One thing almost all diggers have in common (besides their shared bad habit) is that they’re high-energy breeds. It’s a good rule of thumb that if you’ve got a dog who was bred to work all day and you don’t give him a job to do, he’ll make one up. To keep a bored dog out of trouble, consider offering him more toys, more stimulation, more exercise—or all of the above. We’ll talk more about this a little later in the chapter.
The go-to solution for most dog owners dealing with digging is a simple one: fill in the holes and hope the dog doesn’t dig them up again. Unfortunately, this answer to the problem doesn’t teach the dog anything—except maybe that the ground crew keeps messing with his excavation plans, forcing him to start over. There is a better way. My technique is one of the oldest tricks in the book, hasn’t changed in decades, and not only stops most digging dogs in their tracks but cures them of this bad habit forever.
A Step-by-Step Plan
The only tools you’ll need to combat your dog’s digging:
•A shovel
•A pair of scissors
•Pet waste bags
Your other “supplies” are already in the yard—because, believe it or not, the best way to stop dogs’ digging habits is by using their own poop against them. A lot of people laugh or look at me like I’m crazy when I say this but then come back to thank me after it works. Let’s break this down.
Since dog poop is the magic weapon in the fight against the destruction of your yard, you’re going to need a little stockpile of it for this to work. So when you scoop, find a place to save it—preferably using individual bags stored someplace cool and dry. How much you need just depends on how many and how big the holes in your yard have become. Once you’ve read through the steps below, you should be able to come up with a good quantity estimate.
Step 1. Locate every hole your dog has dug. As I mentioned above, those holes are your dog’s art projects, so he likely makes a habit of constantly returning to them to make them deeper or wider or better in some other way. Once you’ve found them all, plug your nose, whip out your scissors, cut the tops off the bags, and put a piece of dog poop in each and every hole. Be sure to put it at the bottom.
Step 2. Use your shovel to cover over each hole (and the surprise you put in them) with an inch or two of dirt. This will camouflage the booby trap. If you skip this step, your dog will get wise to this game very quickly and just start a new hole instead of coming back to the old ones—and that won’t help solve the problem at all.
Step 3. Let your dog out in the yard, pour yourself a lemonade, and sit back and watch the magic happen. Given a little time, most dogs will begin digging at one of their established holes, not knowing what’s underneath that fresh dirt you added. When your dog does this, he’ll hit the poop with the tip of his paw—and stop right there. Dogs hate the sight, smell, and taste of their own poop. Once your dog gets a little on him, he’ll try to hold it away from him, wipe it off on the grass, and generally put some space between him and where he found it. From there, he may explore another one of his holes, which will also be booby-trapped.
It takes a number of tries for most dogs to grasp that something bad has happened to all their digging projects. Fortunately, the poop does all the work. Some dogs will return a couple of times to a hole to make sure. Others will get smart to the situation and start new holes. This is normal and expected, and when it happens, you simply need to repeat the same process. Put dog droppings at the bottom of the new hole, cover them with dirt, and leave it alone. At its most basic level, this approach—like so many behavioral fixes—is just a matter of transforming your dog’s game into your game. It’s your turn to make the rules and decide what happens next, but because of the way this process is designed, your dog has to figure those rules out for himself. If you’ve ever known (or been) the kind of person who has to learn every lesson the hard way, you already know that personal experience is the ultimate teacher—and that holds true for dogs, too.
AN UNNATURAL HABIT
Like most creatures, dogs naturally want to steer clear of their own poop. This aversion to their excrement is what makes it possible to successfully crate train and housebreak them. Sometimes, though, I hear from owners who are alarmed to discover their dogs—usually puppies—aren’t just interested in their own waste, they’re eating it. This is a pretty common short-term behavior in puppies—and a more unusual one in adults. The reason is simple: the only time it’s normal and healthy for a dog to eat poop is when a mother dog is working hard to keep her den clean for a litter of puppies. Mother Nature temporarily turns off a momma dog’s aversion so she can keep her little ones safe. She will consume their poop until they start to eat solid food—at which point she’ll start expecting them to relieve themselves somewhere else. This behavior gives us two reasons why some puppies pick up this bad, but usually temporary, habit. First, they’ve seen Mom do it, and they are wired to copy her actions. Second, puppies explore everything in their environments with their mouths, including the icky stuff that really should not be tasted.
Unless your puppy is suffering from some kind of nutritional deficiency, he’ll likely outgrow this habit. The most important thing you can do to make sure he gets past it is simple: keep your puppy’s space, indoors and out, clear of poop. As soon as he goes, make it disappear. As long as he’s not looking around and seeing it as either a mess that needs to be cleaned up or a mystery to be explored, he won’t put it in his mouth. And if he doesn’t get into a bad habit of consuming it when he’s young, the natural aversion to his own waste will kick in as he matures—and this problem will resolve itself.
