It can be extremely frustrating to get home from work or look out your window and see your dog digging a hole in your yard. To stop your dog from digging in your yard is going to require training and patience.

Can You Stop Your Dog From Digging In Your Yard?

Believe it or not, the reason your dog is digging is not to make you mad. You will need to figure out why your digging in the first place, the motivation behind your dog’s behavior. Then you can take dog training steps to discourage it, redirect that energy and possibly stop it completely.

• Boredom! To solve this problem, provide more exercise for your dog, both physical and mental. The more exercise the better. A tired, happy dog will rest between the times you spend together.
• It’s Hot!  If you dog is digging under the porch or along the edge of the house, they could be looking for a cool place to lay. To solve this problem, make sure you provide plenty of cool water during the day and out and also an area where your dog can get out of the sunlight.
• It’s In My Nature!  Sometimes it is the breed of your dog and not the environment.  Some breeds tend to be burrowers and it will be very hard to break your dog of their digging behavior.  You could provide your dog their own little area in the yard where they are allowed to dig and then camouflage it will plants or fencing.
• I Like It!  Some dogs just like to dig and there isn’t going to be a lot you can do to stop your dog from digging in your yard.  Create an area that is theirs to dig all they want and train them that this is the only area that it will be acceptable.

If your dog has dug holes and you want to refill them, there are a couple of methods you can try to stop your dog from digging in your yard.

The first method is to fill the hole until it is almost full and then mix dog poo, pine cones, moth ball and other repelling non-harmful substances in the last portion of the dirt.  The next time your dog arrives for the big dig, they quickly find the game has changed.  Most dogs quickly change their behavior with this method.

The second method is more time consuming but effective.  Cut a section of chicken wire or something similar to cover the hole plus about 8 inches or more all around the hole.  Dig a hole a few inches deep that surrounds the hole and is the same size as the wire shape.  Then fill the hole and press the wire in place and cover it with dirt.  Make sure you cover the wire edges.  When you dog returns, the wire will stop them form digging.

We humans see digging as bad dog behavior, but dogs don’t and they dig for different reasons. If you can figure out why they are digging, you can put dog training steps in place and stop your dog from digging in your yard.