If Ya Can’t Beat It, Allow It (Digging That Is)

My dogs have embarrassed me plenty of times, but one of the more memorable occasions was when Indy dug up quite a big area in a friend’s beautiful garden.

She was after a gopher, and the trench she dug zigged and zagged in a maze pattern, which undoubtedly was following the gopher’s attempt at escape. 😳

Typically my dogs only dig when they are after a critter, but there are plenty of other reasons a dog will dig, including boredom, for attention, for a cool pit in the summer, and heck, just for fun. Digging is natural!

Why fight what is natural? I don’t expect my Weims not to chase cats, I don’t expect to keep my dogs from barking, and I don’t expect them not to dig.

See, I could teach them not to dig at all, but sometimes you choose your battles and I’m not going to bother trying to extinguish a natural behavior.

What I do is shape natural behaviors in ways that I can tolerate — Barking? Only at strangers. Prey behavior? Point birds. Digging? Only in designated areas. Compromise. 🙂

The best solution I’ve found for curbing digging in inappropriate areas is to put poop in the holes that you don’t want them to dig, and at the same time provide them with an area where they are allowed to dig.

Choose a corner of your yard or buy a kid’s sandpit where they can dig to their heart’s content. You can hide a nice bone or toy in there to keep your Weim interested in digging that area only.

Whatever kind of positive reinforcement you can use to encourage digging in the allowed area is the idea. Pretty easy!

Photo courtesy and © Ben Carceller.

About Anne Taguchi

Surviving life with Weims!

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