Hi and HELP! Any sage advice for my little guy who'd dug half way to China?
Hi, all. I suddenly thought, oooooo, I bet there's a DU pets group and maybe someone there will have some bit of wisdom that'll stop this damn digging!!
So, first, let me introduce the little culprit. He's a rescue who came to me when he was about 3 years old. He was found about an hour from here in South Carolina (I'm in the mountains of western NC). He was in the woods all by his lonesome and neighbors near the woods tried and tried to catch him for 3+ weeks! He was terrified of them and, despite eating the food they kept leaving out for him, wouldn't get near any of the people. Then finally, according to the rescue group, he gave up out of exhaustion & hunger. He was a matted, filthy mess and exhibited fear aggression around people he didn't know. (Which indicates at the very least a traumatic abusive event at the hands of a human and, often, ongoing abuse. It's certainly substantiated by the fact the little guy put up with 3+ weeks in the woods and wouldn't let anyone get near him.)
Well, once he gets to know you he's the most loving dog EVER. He's 12-pounds of pure snuggle! He gives most excellent hugs, loves nothing more than to be held and hugged/give hugs. The first time I kissed his head it scared him -- he didn't know what I was doing. Now, when I kiss his head, he burrows his head against me -- he most definitely knows what it means. His wonderful foster mom told me he didn't take to toys. Well, he sure as hell did shortly after moving in with us (me and his canine buddy, a warm & welcoming westie, from whom he's now inseparable). Maybe she didn't have the kind of toys he favors -- stuffed animals & miniature balls. He sucks at the retrieving part, but loves to run after things and turns into a marvelous, playful Kujo playing tug-of-war with his toys.
So, here's the little cutie, Monty, who has absolutely stollen my heart -- he's now been with us for about 5 years. The day he's no longer with me will be crushing for me. He's 12 pounds, probably a mix of miniature poodle & ???....maybe yorkie......but definitely poodle.
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(He was named Monty by the foster mom and I kept it -- I used to know an incredibly wonderful man, who is now deceased and was also a dog lover, named Monte. It was perfect.)
Anyway, my little sweetie is incredibly well behaved. He does what he's told and easily follows the few rules they have. Aside from his fear aggression (we're still working on that -- it's MUCH better than it used to be....he's in laps within 5 minutes now), this is the only problem I have with my little love. And it IS a problem. He has dug amazingly HUGE and DEEP holes in the yard! It's fenced and someone regularly checks to make sure there aren't any that could let them escape the yard.
I'm at a loss as to how to stop this. Here's one problem. I'm disabled and I can't get out into the yard to do this stuff myself, so I have to get someone else to do everything for me. We recently tried filling in the holes almost to the top, putting alcohol-soaked cotton balls near the top and putting a thin-ish layer of dirt on top of those. That was one suggested many places online. That worked for a few days on holes he'd already dug, but I guess the scent finally wore off enough that he went back to them faster than I thought he would. And it didn't prevent new hole digging.
A couple of places online suggested hitting an air horn when you see them digging, saying that would stop the behavior if it happened on a regular basis. Oh yeah, my neighbors would love that technique!
Then I've read "put in a sandbox." The suggestion is to put in a spot where it's okay to dig. I guess if I hid stuff he likes in the box it might work, though I'm not convinced it'd stop the behavior elsewhere. I suspect I have moles. I haven't seen other evidence of them, but he sure is eager to get to something!
I wish he were perceptive enough to connect getting stuck in the kitchen sink & getting his feet & face washed when he comes in covered with mud/dirt! Sadly, he hasn't made that connection. I've tried rewarding him when he comes in and hasn't been digging and having to get his feet/face washed is definitely a punishment in his mind, but the connections aren't clear to him.
So WTF do I do to get my little sweetheart to stop this? Their tags come from a wonderful place that's actually local to my area, Dog Tag Art, and this is little Monty's tag: 
TIA for any help you can provide!
