A common complaint amongst dog owners is that their pet has dug up their prized lawn or plants. We’re going to take a look at this behavior, why it occurs, and what you can do to prevent it to keep your garden hole free and your flowers blooming.
Goldendoodles, and all dogs, love to dig. It’s a natural instinct that is hard to ignore for your Goldendoodle. Some will like to dig more than others. Providing them with their own patch to dig in is a great way to keep them (and your lawn) happy. Digging can sometimes be a behavioral issue.
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Do Goldendoodles Naturally Dig? Why do they Do it?
The short answer is that all dogs dig. They’re not being naughty or deliberately destroying your lawn, they are simply doing what comes naturally to them – they are just being dogs.
But why? Because it’s in their nature to dig and they often can’t ignore their instincts. Let’s dive further into the topic and look at some of the reasons behind this behavior.
Reason number one is to make a cool place to lie on a hot day. The earth gets warm and by scraping off the top layer your dog is exposing the cooler, damper earth underneath and making himself a lovely cool dip in the ground where he can lay down and get comfy.
The second reason is that he wants to hide things that belong to him and that he considers to be precious. Maybe his favorite toys, a bone, or something he has stolen from the house! He is trying to keep his prize safe in a location known only to him. If he was a wild dog he would return later to dig it up and enjoy it.
With our domestic dogs, whether or not he remembers where he put it or ever goes back for it remains to be seen. It’s almost as if he has half of his natural instinct, so he will do the burying part but not necessarily digging it up again! One of my Goldendoodles will often take a duck wing to the bottom of the garden and push leaves over it with his nose. Sometimes he goes back for it later or if he is unlucky, one of the others will find it and enjoy an unexpected extra treat.
The third reason why your dog may dig is behavioral. Sometimes digging can be for reasons of destruction rather than instinct and in this instance, the fault lies with the owner, not the dog. All dogs need to burn off energy and require stimulation every day. If he has too much pent-up energy or he is bored and frustrated, and his human is not helping then he will find his own way to cope.
Digging is a great way to work off energy and pent up tension. The good news for this type of digging is that it’s an easy fix. Walk him more, play with him more, and spend time with him. A tired dog is a content dog and a content dog is a well-behaved dog.
The fourth reason for digging, and this type of digging is not in the yard, is quite simply getting comfy. You might see your dog digging or scraping at his bedding or your furniture before he lies down for a rest. This is fine and perfectly normal, he is literally getting comfy and for this reason, you should provide your dog with a nice soft place to sleep, either a soft bed or blankets/vet bed. This type of digging is not frantic and is more just scraping his blankets around a bit. A bit like the canine equivalent of us fluffing up our pillows before we lie down.
How Do They Dig?
So how exactly do dogs dig? I’m sure we’ve all seen dogs digging frantically, head down, and bottom-up. Dogs dig using their paws and often their nose and mouth too, quite literally biting at the earth. Often, however, if your dog is digging with both his mouth and paws, it will be because he can smell something underground.
Dogs will dig to get to vermin or the burrows of other animals so if your dog is digging in this very enthusiastic intense way, using his mouth and not just his paws and nose, it is worth investigating to see if you have a vermin problem in your yard or garden. You will soon learn to easily recognize his digging styles and differentiate between ‘fun’ digging and ‘frantic’ digging.
What Issues Can Digging Cause? For the Garden and For the Dog
Obviously, your dog’s digging can cause an issue for your garden as your beautiful lawns and flower beds can become covered in holes and end up looking like an excavation site, but digging can also cause issues for your dog.
If the digging is of the frantic type ‘trying-to-get-to-vermin’ or even ‘trying-to-dig-under-a-fence’ variety, he can actually hurt himself by making his paws and claws bleed and scraping the skin off of his nose.
Is Digging Instinctive or Behavioral?
The answer to this common question is that it’s both. All dogs instinctively dig for the reasons we’ve already covered. The reason he digs instinctively is he is making himself comfy, digging a den, hiding something precious, or looking for prey. Dogs are natural hunters and even our cuddly Doodles are predators, and this means they still have prey drive, some more than others.
He isn’t simply being naughty or trying to annoy you when he digs up your garden. Dogs, believe it or not, are not deliberately naughty (he really wants to please you not make you angry) – he is obeying his instincts or ‘the call of the wild’. This doesn’t mean he wants to be wild of course but some instincts will always remain. This is the essence of being a dog and we love our dogs because they are dogs.
Digging through boredom is behavioral and as already mentioned this is down to you to provide him with an alternative, more acceptable way to amuse himself.
How do you Prevent Them from Digging?
We all love our Goldendoodles but we probably love our lawn too so what can we do to prevent our gardens being dug up by our furry friends? As discussed, your dog has instincts that we can’t, and nor should we try to eliminate so we need to find a solution that works for everyone. My favorite way to do this is to provide a place for your dog to dig and teach him that digging is fine but only in his designated area.
This is not difficult if you can simply make your chosen spot the most desirable spot for your dog to dig. I’m sure we’ve all watched and laughed at dogs digging at the beach, sand flying up behind him so the best way to teach your dog to dog where you want him to dig is to provide a sandpit. This can either be by digging a permanent sandpit in your garden or providing a sandbox just like you would for a child.
My own dogs have a turtle sandbox! To encourage your dog to use his sandbox start by partially burying some of his toys in there and encouraging him to enthusiastically dig them out. You might even have to get in and help him initially. He will soon learn that is a great game and far from being shouted at, like when he digs up your plants, he is praised and laughed at when he digs here, and we all know Goldendoodles are clowns. Hunting for buried treasure will soon become a favorite game and source of amusement for your Goldendoodle and, indeed for you as watching him dig can be highly entertaining. Just don’t stand too close behind him or you might end up covered in sand too!
Summary
We don’t want to deny our canine friends’ natural instincts but nor do we want our gardens ruined so by finding a solution and teaching him that digging is allowed but not wherever he chooses we are living in harmony.
Dogs will be dogs and humans will be humans, but we have chosen to co-exist and over years of selective breeding we have made our canine companions more compatible with our lifestyles, and I for one am very glad we have.
