How To Stop Digging | 5 Ways To Stop Your Dog From Digging Holes

Sometimes our dogs feel compelled to give our yard a new landscape with more craters than the moon. Digging is a common issue many pet owners face, and unfortunately, it’s also a tough problem to resolve. This is primarily because dogs dig most often when left to their own devices without the owner there to communicate to them that they shouldn’t be digging.

So why do dogs dig?

Digging is a natural behavior and dogs dig for a multitude of reasons. Ultimately, these reasons do not matter much as the treatment options are still the same, but for those interested.

1. Digging is fun! This is the culprit behind most behavior problems in dogs. Animals need stimulation. This can be physical or mental but, like digging, it is usually a combination of the two. If we fail to provide our pets with acceptable forms of stimulation, they will find their own means of engagement. This is where digging usually becomes a problem. Therefore it is our responsibility, as owners, to provide suitable alternatives for our dogs.
2. Dogs dig to bury things. Yes, our dogs can be this cliché. They have a natural instinct to bury objects they value, such as bones, to keep it safe for later. Sort of like stashing away some cash in a hidden location.
3. Dogs dig to find things. To your dog, there’s a whole world of excitement in your yard you’re completely unaware of – it’s just hidden underground! In addition to their impeccable smell, dog’s hearing is so acute they can detect all kinds of underground critters, from bugs to small animals like moles. This behavior is more common in terriers and small hounds like dachshunds as digging holes to catch pests underground is literally what they were bred for.
4. Dogs dig to escape the yard. There is only one reason for this to happen. There is something outside your yard that is more reinforcing than what is available inside your yard. Make the yard more reinforcing by providing stimulation outlets for your dog so there is no desire to leave.
5. Dogs dig to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This is especially true if you have a spitz breed like a husky, or samoyed. These breeds have a strong instinct to dig a crater to lay in. This functions both as a wind block and as natural insulation from the ground keeping them warm or cool depending on the season.
6. Female dogs will dig a den when they’re pregnant. This is a dog’s version of nesting and even though it may not be quite as functional or necessary as wolves’ den, it is still a hormonally driven behavior they can’t ignore.

Now that you understand the why, how do you stop your dog digging holes in the yard? Like with any problem behavior, there is more than one method for treatment. While each differs in difficulty, involvement, and outcome they all achieve the same result: a happy dog, happy owner, and a yard free from craters.

Management

By far the quickest, easiest, and most effective approach to stop your dog’s digging is simple management. As mentioned earlier, dogs do not make the best decisions when left to their own devices.The freedom to be alone in the yard is a privilege that a dog must earn. If your dog has not been taught or conditioned to behave alone in the yard without digging, do not let them out in the yard unattended.

For many owners, the backyard becomes nothing more than a babysitter so they don’t have to deal with their dog pestering for attention, using the bathroom, or engaging in other naughty behaviors inside the house. As a result, the issue is not that the dog is digging in the yard; it’s that they do not know how to behave inside the house. For this, there are many solutions, but by far the best and easiest is to use the best kept secret in dog training.

Build A Dig Pit

The next best solution to resolve inappropriate digging is to provide your dog with a dig pit. In most cases the real problem isn’t the dog’s digging, but the locations of their digging. Most owners would not mind their dog digging if it only occurred in a designated area they can backfill easily. A dig pit is the perfect area.

Build a dig pit by blocking off a small section of the yard, ideally no smaller than 3’ x 3’ or larger for larger dogs, using materials like wood, bricks, or cinder blocks. Line the bottom of the dig pit with rocks to help with water drainage. The top layer should be filled with play sand. This offers a soft substrate for your dog to dig in, and makes it convenient for you to backfill and clean them off afterwards. Lastly, if you are worried about pooling you can cover the box with a tarp to protect from the rain.

Now you just need to teach your dog to use their new dig pit. Don’t worry, it’s really very simple. Before giving your dog initial access to the dig pit, bury the most meaty, smelly, and delicious (at least for your dog) bone you can find in the pit. Imagine from your dog’s perspective – they may have been in the yard a million times and one day they go out to find a new structure. As they sniff around and explore they discover a huge bone! They’ll feel like they just made the discovery of the century and won the canine lottery at the same time. So you can bet they’ll be checking the new pit regularly from here on out.

After the first discovery, bury something new every night for your dog to discover in the morning for 5 days. It doesn’t have to be an entire cow femur every time, even just a few small treats will do. The first 5 are the most important. After that, you can space out your buried treasures to mimic a slot machine. Sometimes you find something, sometimes you don’t. The chance of your dog finding a treasure is more reinforcing than finding the treasure itself. And just like a gambler, they’ll be none the wiser to the ifs nor the whens.