Once trial and error convinces your dog that every time he digs a hole it ends up having an unpleasant surprise at the bottom, he’ll give it up. Most dogs—about 90 percent of the ones I’ve worked with—decide this habit isn’t worth the aggravation after just a few days of consistently finding their artwork’s been tainted. Once your dog gets it, you’ll just need to keep an eye out for any new holes in case he needs a quick reminder of why digging is no longer his favorite sport.
Step 4. I almost forgot to add one important footnote: be sure to check your dog’s paws before letting him back into the house!
The Problem: The Escape Artist
There are certain breeds, including huskies, malamutes, border collies, and many terriers and scent hounds, that have a hard-earned reputation as escape artists. Most of the time, I see this behavior problem in high-energy working breeds. Some of them start digging to cool off or get comfortable, and then somehow figure out they can use their labor to get outside the fence to freedom. Others dig for the sole purpose of escaping. If your dog has this problem and curbing his digging with the method above isn’t enough to keep him from trying to tunnel out, you’re going to have to escape-proof your yard. Please don’t chain your dog to combat this problem—no dog deserves that kind of life. Instead, enlist the help of a couple of friends and spend one afternoon beefing up your yard’s perimeter so your dog can still enjoy the great outdoors without getting into trouble.
The Approach
Like the digging solution above, this method isn’t about training; it’s basically a construction project. But since we’re fighting instinct here and your dog’s safety is at stake, I’m all for taking the simplest solution. I usually think of the huskies I’ve known as I’m explaining this kind of animal-proofing. Over the years, they’ve been the most impressive escape artists I’ve met. It’s no surprise, since the husky is one of the world’s oldest breeds, which means they were bred not from other breeds that had been through centuries of genetic refinement but from wolves. As a result, many of them still maintain a pretty compelling wild side. So if you can create a yard that can keep a husky in, almost any other dog will stay put, too.
A Step-by-Step Plan
To escape-proof your yard, you’ll need:
•A shovel or a hoe
•Concrete blocks, large stones, or rocks to span the length of the fence pane
l that contains your gate
Be sure you have enough blocks, stones, or rocks so that when you lay them end to end they’re as long as the fence panel you want to dog-proof. Rocks are simpler and cheaper than concrete, but if you use them, make sure each one is softball-size or bigger. If your escape artist is a small dog, you can use less bulky stones, but be sure to choose ones that your dog will not be able to move. Rule of thumb: the bigger the dog, the bigger the stones need to be.
Step 1. Take a lap around the yard to assess the places your dog has escaped from. Most dogs do this near the gate. If that’s the case with your dog, start there. Confine your dog inside and then dig a small trench—several inches deep—under the section of fence that has the gate. Extend it a foot or so past each end of the gate frame (for example, if your gate is four feet wide, your trench should be six feet wide). Now place the concrete blocks or stones in your trench and cover it back over with dirt.
Step 2. Now that the hard work is done, you can let your dog out, and let the blocks or stones do their job. Dirt is an easy medium for a dog to work in—but concrete is not. As soon as your dog hits a stone or block, he’ll stop digging in that place and move on. Chances are he’ll try a little to the left and a little to the right of his usual digging area, looking for an easier route—and that’s why you built your trench wider than your gate. For many dogs, a couple of days of trying to figure this out will be all it takes to break them of their digging-to-freedom habit. Those who are more persistent, though, may move to another section of fence—and that will mean another day of shovels and blocks for you.
Even though this method is labor-intensive for the couple of hours it takes to place the concrete or stones, once it’s finished, it works like a charm to keep escape-artist dogs safely in their own yards.
Getting to the Root of the Problem
One important thing to remember about both of the processes I’ve described in this chapter is that preventing your dog from digging only solves the problem he’s creating. It doesn’t address the reason he’s doing it. The underlying issue in almost all cases of digging is that the dog is bored and actively looking for something to do about it. If you don’t help your dog find an acceptable outlet for that energy, he’ll find some other way to express it—and that method could be another kind of “artwork” that damages your home or property.
Instead of waiting for the dog to make the next move, introduce something new into his schedule to engage his body and mind at the same time you deter his digging habit. Take a walk at a different time or to a different place. Pick up a new retrieval or tug toy and play together. Sign up for an obedience class. Visit a dog park. Fill a food-puzzle toy with treats and let your dog work on it throughout the day. Any activity that engages your dog’s intellect and lets him burn off excess energy will be a win-win for both of you.
If all else fails, consider getting your dog a friend from a shelter. In some cases, more dogs mean fewer behavior problems!
One Lucky Dog
Ernie was a smart dog—so smart that once he discovered all the holes he’d worked so hard on in his yard were tainted—he decided to take up a new habit. His owners helped him out with an “upgraded” walk schedule that provided him with more exercise every day. I’m happy to report that he’s never dug another hole since his first week experiencing this classic technique. Not coincidentally, no one in his family has twisted an ankle in the yard since then, either.
16
MEALTIME MISCHIEF
Tweety was a Maltese mix with a respiratory infection and a severe case of malnourishment. When the shelter reached out to me about her, they weren’t sure if this little dog was going to make it. Four years old and weighing in at just five pounds, she was only at about half of her healthy weight. When I petted her, she was all ribs and hip bones—with no fat and hardly any muscle on her small frame.
