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Digging


JSA Aude
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Have now replanted my tulip and daff bulbs four times in as many days - yes I know they are poisenous but my 10 month old pointer will not stop digging.  The last straw was coming home last night and finding she had excavated all 30 of the winter pansies in pots I'd planted in the morning - 4 left.  How on earth do I stop her digging, she knows full well it is naughty as she gives the game away completely.  Even if I haven't realised she greets me with ears back, tail flattned and practically crawling on her tummy - oh no, thinks I!!  As I type I can see her digging under the pampas - shouts, smacks, etc etc have no effect whatsoever.  Don't really want to have to resort to chicken wire as it is such a large area, did consider chilli powder but it's feet in first before nicking off with the plants.  Otherwise she's a gem!!!!????  Any advice very gratefully received, thanks, JSA with a very bare garden!
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Are you coming home from the day out or work to find this and then telling her off and chasing her out of the house garden ect ...?

Its possible that she is seeing this as attention or a game. if she has been on her own for  a while she is probally just bored and its a fun way to fill the day. Try leaving her with lots of chews toys radio on ect.... We have always used a feeding ball when trying to train a dog to be on its own for a while, this is a ball with a hole in it fill it with the dogs meal of small biscuits, domt give it until you go out and the dog has to roll the ball around for ages for all the biscuits to fall out it can take a daft dog hours to do this. but a clever dog will soon work it out, so you can then progress on to a square ball which is harder for then and takes longer. there is also a egg shaped one which is weighted at the bottom and has to be rocked from side to side to get the biscuits out.

Also if she is doing it while your there use the hose pipe to spray her as you see her, dont shout or chase as this is just attention, just spray and stay quiet. never smack her as this will just teach her to stay at arms length and she will be come impossible to catch when you need to get hold of her like on roads ect Is she still quite young? maybe she just needs more exercise before you go out so she sleeps while your out?

good luck hope you work it out [:)]

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Thanks Pads.  We are here all day, neither of us work now and she isn't bored - she has a two hour walk (at least) every day plus some toodles out with our old lab.  Will try and keep our eyes open with the hosepipe at the ready.  She has always wanted to go outside when the weather is good and has plenty of toys, nylabones, etc.  Have just spotted her digging up the remaining four plants - aaaaargh!  Will also consider purchasing a water pistol! Thanks again.
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Ours, working cocker spaniel, digs all day long, everything and anything.  She used to dig up the beach where we lived back in the UK and now she digs up great big holes in the garden.  We try to keep her off our neighbour's garden.

She digs ginormous holes, puts her whole head and sometimes half her body into them, sniffs and snorts and comes out with a dirt-encrusted tongue.

She had mites in her ears, which I am sure is due in part to the digging.  When I told the vet, she just laughed and gave us cleansing solution and ear drops for her.

She gets plenty of attention, walks, swims, etc. so don't for the life of me know why she digs as she does!

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Oh how I sympathise with you both, we have 2 diggers, a spaniel and a labrador, that we have nicknamed Bull and Dozer because they shift so much earth, rocks,  etc. they both seem to have a permanent dirt line just above their noses [:D]. 

I have read somewhere (I think it was Google - how to stop a dog digging) that, if you have the space in your garden, the ideal thing is to build them their own digging pit and train them to use it by burying treats and toys in there.  Probably something we will try to incorporate next year when we start our landscaping, but whether they will use it at this time of year when there are so many creatures making such interesting smelling holes to use for their winter hibernation is another matter. 

With regard to the digging up plants, do you garden with bare hands?  I found in the past with one of my cats that if I planted anything using my bare hands he would, if he could, keep rolling around on it, I now out of habit plant everything using thick rubber gloves so that my smell is not tranferred to the plants.

 

 

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Do they look like this?

[IMG]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z98/mimibarthez/DirtyPudel.jpg[/IMG]

 

One of my girls has the toy that you put the food inside.  She has learned that continually dropping it while standing up will eventually break the biscuits inside thus enabling everything to be consumed within five minutes.

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Thanks Athene.  That's my Pudel when she was about six months old.  She is such a little character I love her to death.  This is her now, aged 3 years.

 

 

[IMG]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z98/mimibarthez/PudelCuddle-1.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote user="JSA Aude"]Have now replanted my tulip and daff bulbs four times in as many days - yes I know they are poisenous but my 10 month old pointer will not stop digging.  The last straw was coming home last night and finding she had excavated all 30 of the winter pansies in pots I'd planted in the morning - 4 left.  How on earth do I stop her digging, she knows full well it is naughty as she gives the game away completely.  Even if I haven't realised she greets me with ears back, tail flattned and practically crawling on her tummy - oh no, thinks I!!  As I type I can see her digging under the pampas - shouts, smacks, etc etc have no effect whatsoever.  Don't really want to have to resort to chicken wire as it is such a large area, did consider chilli powder but it's feet in first before nicking off with the plants.  Otherwise she's a gem!!!!????  Any advice very gratefully received, thanks, JSA with a very bare garden![/quote]

S, have you tried taking it's spade away [6]!! (duck John [:D])

Seriously, I agree with the idea of a digging spot. Bury some favorites, toys and treats. Might be an idea to fence that bit so you can keep the pup inside. Mind you it has my admiration if it can dig in this soil we have. I have had to resort to my Bosch hammer drill to help my OH sometimes!!

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Love the idea of the sandpit, LL, and just might try it.  Mind you, I don't mind her digging too much as it's not a well-kept manicured suburban sort of a garden.  Just have to mind the holes as I have fallen in them several times and have to warn all visitors and workmen about them!
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