= new reply since forum marked as read
The Yorkie part you mentioned is consistent with this.
Enjoy him!
as I watched Linus after Linus video and a few others listed there! Beyond adorable! Oy, I wish Monty would do the "get your toy" thing! He likes to bring one to bed with him, which gets an awwww from me pretty much every night. But does he go pick one out and bring it with him? 90% of the time, no -- he looks at me with great expectancy, like "where's my toy?" I say "get your toy" and he looks around like he knows what I'm talking about but then doesn't do it and does the looks to me to do it thing.
Damn dog has me trained really, really well. 
He sure is a cutie.
I know what you mean, my cats cause all kinds of mayhem and I love them to bits anyway.
I got my first dog on my own as an adult when I was 18 -- he was a puppy abandoned with his whole litter. At least someone was smart enough to leave them in a laundromat, where they were found and taken in probably pretty soon after they were left there.
I had a childhood cocker spaniel who loved to play ball but NEVER retrieved. There were 4 kids in our family and her game was to get the ball and then run around with at least one kid racing around behind her trying to get the ball.
So when my little guy indicated he loved playing ball, I made damn sure he learned to retrieve! I got him as a little puppy, which helped. And it was in his nature. I have no idea what was in him -- he was roughly the size & shape of maybe a corgi/long-haired dachshund mix. He'd play ball endlessly! He not only brought it back and dropped it, if it was too far away you could just say "closer" & he'd pick it up and drop it at your feet. OMG, he was the smartest dog I've ever encountered. If I were made of money and cloning was available back then....
I lived in Colorado when I got him (ski bum for a year after HS) and when I moved back east, my mother contributed an old tennis racquet to him because she got so tired of throwing the ball for him when we were over at my parents' house (which was frequent). We'd whack it down their huge yard and he'd run and run on those short little legs.....sigh, I'll always miss that little one. I was 35 when he died and I was heartbroken. As Mom pointed out to me at the time, he'd been with me through my entire adulthood.
Invested in a shovel and put it to regular and frequent use. LOL!
Boo, the Akita I had that passed away last summer, and Yoshi, the one I have now were/are both massive diggers. Funny thing though, my first Akita before Boo HATED dirt. He didn't even want to walk on it much less dig in it. Boo did most of his digging in one part of the yard (the bare spot under the tree) and didn't dig much at all when he got older. With him it was more of a puppy thing. Yoshi though digs all the time all over the yard and is never more happy then when he's coated with mud (he thinks mud is especially glorious). He's still technically a puppy, but getting more adult and his exuberance for digging hasn't waned one bit (I think especially because the dirt is almost always either deliciously moist or down right soupy).
I figure some dogs just like to dig and some don't. I don't really mind so much. It makes them happy and it's easy enough to just fill the holes back in. I won't like it once winter is over and I plant grass again (with all the rain we've had here since August all the grass drowned and died all the way to the roots). The only thing I think would work then is to watch him when he's in the yard all the time. Once the grass is grown in well I'm not so sure Yoshi will want to dig it up especially because it'll be hot out for him by then, and with all his hair he's not going to want to be outside much unless he's in the pool or needs to go to the bathroom. As it is now though, the yard is a bald dirt pit (mud pit really since it still hasn't dried out since August), so I really don't care about the digging until it's time to get busy with the grass seed. By then he probably won't want to be outside much because of the heat and when he is he'll not want to be doing anything more strenuous than lying in the shade.
I can't really think of anything you can really do other than watch Monty while he's out in the yard or just not let him in the yard so much and walk him for exersize. Like I said, I think some dogs just REALLY love to dig in dirt. I'm not sure a sandbox would work... he may think it's a personal bathroom like a cat box and/or he might not like the smell or consistency of the sand (I think dogs like to dig in dirt because the dirt they dig they feel is especially lovely for digging). Wouldn't he just fling all the sand out of the box anyway?
