Mrs Cad is renting a house (so no permanent fixes) with a dog digging under the fence. Is there something she can spray to deter the dog? I thought bleach but that may be an old wives’ tale.
Is this her dog trying to get out, or another dog trying to get in?
If it’s another dog, mouse traps work the best in my experience. Failing that, really hot pepper sauce works well. As a last resort you can try the various products such as lion urine and skunk dung that are supposed to deter pets.
If it’s her dog, she’s out of luck looking for chemical barriers. An electric fence will work just fine, and can be easily removed when she moves. But ultimately the dog needs to be trained not to escape. It really isn’t all that hard to do.
So, I called my wife (dog behaviorist) and asked her what she thought. She said that most commercial chemical repellents are for use indoors and at best will work until the first rain and at worst will kill your grass and not work at all. She said that some people have had success with synthesized skunk spray, lemon juice, cayenne pepper solutions, or vinegar. She also said that it depends on the dog. Some dogs like the skunk smell and think lemons are yummy, so you might just be making a bad problem worse.
I’ll echo what Blake said as well. If it is her dog, escape behavior issues are easily fixed by invisible fences or behavior modification. If it’s her neighbor’s dog, I would avoid anything that can be viewed as harmful to an oversensitive dog owner. You could get the dog a rawhide bone as a gift to keep it distracted, I guess. Methinks your best bet would be to talk to your neighbor.
If it’s her own dog doing the digging…try putting some of the dog’s own poop in the hole/holes the dog is working on, and then covering it back up with some dirt. This worked with my dog, who seems to be particularly turned off by her own poo.
If it’s her dog, I’d recommend chickenwire. Lay it flat on the ground under/next to the fence to deter digging. If you get it good & flat, it won’t be any problem to mow over - the grass will grow up through it and you won’t be able to see it soon. It is technically removable, although it could be a PITA after a couple of years.
If it’s the neighbor’s dog, I’d talk to them about fixing their problem.
I’ve had success with their own poop too, my girlfriend’s dog was digging a hole and that stopped him.
Yeah, not clear on who owns “the digging dog” but most dogs dig under fences to escape so Mrs Cad must own the dog.
I, too, have had luck with the dog poo thing. They hate to get poo on their feet just like us! They do like to return to the same place over and over to dig to make their escape so fill the hole with poo and the dog won’t like it one bit. If they’re really determined, though, they’ll just start a new digging spot.
Chicken wire worked best for me when I had a really determined Boxer. He didn’t care if there were land mines at the fence line, he was getting out to see what was happening on the other side of that fence! He was so unbelievably strong and tough! I had to lay chicken wire down and also secure it to my chain link fence. He started pulling it out of the way with his teeth!
An electric wire around the perimeter would work but if you have children, not a good idea.
I disagree about it being easy to break them of this, though, without the right training tools. In my many years of experience and many dogs owned, once they start this, it’s pretty hard to break them of it. They can’t be allowed to get away with it ever again which takes hyper vigilance on your part to accomplish this. GOOD LUCK!