30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach Fanatic
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Does anyone know how to explain to a 100 pound lab that no one wants her precious "giant" rock collection, and therefore her over zealous attempt to burry it all over the yard is not required? Mowed the grass today and nearly broke my leg due to her need to secure her bounty!:bang:

Our last discussion about the "squirrel" incident did no good, so I am at wits end.. I just don?t speak lab. Any help greatly appreciated.:idontno:

Replies

47
Cil avatar
CilBeach Fanatic
#2
Does she spend a lot of unsupervised time outside?
If you want to let her dig, I would establish digging space, where you know (and can expect) holes will be.
audie avatar
audiefartblossom
#3
i got no pearls of wisdom on this one - our dog is and inside dog and too lazy to dig anyway...that would be too much like work ! my sis has a siberian husky who dug a gigantic hole in their yard, so they stuck a plastic kids pool in it.
Jdarg avatar
JdargSoWal Expert
#4
I can't help you because there is no solution that I have found. I have never had digging dogs before these, and I'm teling ya now, there is no stopping them. It is the worst when the ground is damp and there are more "good smells". If they are outside, and especially if the conditions are "right", I watch them very closely. We are now in the process of fencing off the landscaped area in the back of the house so at least we have one unexcavated area!


Examples of "good smells" are acorns buried by squirrels, old limbs 6 inches under dirt, and a huge piece of foam rubber that was 1 foot under. How they knew these treasures were buried I will never know.

Good luck. There is a thread from last fall I think when we got these 2 diggers and I posed the same question!
Cil avatar
CilBeach Fanatic
#5
Our dogs are inside dogs too. I imagine that if they spend any extended time out there, instinct would take over and they would dig--it just hasn't occurred to them. ;-)
During warm weather, some canines will dig themselves a nice cool den. Our neighbor's Akita had a beautiful dog house, but she preferred the dug-out she had made. She also had a bone cache.
Jdarg avatar
JdargSoWal Expert
#6
I wish I could train them to dig on command and use them for gardening. I could even hire them out and make money!


Cil, if your dogs dug a cool spot, it would be a crater as big as a house!:lolabove:
Smiling JOe avatar
Smiling JOeSoWal Expert
#7
When he was a young puppy, one of my dogs, a bird dog with a good tracking nose, dug holes in the yard. Sometimes he gets so excited when he picks up a scent that I think he is snorting cocaine. For his reward, he would find a small buried treasure at the bottom of each hole. Treasure being a small piece of construction debris, left from our home's construction, which was covered with final grading dirt. There were holes all over the yard. I learned long ago to set my dogs up for failure and to correct them when they began to fail, ie -digging the hole in this case. I would bury something and just sit in the yard waiting for him to dig. I waited, and waited, and waited. He would not dig. I would leave the house and later return to find a few more holes in the walkway to the house. I began using a shovel, not to beat the dog, but to fill in the holes. The only problem was that there was never enough dirt to fill the hole and compact it level with the rest of the yard.

Time passed and he no longer digs. I guess he grew out of it. Every time I see him look like he is going to start to dig, I correct him and mostly he listens.
30A Skunkape avatar
30A SkunkapeSkunky
#8
Just let your yard "go". That solves two problems right there! :floor:
30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach FanaticAuthor
#9
When he was a young puppy, one of my dogs, a bird dog with a good tracking nose, dug holes in the yard. Sometimes he gets so excited when he picks up a scent that I think he is snorting cocaine. For his reward, he would find a small buried treasure at the bottom of each hole. Treasure being a small piece of construction debris, left from our home's construction, which was covered with final grading dirt. There were holes all over the yard. I learned long ago to set my dogs up for failure and to correct them when they began to fail, ie -digging the hole in this case. I would bury something and just sit in the yard waiting for him to dig. I waited, and waited, and waited. He would not dig. I would leave the house and later return to find a few more holes in the walkway to the house. I began using a shovel, not to beat the dog, but to fill in the holes. The only problem was that there was never enough dirt to fill the hole and compact it level with the rest of the yard.

Time passed and he no longer digs. I guess he grew out of it. Every time I see him look like he is going to start to dig, I correct him and mostly he listens.
What do they do with the dirt from the holes? I have holes, but no dirt:idontno: I she eating it? It is very funn watching her run around the yard with big rocks in her mouth:funn:
Smiling JOe avatar
Smiling JOeSoWal Expert
#10
What do they do with the dirt from the holes? I have holes, but no dirt:idontno: I she eating it? It is very funn watching her run around the yard with big rocks in her mouth:funn:
I think they burry the dirt to dig up later. :rolling:
RudyjohnSoWal Insider
#11
I have a dog question too.

Why does my bigger dog walk over and lift his leg and tinkle on the little dog? What's that all about? I feel so bad for John when Rudy does this! Is that the alpha dog thing?
Miss Kitty avatar
Miss KittyMeow
#12
I have a dog question too.

