick' again. The dog will usually think the 'nick' is coming from the ground especially if you are out of sight and don't give a verbal correction i.e. "No" etc. It didn't take long to break my dog of this habit.
Though I still take her places where she can dig and bury her toys and supervise it, so she can still get her digging ya yas out.
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: Geoff Empey ]
#193286 - 05/03/2008 05:42 PM |
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thanks for your responses! After having read about ecollars on this sight I am convinced that they are a necessary step to take with my dog. I am slightly discouraged by how much many of the models seem to cost on this website. All I am needing is one that will discourage behavior problems, mainly digging. Is it worth it to pay more and get one of the models listed on this website as opposed to one at my local pet store. If so, what model would be recommended?
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: **DONOTDELETE** ]
#193300 - 05/03/2008 07:04 PM |
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Tara, we too have a 6 mo old GSD and he sometimes likes to dig. For him it seems a way to get at the roots of the grass which for some reason he like to eat and chew. Currently, my solution is to refocus him on play activities with me, which usually works. Same for eating our flowers and plants in the yard. We're working on "leave it".
I have an e-collar on order that I should get in a couple days. This is one area that I want to focus, as well as the "come", etc. I ordered a Tri Tronics collar elsewhere before I found this site. I looked in pet stores but they seem to only have the cheaper brands that I don't feel I would trust. The old rule that you get what you pay for is true here too. I'd spend $200-300.
Be SURE you order Ed's DVD on e-collar training! Watch it before you even take your collar out of the box. Best of luck, let us know your progress.
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Re: digging in new back yard
[Re: David Crout ]
#193308 - 05/03/2008 08:07 PM |
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Be SURE you order Ed's DVD on e-collar training! Watch it before you even take your collar out of the box. Best of luck, let us know your progress.
Yes the DVD is a good guide, but for best results IMHO you do need to touch base with a local trainer with experience with e-collars to make it super clear. As with any training tool that could be abused by misuse the more info you have the better it is. Even better try to find an e-collar seminar near you.
My advice is to get the best e-collar you can afford. As you can use it for lots of different training scenarios. The one I have I bought from Leerburg is the Dogtra 1700. Which I believe has been superseded by the 1900 http://www.leerburg.com/1900ncp.htm
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