My puppy is digging

[MEAGAN ROSE]

Help my 13 week old puppy Bailey is digging a Hole right near the door we use to go out into the yard of my housing complex! I read the tips on Digging in the behavior area and nothing seems to apply! Plus I can’t add or take anything away to the outside because I live in housing! Plus tonight after a very brisk long walk and letting her off the leash in the cemetery for a long time to run. We came back and found our friend outside on the rock wall smoking a cigarette and decided to join, as we did she decided to start digging holes in the wall and the sidewalk grass in a matter of seconds!! I had to pull her away ?!?!?! She had all that exercise!?!? What’s the deal?!? What do I do?!? She’s a 1/2 pit and 1/2 Staffy,

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums! Digging is a totally normal behavior, it's adaptive as dogs used digging in the past for several survival reasons. Puppies explore the world too this way.

More than stopping the behavior altogether, it needs management and redirection based on the type of digging. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/digging/

Is she out with you when she digs the hole next to the door in the yard?

Have you practiced working on "leave its?" 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

 

 

 

 

 

[MEAGAN ROSE]

Hi Adrienne! Thank You for responding! She is on the leash with me when I am just about to open the door with the keys the leash goes limp because I am using both hands. That’s when she goes to dig. I say stop it and she generally will stop it! But when we were on the wall sitting to have a smoke she refused to listen to me and kept attempting to dig about 3 times and ripped up the dirt in the matter of seconds!! I did read about digging but I can’t make any dog pools or chicken wire here because of housing rules! Right now we are on obedience 101. I haven’t gotten to take/ leave yet! She just learned sit , paw and lay down! 👍🏼 So I’m happy with this! I just bought a clicker and treat bag too to help with the training! So any advice any further would be great! I also am having problems with “drop it” “98%” of the time she will not drop it and she play growls and shakes back and forth?!?! I don’t know what to do! I am giving her the treats when she does rarely drops it. HELP PLEASE?!? 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Thank you for the extra details, very helpful! Please see my observations/tips in non-bold. 

Thank You for responding! She is on the leash with me when I am just about to open the door with the keys the leash goes limp because I am using both hands. That’s when she goes to dig. I say stop it and she generally will stop it! 

The fact that the digging happens when you about to open the door gives you the power of predictability. In other words, you know when the digging is more likely to happen so you can strategically intervene and plan ahead to prevent it. Here are some options:

-Hold the leash in your hand shorter so that she is prevented from going to dig, but she may pull and this may create frustration, so it may be better to...

-As you are about to open the door, strategically scatter some kibble/treats by the entrance so she can go on a fun treasure hunt. This can turn into a fun routine. 

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

-Aim to train her to sit/stay as you look for the key and open the door and then praise and reward by tossing treats inside as she enters through the door.  She may be too young to learn a sit/ stay that is long enough for you to open the door right away, but it gets better with time.  I managed to train two 8 weeks old pups to hold a sit/stay as I opened a door that was a little difficult to open right away, so if you have a fast key entry, like just one key and easily open the door versus having lots of keys to search for it can be do-able.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/stay/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/college/open-sesame/

-Aim to train her a solid response to leave it. I know this is further down the course, but if there are pressing issues, it's OK to give priority to teaching certain cues. However, you can still wait and entertain her with the treasure hunt game if you want to go in order.  

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

But when we were on the wall sitting to have a smoke she refused to listen to me and kept attempting to dig about 3 times and ripped up the dirt in the matter of seconds!! 

Your pup is very young. At this age, they have short attention spans, they have little impulse control and they get bored easily. Think toddlers who can't stand still a moment. They need something to do. Many young pups struggle when we stop to talk to somebody. They don't know what to do. Many will start biting the leash or biting peoples' shoes or pant legs. Some will start barking. And some like yours may choose to dig.

She may have even enjoyed you telling her to stop because it got you stopping from talking to your friend and interacting with her. It may have even gotten you to continue walking. 

In this case, if you meet with people often, you may want to give her something to do so to not get into trouble. Here are some options:

-You can carry a little tug-toy in your pocket and let her play with it

-You can drop some kibble/treats for her to search for

-You can give her a long-lasting treat to chew on ( there are many in pet stores, make sure it's safe for puppies)

She had all that exercise!?!? What’s the deal?!?

Puppies are balls or energy and they love to explore. Digging is a hard-wired, instinctive behavior that is self-reinforcing. It's almost automatic. Think a toddler in a big room with toys, they'll be tempted to want to play with them. Pups perceive digging like reaching out for toys since they dig out roots, worms and unearth interesting smells. On top of exercise, dogs need mental stimulation and brain games, interactive toys are great choices. 

Right now we are on obedience 101. I haven’t gotten to take/ leave yet! She just learned sit , paw and lay down! 👍🏼 So I’m happy with this! I just bought a clicker and treat bag too to help with the training! So any advice any further would be great!

That's awesome! Pat yourself on your back for teaching her all of those things already! I am sure she'll love clicker training, we have some very cool tricks/useful behaviors you can train under the video archive section. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/#tricks

 I also am having problems with “drop it” “98%” of the time she will not drop it and she play growls and shakes back and forth?!?! I don’t know what to do! I am giving her the treats when she does rarely drops it. HELP PLEASE?!? 

It can take several trials to get them to grasp the idea. As puppies they are a bit in that "mine, mine, mine!" modality and they may struggle understanding the benefits in delayed gratification. They may also be too focused on playing to pay attention. 

Here are some tips:

-Try at times when she isn't too interested in play, like when she's a little calmer

-Use toys that aren't too new and she has seen around for some time

-Don't chase her around when you need to get a toy away from her

-Use high value treats and you may need to show them right in front of their nose the first times. 

Sometimes, we have pups who may be a bit possessive and this makes them more reluctant to give up their toys. Here are exercises to prevent resource guarding in pups that are good to do even with pups who aren't resource guarding:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/the-importance-of-preventing-resource-guarding-in-puppies/

Here is a video demo on training drop it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUnItd7OEmw

Happy Training!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Best,

Adrienne 

[MEAGAN ROSE]

Thank You for all your advice!! I will be working on this and will give an update down the road when progress has been made!!👍🏼🐾

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome, keep us posted on how things go!

Best,

Adrienne