Why does my bigger dog walk over and lift his leg and tinkle on the little dog? What's that all about? I feel so bad for John when Rudy does this! Is that the alpha dog thing?

That's just not right!!!! Unless, Rudy wants everyone to know that John is his????
30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach FanaticAuthor
#13
Caught her in the act. I got a rock..I got a rock..yeah yeah yeah for me I got rock! At least that is what I think she is thinking:clap_1:

RudyjohnSoWal Insider
#14
Caught her in the act. I got a rock..I got a rock..yeah yeah yeah for me I got rock! At least that is what I think she is thinking:clap_1:

Beautiful dog. What's her name?
30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach FanaticAuthor
#15
Beautiful dog. What's her name?
That would be Moose, AKA "moose a moose" AKA "Moosie beans" AKA "Beanies" AKA "Don't do that"

Depends on who is talkin to her and what she is doin:cool:
Sheila avatar
SheilaSoWal Insider
#16
If it makes you feel any better, here's my story. We spent the day yesterday panting our annuals and plugging in a few perennials that we lost over the winter. At the end of our day as we walked back through the yard to admire our days work.......there sat our little schnauzer Guinness, with the remains of one the plants in his mouth and the rest strewn across the lawn with big ol' holes where he had dug each of them up. :pissed: He tried to sit very still. I guess he thought we wouldn't notice his silly a** sitting there with the plant hanging out of both sides of his mouth. If we weren't so old and tired we would have chased him into the next county. Let's just say Mr. Guinness is in the "dog house".
30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach FanaticAuthor
#17
If it makes you feel any better, here's my story. We spent the day yesterday panting our annuals and plugging in a few perennials that we lost over the winter. At the end of our day as we walked back through the yard to admire our days work.......there sat our little schnauzer Guinness, with the remains of one the plants in his mouth and the rest strewn across the lawn with big ol' holes where he had dug each of them up. :pissed: He tried to sit very still. I guess he thought we wouldn't notice his silly a** sitting there with the plant hanging out of both sides of his mouth. If we weren't so old and tired we would have chased him into the next county. Let's just say Mr. Guinness is in the "dog house".
GTTBM - Love the name Mr. Guinness!:cool: We have another mutt named J??ger, and yes he is named after the "I did what last night?" liquor:clap_1:
Sheila avatar
SheilaSoWal Insider
#18
GTTBM - Love the name Mr. Guinness!:cool: We have another mutt named J??ger, and yes he is named after the "I did what last night?" liquor:clap_1:

Actually he's just Guinness. The Mr. was plugged in to show the trouble he's in. He has a little sister named Bailey. We love them dearly. Even when they are ripping our landscaping out by the roots! :funn:
MKH avatar
MKHBeach Fanatic
#19
Does anyone know how to explain to a 100 pound lab that no one wants her precious "giant" rock collection, and therefore her over zealous attempt to burry it all over the yard is not required? Mowed the grass today and nearly broke my leg due to her need to secure her bounty!:bang:

Our last discussion about the "squirrel" incident did no good, so I am at wits end.. I just don?t speak lab. Any help greatly appreciated.:idontno:


I have a solution for you!! A real solution. I discovered this trick myself when my Halle Sue was a baby and thought she had to dig holes all over the backyard-she liked to bury the treasures she found and then dig them up later.

I got a Pooper Scooper, and I picked up her little (?) piles of waste all over the backyard. I proceed to then dump her waste into her holes. She was watching me the whole time, and she appeared horrifed, like 'Mom, what are you doing to my holes? :pissed: You are desecrating them!' Needless to say, she left the holes alone after that and didn't try to keep digging in them. She has her scruples, you know. You just can't dig around poop. She also eventually stopped trying to dig new holes, since she knew what I would do to them and the fun was gone.

That's my answer...
30ARules avatar
30ARulesBeach FanaticAuthor
#20
I have a solution for you!! A real solution. I discovered this trick myself when my Halle Sue was a baby and thought she had to dig holes all over the backyard-she liked to bury the treasures she found and then dig them up later.

I got a Pooper Scooper, and I picked up her little (?) piles of waste all over the backyard. I proceed to then dump her waste into her holes. She was watching me the whole time, and she appeared horrifed, like 'Mom, what are you doing to my holes? :pissed: You are desecrating them!' Needless to say, she left the holes alone after that and didn't try to keep digging in them. She has her scruples, you know. You just can't dig around poop. She also eventually stopped trying to dig new holes, since she knew what I would do to them and the fun was gone.

That's my answer...
Thanks MKH. I pooper scoop as well, but never thought about putting it in her rock holes:idontno: Seems like a good idea. I will try it and let you know how moose responds:cool:

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