Differential Reinforcement

Differential Reinforcement of Other behavior, DRO for short, is a training technique that involves feeding or reinforcing any behavior the dog exhibits that is not the specific undesirable behavior, digging in this case.

To use DRO to correct digging you must either accompany your dog outside, watch through the window, or use a camera. If you see your dog engage in any significant behavior that is not digging then praise them and maybe even give a few treats. After the third trial, begin to exponentially increase the amount of time that your dog is outside without digging (2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10, 30, 60 etc). Praise heavily if you see any big progress such as your dog sniffing the hole or walking away from it without digging.

This tactic can take time and therefore requires patience to work. It’s best combined with other techniques or as a starting point to encourage your dog. It’s important for them to learn that their actions have consequences. Be them good or bad.

Put On Cue

An alternative solution to digging could be to put the behavior on command. For some people, the problem isn’t that their dog is digging, but that they’re digging at the wrong time. Digging can be a useful skill after all! People pay plumbers and gardeners good money to dig holes in their yard! Just like a child acting silly. There is a time and place for your dog to dig. Putting digging on cue allows your dog to engage in a natural behavior they enjoy with zero owner irritation.

Putting behaviors on cue is easy. Set up a scenario in which it would be beneficial for your dog to dig (maybe start that garden you’ve always wanted). Encourage them to dig with praise and excitement. Remember it’s supposed to be fun! Once they’ve dug enough, have them stop by telling them “that’s enough” and stand over the hole. Be sure to let them know they’ve done good once they stop. This is also a good exercise in impulse control. So the more foundational training you have the better. Utilize the “stay” or “wait” command while you prepare for your helper.

One of the best aspects of this solution is it allows your dog more positive involvement in your life. It turns digging from a problem into a handy solution! This builds communication and strengthens the bond between you and your dog. At the end of the day, that’s all your dog wants.

Correcting

As a last resort, if all other techniques have been properly implemented and unsuccessful, correcting the behavior is the only option left. The best way to correct a behavior is punishment, be it positive or negative. However, it is never a good idea to use punishment exclusively. Instead, using corrections in combination with other techniques will yield much faster and longer lasting results. DRO and putting on cue are both good options here. This is because your dog will receive more feedback to get a well rounded view of what it is you want from them. (read more about how to punish your dog the right way).

To properly correct your dog, it is best to first start with negative punishment. The best method for this is a timeout. To start, your dog must be wearing a leash on a collar that won’t slip off. The instant they begin digging, say nothing to them but grab the leash and swiftly place them behind a door or out of sight with the leash pulled through so they can’t go explore. Wait 30 seconds before letting them back out. Utilize a side door, storage shed, gate, or even far away fence post for timeouts.

If negative punishment does not work then you are left with no option but to use positive punishment. (Read more about the difference here). To positively punish your dog you must wait for them to dig and then implement some aversion. Good examples would be a clap, stomp, verbal “eheh”, or even spray with citronella (ideally on a collar). If you correct your dog properly 5 times in a row and the behavior does not reduce then it is, by definition, not an effective punishment.  

After the correction, it’s hugely important that the punishment stops immediately. Punishing should never be an emotional response to your dog’s behavior; it’s a calculated response to get a behavior to stop. Equally as important, is that you praise and immediately flip to excitement and joy once your dog is successful. This is why punishment cannot be done emotionally, because nobody can switch their emotions quickly enough for effective training.

Effectively punishing behaviors is more challenging than it appears. It demands near-perfect timing, unwavering consistency, and an appropriate level of magnitude to be a constructive tool. Even when used effectively, punishment is certainly not the fastest, easiest, most convenient, or enjoyable method. While it can be a useful tool when implemented correctly, it comes with its challenges and may not always be the preferred or optimal approach.

To Summarize

Digging is hard to resolve. It generally takes place in the absence of the owner, and it’s ineffective to correct a problem behavior after the fact. Therefore, trainers and owners alike are very limited in the techniques available to resolve this issue. The best options are management, building a dig pit, DRO, putting the behavior on cue, and correcting the behavior.

In some cases, it may be necessary to use each of these methods in different combinations. Over time, you can allow your dog progressively longer durations in the yard as they learn how to behave outside without digging. If you encounter issues using these techniques, contact a professional trainer or animal behaviorist familiar with behavior modification.