How To Stop Your Puppy Digging
Puppies love to dig! It’s in their blood and it is quite often their favorite pastime, but it is a problem when you have your puppy digging in your backyard. Digging is also a dog’s way of relieving stress and “letting it all out” so to speak. If a puppy is experiencing anxiety levels due to a new baby in the house, a recent move, strange people, or lack of attention, then it is going to dig in order to help itself feel better.
Fortunately there are ways in which you can help diminish dog obedience digging behavior so that it is less destructive to your belongings, while at the same time giving your dog a place to dig without being punished for it.
Below are a set of instructions that will help you train your dog not to dig and claw in areas that you do not want him to, as well as creating a place of its own where it is free to dig to its heart’s content.
Stop Your Puppy Digging Problem
1. The first thing you need to do is find one area that your puppy is allowed to dig in as much as it wants to. This could be somewhere in your house, in a nearby park, or better yet, in your backyard if you have the luxury of owning the property.
2. Make it fun for your puppy to dig, by burying some of its toys and bones underneath the dirt. Now play with your dog and start digging with it so you can both play the game of looking for its toys while digging. It becomes a lot of fun to watch your puppy dig in search of its hidden treasure.
3. Every day, go back to your dog’s digging area and instruct it to start digging by giving a command. This command could be as simple as “Dusty, Go Dig!” After a while it will immediately begin clawing at the dirt in wild anticipation for the fun that lies ahead.
4. If you see your puppy digging in any area other than its digging spot, be sure to correct it with a firm “NO!”, then guide it to its proper digging location. This is the same protocol that you would use when housebreaking a puppy after it makes a mess in the house. Eventually, your dog will seek out its digging area when it feels the urge to dig away.
