DOGS DIG FOR RELEVANT REASONS

In the wild, wolves dig dens for their pups.  Domesticated dogs dig to bury bones, make dens or cooling holes.  They like to nuzzle into a “special spot” to sleep, or kick back and take in the vistas and aromas of a delightful day.  Sometimes, they dig to relieve stress and other times just for the joy of it!  Dogs that are confined for extended periods of time dig to escape from the Alcatraz of boredom! 

Dogs are archeologists by nature searching for fossils and bones (perhaps of ancestors).  They dig with a zesty gusto using their exquisitely keen senses to forage out scents.  Their olfactory cells are 40 to 75 times greater than ours.  How discouraging it can be if every time they attempt their “dig”, they are reprimanded for making disgusting holes in the lawn.  The indignity of it all.  These are more than mere holes to the dog!  It’s landscaping.

How would anyone of us like it if every time we gregariously went about preparing a project or presentation for 9-months only to be told:  “that’s disgusting, yuck, horrible, no, get out of here”?  

A SAFE PLACE TO DIG AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT TOO!   

A dog’s request is to give them a place to build their “sandcastles” and/or “dream house”.  Shape the digging!  If you are lucky enough to have a puppy at 8-weeks, begin then by showing them where to dig.  It is simple as teaching, “dig here, not there, “dig for this, not that”. 

Make it a game of challenge and quest.   Show them their favorite bone or hard rubber toy, and then bury it in an acceptable and safe excavation spot! 

Don’t want them in your vegetable or flower garden, and you don’t have the time to teach them where to dig?  Then, the answer is simple.  Fence it off!  City dog?  Fill a plastic swimming pool with dirt.

GIVE ME A JOB!

Whether it is catching Frisbees, playing ball, bringing you flowers or fetching the newspaper, dogs were bred to work and need to feel useful.  In addition to appropriate digging expeditions, give them a job to do in their daily life plan.  You have choices and it is worth the effort!

Excerpt taken from Train Your Dog, Change Your Life

by Maureen Ross and Gary Ross, Howell Book House, Wiley Inc., 2001.