How to Stop Puppy Digging My top 5 Tips

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:22:13 +0000

How to Stop Puppy Digging – My top Tips

You have spent hours on your garden and everything looks perfect and then you get a Lab puppy.

Your beautiful garden now has lots of mounds of earth and those hand picked plants are now on the lawn and not in the flower beds, and your garden design has been ruined.

Digging is something that lab puppies love to do, it is essential to them. Digging can be somewhat frustrating if you don’t give your Labrador puppy an area to himself, as he will dig holes in your garden. If you keep him indoors, he may try to dig in the floor, on the couch, or on the bed. Digging is part of his nature, and you should never punish your puppy for digging.

So How to Stop Puppy Digging My top 5 tips

The first thing I would suggest is to find a place in the garden where you lab puppy can dig.

The east option is to buy a sand box and either fill it with soil or sand. Then bury some treats and toys inside so your puppy can dig them out. Once he learns this is his special place to dig he is more than likely to go to this area when he feels the need to dig.

When you create a special place for your puppy to carry out his digging , you have to keep the “excitement” going for him. Remember to bury a treat or toy so he always has something to find. Puppies get bored, after digging in the same spot for a while, so he may decide that somewhere in another part of your garden looks better. Also, you must refill the sand or dirt in his special area from time to time.

When he’s older you could try an obedience training classes that will help him to get his digging habits under control.

Option 2 How to Stop Puppy Digging

When you’re working in the garden, you could use a sprinkler, water pistol or a spray bottle. When your puppy starts digging in the loose dirt, squirt him with the water.

Once you have sprayed him hide the hose, water pistol or spray bottle behind your back and he will think that the garden is doing it to him, not you, so he’ll be less likely to dig when you’re not around.

Option 3 How to Stop Puppy Digging

If you have a flower bed that you do not want your puppy to go near use a mixture of chilli powder and water around the plants. Use this mixture to water your plants, your Lab puppy will not like the smell, and will start to avoid the area.

If he is still digging in that area then try using dried red pepper instead another smell that puppies don’t like.

Option 4 How to Stop Puppy Digging

Put a surprise in the hole your puppy has dug. Many puppies start on a hole, leave it for a while and then come back later to continue the digging.During one of his digging breaks, blow up a balloon and bury it in there. When your puppy comes back to dig, the balloon will pop and he wont like the noise.

Puppies like ‘clean’ dirt so when he goes off for a digging break, you could also fill the holes up with dead leaves, rocks, mulch, sticks and other undesirable puppy stuff in the hole then cover it up with a thin layer of dirt; chances are that when your lab puppy starts digging again and finds that stuff in his hole, he will stop.

If that doesn’t work then go out and buy some Bitter Apple Spray this is also great to use to stop puppy chewing. As you refill the hole spray the earth with the Bitter Apple Spray, or you could use the chilli powder and water, your puppy will hate the smell and should stop digging in that hole.

One last option for refiling the holes and one that you would have to be very desperate to use is when you find your puppies digging holes, place his poop inside the hole. Your puppy will hate to dig in his own poop and will choose another area. Keep putting his poop into every hole he digs and he will soon associate the digging with yucky.

Option 5 How to Stop Puppy Digging

As soon as you catch your puppy digging make a loud noise by placing penny’s in a tin and give it a good shake to get your dogs attention. Call him over to you and play a game this will take his mind off his digging.

Don’t make the mistake of punishing your puppy after he has dug a hole. You need to catch him in the act, or he won’t understand what you’re so upset about. Your puppy lives in the present, and the fact that he dug a hole in your garden yesterday doesn’t mean a thing to him.

If you want good results, you must be consistent. Don’t let it slip for a week and wonder why your Lab puppy still digs everything up in the garden.

Good luck and have fun in the garden.

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Lab Puppy Training » How to Stop Puppy Digging My top 5 Tips

How to Stop Puppy Digging My top 5 Tips

How to Stop Puppy Digging – My top Tips

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