Monty is a real cutie! If he ever actually gets to China the hard way make sure he remembers to bring you back a souvenir. 
digging & escape rep! The rep is probably overblown & somewhat undeserved, but it was definitely something I considered as I knew I couldn't deal with a dog constantly trying to dig under the fence. Well, at that point, I didn't really want to. Now I physically can't! Fortunately, Monty doesn't do that. He has dug some holes near the fence and my friend has been good about checking those & filling them in once a week, putting the alcohol soaked cotton balls in them. .....an hour later.....it was a beagle. Like I said, I have no idea if it was a rational thought -- an online search left me equivocal.
If I could get out and do all of the hole filling in and grass reseeding, it'd be a piece of cake. I can't, so the holes are pretty much there to stay. In terms of "looks," though I'm not thrilled with this, I'm not anal about my lawn. It's there for the dogs. If I didn't have dogs, I'd probably live in a condo with a small garden area out back. The first thing I did when I moved here was have the lawn fenced and voila, dog house! 
I could still plant when I moved and planted relatively little inside the fence -- everything went outside of it. I tried planting one tree for shade in the yard and it died -- my black thumb struck again! (I did manage to plant some beautiful crepe myrtles, other stuff I don't remember what they are & rose bushes outside the fence.) The dogs have plenty of shade on the front porch, so I don't worry about it -- and they're indoors a lot when it's hot. Even they prefer the a/c!
I'm not sure about the sandbox going in anyway simply due to the cost of doing it since I have to pay others to do everything -- we shall see. The more I investigated yesterday, the less fiscally possible it seemed. I, too, have my doubts but I'd be willing to try it if I think it'll work. It'll be expensive given my budget, so I'll have to think on it some more.
I love your attitude! I do need to chill the hell out about it. I'm told it makes mowing more difficult -- there've been complaints about twisting ankles and the like. But the holes are big and deep enough now that they should be easily visible and not a big deal for the ankle twisting thingy.
I told his vet there may just be a really hot Shih Tzu he's trying to get to in China. Who am I to stand in the say of true love?
I'm sorry if I came across that way. I was only meaning to convey my complete inability to stop the psycho digging as well as my not minding at this point since my dirt patch... er... yard is just hopeless at this point (until spring maybe - I hope). It's also a really easy thing for me to follow Yoshi with the shovel and fill in his craters which is a totally different thing for you. What i meant to convey is though I'm not so thrilled with the digging, at the moment I'm putting up with it because a) I don't really mind so much since my yard is an absolute disgrace right now anyway, and b) nothing on earth seems to convince him to decide to no longer get such a thrill out of digging.
I totally understand your concern of Monty tripping in a crater and hurting himself... I have the same concern for Yoshi which is why I follow his digging with the shovel and "destroy his art". LOL! That's certainly what HE thinks I'm doing when filling in his holes. He's so indignant about it that he tries to molest the shovel to make it stop putting dirt back in and/or tries to dig it back out again either while I'm shoveling it in or sneakily doing it behind my back when I move on to the next hole... "What are you doing messing up my yard art, Mommy??? Stop destroying my artistic mini Grand Canyon exhibit!"
Lately Yoshi has taken to digging next to the shared fence with my neighbor that has the big Bull Mastiff. Bubba burried his Christmas present bone right next to the fence, and Yoshi knows it's there... and wants it. I ended up sticking two cinderblocks there after filling in his craters, but he figured out in only a few hours that he can dig along the shared fence anywhere to get into their yard, and thus go dig up Bubba's bone. I definitely don't want him being able to dig under the fence and get in their yard because they often don't close their gate, and no way do I want Yoshi free to roam the world. I'm also not keen on having a long line of cinderblocks along the fence there either.
I'm getting to point where I'm starting to feel like I need to watch him out in the yard all the time as well since nothing else seems to stop his delight to dig. There's also a big part of me that doesn't want to stop him either because he so obviously adores it and looks so damn funny doing it.
