You know, that mole thing could be important.
My Jack Russell/spaniel ofsomesort digs up moles and kills them at a remarkable rate. But that doesn’t explain the size of the holes. IS she catching anything?
ERRR!!
Rat terriors are bred to kill rats.
They can be coaxed to go into a hole and get the critter to come out.
Back before game wardens terriors were used to dig mink out of a hole.
Don’t remember if you mentioned the type of dog but if it was bred to dig then you have your work cut out for you.
Some coon hunters keep small terriors to get coons to come out of barns where they are holed up in the hay.
Sorry, manny. (Thought I was safe avoiding the word “goober.”)
Best thing to keep one border collie busy is another.
Trust me this I know.My life is so much easier with two than it ever was with one.
Once they get to know each other all you need do is throw just one stick in the yard and they will do the rest.
I have heard of some folk who do amateur shepherding with their BC’s and have organised themselves into a club, there might be somesuch in the US.
Another favourite is the dog obstacle course training, some of the competitions are quite fierce.
You might try a lower protein feed to slow your dog down too.
I don’t have any advice on how to stop the dog from digging but I thought I would share this with you.
We have a Labrador-mix dog and when we kept her outside, she would dig just like you have described. Our vet essentially diagnosed the dog with having some sort of attachment disorder. (Don’t laugh!)
(Our dog was abused as a puppy and her mother was also killed before she was weaned so I guess she’s going to grow up to be a canine serial killer or something.)
However, once we started reasssuring her that she was only going out for a little while and that we were not leaving her permanently, she stopped digging.
From what you have described, I don’t see how you could reassure the dog any more that she was not being abandoned but you might check into the attachment disorder thing–maybe some doggie Prozac or counseling or something.
We checked this out this weekend. We actually went and looked closely where she was digging. Turns out, there are snails in there! She’s digging them up then playing with them (ewwww).
It rained most of the weekend, so she didn’t spend a lot of time out there (rain falling on her freaks her out). Therefore, we didn’t test out any of the suggestions put forth here. We are going to try the designated digging spot. We’re going to build her a sandbox with chicken wire as the first level, then lots of sand and dirt on top of that. Then we’ll bury some toys or something in there. Then we’re going to talk to a garden expert about how to safely get rid of the snails!
Boscibo - what a great dog! Charlie looks very similar to Bandit, except her hair isn’t quite as long.
I had two dogs that dug constantly. My old house had a fenced backyard of nearly an acre. The dogs would dig under the fence. I got railroad ties and lined the fence, and they STILL dug underneath. I tried that powder stuff that’s supposed to keep dogs away, but they just laughed at that.
Finally, using a combination of chicken wire, railroad ties, and garden stakes, I made it impossible for the dogs to dig underneath the fence. So they began climbing it. Seriously. It was a chain-link fence, and they learned to climb over it. I had to get rid of them, because they scared the neighborhood kids. They were medium-sized mutts, and they never bit, but they’d jump on you.
Not really an answer to the OP, but thought I’d share. In some cases, it’s easier to interpret a pregnant chad than to stop a dog from digging.
c3
Snails aren’t known to dig much.
I’ll bet the dog is collecting them.Maybe for it’s own thanksgiving feast.
Escargo isn’t a very traditional thanksgiving meal. I’d have a serious talk with him. He is probably going to invite the neighbors and surprise you.