Stop a pet Dog digging up the lawn

[Stuee]

Hi, I have two Schnoodles, brothers by the names Buddy and Samson (age 3). Buddy loves to dig, whilst Samson does not. They get walked twice daily. Given toys, bones etc.

My lawn is now at a stage where there are so many holes everywhere my children cannot run around in it. I keep backfilling and it just gets worse

Image of Buddy after his paws have been washed.

It is a large back garden that runs down to a reserve at the rear. People walk their dogs along the path at the rear so I do not want to restrict my dogs accessing the rear boundary to socialise. Any ideas for a practical solution are much appreciated. The other issue is that the inside of the house is getting a build up of dirt from his paws. And now vet bills for wheat grass injury and dermatitis on his paw. Help!

[Jennifer4054]

Yikes - hi Buddy and Samson, so cute! The lawn in our backyard sounds similar to yours. The more we fill the holes, the more our Ruby (Border Collie, 1 year old) likes to dig them out. And they are trip hazards too. Unfortunately we've been restricting their access to our front yard, which, while successful, is a shame for them. If you find anything that works I'd love to find out what it is! We tried filling the holes with her poo and then dirt on the top. It worked for a little while but I imagine the smell has now neutralised so doesn't have the same effect!

[Aussie-Garden]

G'day @Stuee.
I'd love to find a way to solve this too.
One of our 2 dogs is an occasional digger and the only thing to slow her down, is to bury her poop in the holes when I refill them.

[Mathy]

Hi @Stuee @Aussie-Garden @Jennifer4054 - I’m a dog lover but not a trainer. However, I’ve taken a couple of pooches to Obedience School, and there’s a fair amount of information around to help with training dogs.

Generally this problem involves young, active dogs and boredom. Here’s a link https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/my-dog-is-digging-up-the-garden-what-should-i-do/ 

My immediate thought would be to create a restricted space outside for the dogs when you’re not home to supervise them. That at least would limit some of the damage.

Will require commitment and training, cheers Deb

[Jason]

Hi @Stuee and @Jennifer4054,

Welcome to Workshop. We're really pleased to have you join us.

Sorry to hear of your troublesome pooches. I'm sure this will be a very popular topic of discussion.

One suggestion we've had in the past is to create a dog digging patch and try to restrict the digging to that. @Emily posted this idea a while ago following a previous discussion about pets destroying the garden.  Hopefully you will find those tips helpful. 

Jason

[Prof]

I had a problem with my greyhound digging holes in the back lawn..They weren't little holes they were craters!!
Fortunately he always dug right next to the back verandah, so I allocated an area for him to dig.
.I setup a bordered area ..like a sandpit sort of thing..where he had been digging..
I just used some 190x35 timber beams to form a border and staked them to the ground..
I had no sooner finished making it, when he went straight to it and started increasing the size of his crater!!
Ever since then, he hasn't dug anywhere else in the back lawn..and he just loves to lie in his hole!!

[MikeM84]

Hi Stuee, 

Hope you are well and the dogs are trying to behave:)

your dogs need more active exercise, I have a siberian husky which use to dig my yard non stop.

what made her stop digging was longer walks and I mean walks or jogs, not unleash them at dogpark, they need discipline and guidance.

step 1: take them for a good 30-45 minute walk, jog.

step 2: walk or jog again afternoon.

step 3 if needed: invest in a dog backpack (https://ezydog.com.au/backpacks/) similar to these, and fill each pocket with can of beans, or bottled water.

this will automatically make your dog walk more focused and will feel like its working like a labourer   I used this method, now my husky does not dig any holes after I used backpack on her.

note: 

us as humans go crazy if we are locked inside a room, or surrounded by walls 8-12 hrs a day, so same for dogs, once there out, they releasing toxic energy by digging, or chewing etc.

step 3 is best for me, might be good for you too.