When I first brought her back to the ranch, this tiny, fragile girl was nowhere near ready to start training. She was just a ghost of the dog I thought she could become, but before I could even think about assessing her, I needed to nurse her back to health. The veterinarian put her on a specialized high-calorie diet, along with an antibiotic. But after failing to thrive in her previous life, Tweety was cautious about everything, and I had to coax her to eat, a little at a time. I even pretended to eat a few bites of her food myself to get her interested. Through it all, this dog was as sweet as she could be, leaning into me, kissing my face, and always looking at me as though—despite whatever she’d been through before we met—she totally trusted me.
It was about two weeks after Tweety came home with me that she turned a corner. Suddenly she wasn’t just this sad little lump of a dog. She started moving more quickly and confidently, and she showed me her silly side, racing around the training barn and then up to me for a quick head butt before taking off to do it again. She also gained two pounds. That meant she was ready for a red training collar and healthy enough to meet the pack of dogs at the ranch. Tweety loved them and they loved her. When she was playing with the pack, she never stopped wagging her tail for a second.
With her confidence back, it wasn’t long before Tweety showed me that food—the thing that had been so scarce when she’d been living on the streets—was at the center of her one real behavior issue. After scrounging for so long and then regaining her health, she couldn’t get enough to eat. And she didn’t just want her food; she also wanted mine. I had a great family picked out for this dog, but it was a big family with young kids, and I needed to be sure Tweety could respect their boundaries at mealtimes and let them eat in peace.
The Problem
Tweety’s issues of begging and trying to steal food were just a couple of the many behavior problems I encounter all the time in dogs who’ve never learned any mealtime manners. This is extremely common in shelter dogs, partly because many of them have never been properly socialized or trained, and partly because many of them know what it’s like to go hungry and understandably get in the habit of doing whatever’s necessary to secure their next meal.
These problems can all be managed and corrected with a little patient, consistent training. Trust me—I’ve had a lot of practice dealing with them over the years. Sometimes it seems like every dog I’ve ever allowed into my kitchen or onto my couch has taken its best shot at stealing or sharing my meals.
Let’s break this down by behavior so I can give you tried-and-true solutions to combat begging, stealing, counter surfing, and that classic canine crime: garbage raiding. Keep in mind as you read that while these solutions are behavior specific, helping your dog brush up on her NO and OFF commands will give you two additional—and effective—tools in dealing with any mealtime misbehavior.
Solving the Begging Problem
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve sat down to enjoy a meal only to feel (and smell) the hot, stinky breath of a dog who’s trying to horn in on my food, I’d probably be a billionaire. Some of those dogs even got close enough to steal from my plate. It’s an occupational hazard I’ve learned to tolerate in dogs who are new to me. But that’s not the way meals are supposed to be, so whenever I discover this is a problem, I teach the dog to respect my space when I eat.
The first rule of dealing with any begging or thieving dog is do not give in. If you want to make this behavior stop, you’ll have to steel yourself against those big puppy eyes that are trying to convince you she is so hungry she can’t stand it. If you give in and feed her while you’re eating, you can expect to see an encore performance of the starving dog routine at your next meal, and the one after that—basically forever. So tell your dog NO, never feed her from your plate or the table, and get on with your meal. If I can manage to resist sharing food from my plate with a dog like Tweety—who actually was starving before I nurtured her back to health—then I’m confident you can resist giving in to your dog, too.
The first rule when dealing with begging: do not give in.
The next step in ending this b
ehavior is creating a little extra distance between your plate and your dog. Mealtime can make man’s best friend want to get really close to us, and that just doesn’t work when we’re trying to eat. The simple technique I use to make this point requires nothing more than a penny bottle or a Shake & Break and some consistent use.
Decide where you want your imaginary do-not-cross line to be. Some people want their dogs to stay a few feet away from the table, some just don’t want dogs on them while they eat, and some don’t care much where the dog is so long as she’s not whining and begging at their every bite. How much personal space you need is totally up to you, but your dog will learn to respect your boundaries more quickly if you’re consistent about it. So if the rule is no dogs on the couch while Mom’s eating, enforce that every time. If it’s no begging, enforce that.
Now all you have to do is prepare your meal, sit down in your usual spot, and plan to stay there. Have your bottle ready and set it on the table or right beside you. When your dog gets too close or starts to whine, tell her NO, shake the bottle, and say NO again. Remain sitting and calm during this process, because if you have to get up to reposition your dog each time she gets too close, she won’t learn how this whole mealtime thing is supposed to work.
Have your penny bottle or Shake & Break ready. When your dog gets too close or starts to beg, tell her NO, shake the bottle, and say NO again.
That’s really all it takes. Repeat this same process during a few meals in a row, always keeping your rules consistent. After a few days of corrections and no rewards for begging or encroaching on your food, your dog will figure out that begging doesn’t pay.
Lucky Dog Lessons Page 20