It's going to have to stop though once spring comes and I get busy with the grass seed. The only other thing I can think of to do is seed each section at different times and fence it off until the grass gets fairly established. I really don't think he wants to dig where there's grass since he seems to like lying on grass more than he likes digging. When I first got him I still had a good bit of grass in most spots and he had confined his digging to those spots with no grass (like under the tree where Boo used to confine his digging) or only very sparse grass. I dunno, it might be less of a pain if I just stay outside with him and stop him from digging until grass gets going well again rather than all the fuss of sections and chicken wire.
Your situation is a whole different kettle of fish than mine. And with my situation I'm probably the last person to help (me with my moon scape crater filled dirt pit yard and filthy dirt encrusted doggie). Hmm... maybe you could just get Monty an airline ticket to China to go visit his One True Love?
With Yoshi I never considered a One True Love in China... I was hoping he was intending on unearthing a huge bad of money or jewels or some priceless ancient treasure.
I bet Monty and Yoshi would be great digging buddies! Dual yard art!
But I did get the impression that you've definitely chilled out about the whole issue, which is definitely a healthy lesson for me to take from your post. Truly, I hope Monty lives a REALLY long time. When he's gone, I'll remember him with nothing but love and I'll so miss my little imp out there digging up my whole yard! And frankly, I suspect that's when the holes will finally get filled in and the yard reseeded.
OMG, too funny!
Yeah, I know whereof you speak. Above everything else, I want my furbabies to have fun and be happy. But then there are the other aspects, like I'm not particularly OCD about cleaning, but man, I do get a little sick of sticking my little sweetie in the sink! I did it twice today. It's a good thing he's such a good boy about it -- he doesn't fight to get out or anything. I kind of have to do it since he's allowed on all the furniture....and in my bed.
When Yoshi & Monty have their play date, we'd be happy to come have it at your house.
They (Ashie & Monty) have mostly stuffed animal toys. It started with Ashie, who LOVES the ones that make animal noises. She will occasionally go from toy to toy just biting them to make the various animal noises. Monty, on the other hand, hates it when a toy makes any noise at all -- if it even squeaks he'll stop running for it and walk away from it. Monty also likes the furry frisbees he has and miniature tennis balls. He has these balls I found at Target at the end of one summer on big discount. They're these squishy things made for play in the pool -- he loves those! But the toys both go for 95% of the time is stuffed animals.
it might work but I don't have the heart to ask my friend who comes to clean once a week to go pick up poops and then fill the holes with it & dirt. But the bulk pepper thing is new -- that might work. As long as it won't hurt him. From the sound of it, it wouldn't because he'd stay away from those holes. He'll just have to dig new ones!! I'm adding the pepper to my list of things to try. Thanks!
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What? Why are you laughing at me? Digging? No, not me. I'm innocent, I tell you!
It probably doesn't help that I often crack up laughing when he comes in looking like this.
Except that my beastie is about 100 times larger and he'd normally also have a dirt coated tongue flapping out sideways like a dork.
I sooooooooo know what you mean about laughing at them and trying to make them understand that just because you're laughing doesn't mean you're pleased with what they're doing. Dogs absolutely know what laughter means, and I can't count how many times I've had to try biting back even a smile, but he can still tell. The dirty rotten scoundrel! (emphasis on DIRTY - filthy mud caked dirty).
I'm envious that you can just put him in the sink. Mine hardly fits in the tubby and it's all the way upstairs at the other end of the house, so I have to get him somewhat presentable with the garden hose. That's some trick because he just thinks the hose is coming out because we're going to make MUD PIES!!! Wooooohooooo!
Oh my goodness, that total innocence scam face. We know it well... "What dirt? I have absolutely no idea what this dirt thing is you speak of, so if you'll excuse me it's time for me to smear myself all over your clean sheets".
