I am going to share a tip I learned about how to prevent your dog’s digging up the yard. I went with my neighbor to run some errands the other day. When we returned to his house about 3 hours later we couldn’t even drive through the gate. The crazy pack of dogs he keeps in his fenced in yard had dug an enormous hole, at least 2 feet deep, with a diameter of probably 5 feet. Because we are living at the beach the digging is pretty easy for the dogs.  This was not the first time this has happened either. My friend didn’t have a clue how to prevent his dogs from digging up his yard.

There are more than one reason why a dog may be digging in the yard or garden.  Perhaps your dog is digging because he wants to escape, or maybe just for something to do, or just trying to dig down to some cooler soil below . I’ve got some good tips on how to prevent dogs from digging up their yard or the garden. My friend’s dogs dug up the area right in front of the front gate, so it seemed like an escape attempt.  His dogs are not picky where they dig their holes-probably just randomly digging out of boredom. It is also very hot at the beach, so the dogs will also dig up recently watered areas of the yard to get at the cooler soil underneath. It was obvious my friend need to learn how to stop his dogs from digging his whole place up.

Using the advice I found in my best dog obedience training book, we decided to build his dogs their own play area where they were welcome to dig all they wanted to. We enclosed the chosen area of the yard with some dog proof fencing, and because the ground is sand, we already had made the safe digging area for the dogs. It’s a good idea to make sure there is some shade above the enclosed area for protection form the summer sun. My neighbor even put in a wading pool and some chew toys. He obviously loves those dogs. Since the dogs only dug up the yard when he was away he has now learned how to prevent the dogs from digging up his yard using a win-win type of solution.

You may not live on a sandy beach lot, but you can still make a suitable area for your digging dog in you own yard. You can find an area of the yard to enclose and create the substitute digging area for your pet by putting a sandbox filled with loose soil mixed with sand for digging. Inside the enclosed and partially shaded area with the sand box, you can also place some fresh water and some chew toys to play with, so he won’t get bored too much.

This is a great way to prevent dogs from digging up your yard and it provides them a nice place to hang out when you are away. If you later notice your dog is only digging in his new area, you can try letting him loose again even if you are not at home, and it is quite possible he won’t dig up the lawn. If your dog is digging to escape, though, he should probably stay in the enclosure while you are away. Give this method a try and you should have solved the problem of your dog digging up the yard problem.

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