How To Prevent A Dog From Digging Under a Fence?

Have you ever stepped out of your front door only to discover that your dog has been on a digging spree? Does your dog seem to be on a mission, creating trenches and craters in their way? If so, you’re not alone in this struggle.

Trying to stop your dog from digging large holes in the yard or behind the fence may seem like a hopeless struggle. A dog can become a major nuisance if it digs into your neighbor's property or makes a hole large enough to cross from your yard onto the street.

While it might seem impossible, there are some ways to resolve your dog’s digging behavior. By understanding why your dog is doing it, you can take steps to stop it without offending your furry friend. Stay with me on this topic as we'll investigate the reasons behind this behavior.

The Process to Keep Away Your Puppy from Digging The Garden

1. Try to Understand the Cause

One of the main reasons for digging is its instinct. Dogs are naturally hunters and curious animals. If they see any small animals, such as rodents and squirrels, they may chase and hunt them down. It's a natural response and hunting instinct developed by many years of evolution. 

For this very reason, they may dig to hunt. It may start digging if it can smell bones, flesh, or corpses of dead animals. Sometimes if your dog is digging in the yard, it may have got something to hide from you, like a bone, toy, or poop. It doesn’t matter if your dog has a good bond with you; it’s an instinct for dogs to dig and bury just to hide from others.

Dogs are social animals; they have a strong bond with their owner. If your canine friend digs under the fence, it is either bored or trying to escape. Maybe your dog feels lonely when you leave and is suffering from anxiety.

Or there are other reasons, like looking for a mate or a friend. Perhaps it’s doing this just because the temperature or climate is intolerable for your dog. If your dog is pregnant, it’s digging for a place to give birth. In this scenario, when you have more than one pet, your dog simply plays or hides things from the other pet.

2. Increase Exercise and Enrichment

At the time of your work, you must keep your dog's mind and body sharp. It’s about engaging your dog’s mind as much as their body. Dogs enrich mental stimulation and activities that drive the mind in new ways. Whether you have an energetic or laid-back dog, enriching your daily routine can improve overall well-being and strengthen both of your bonds. 

Here are five exercises you can follow for your finding dog:

• Dog Puzzle Toys: You can keep your dog mentally thrilled instead of bored, which leads to unwanted behavior. There are different platforms like Amazon that offer various types of dog puzzle toys at different challenge levels. Dog puzzle toys and brain games improve your dog’s problem-solving skills and help him to work with you and enjoy the moments. 

• Physical Exercise: On warm days, you can set up a plastic kiddie pool in the backyard pool and engage your dogs to exercise and experience a variety of sensations. You may explore your dog for other water games in different ways besides water play, like swimming, jumping, and uplifting. 

• Hiding and Chasing: This is an exciting game for your puppy, but don’t lead the game like crazy, lest your dog will experience an unexpected incident. Simply hide in different rooms of furniture to keep your dog from chasing you, and if puzzled to seek you, call your dog by name. This game will increase your dog’s natural problem-solving skills and sense of smell to track you. Also, hiding and chasing games will help your dog to keep your mind active.

• Agility and Training at Your Home: You don’t need any costly or fancy arrangements at home to get experience in agility training. You can create funny block games in your yard or living room to amuse your dog. Also, you may set cones for your dog by setting broomsticks on the ground so it can jump over and crawl. Agility enhances your dog’s workout capability and sharpens its mind to steer at different challenges. 
  
  
• Treat For Winning the Challenges: You can create some easy tricks, such as if your dog can win the race and offer kinds of butter peanuts inside the bouncy ball, or mix the peanut butter with dry dog food pieces before spreading them inside the bouncy ball.

3. Provide Alternative Digging Areas

When your puppy loves to dig, you can provide a specific area for digging your dog. It can be a great way to satisfy your dog's natural feelings apart from protecting your garden. 

Here are some tips on how you can create alternative places for digging spots for your furry buddy:

• Keep a Separate Identified Digging Zone: For your buddy pup, you need to keep a specific yard where you can let your puppy dig. The specified area could be a corner of the garden or a separate area for soil or sand.

• Bury Toys and Treats: Let's bury some toys in a designated area to encourage your dog to dig by burying toys, treats, or bones in a sandpit. This will make the burying area appealing to your dog and keep him entertained. 

• Give Them Treats For Being Good: While your puppy digs at your designated area, let them praise by clapping, calling by name, and treating. Your positive response to your puppy energizes them to associate the digging zone with good behavior.

• Get Them to Dig Somewhere Else: If you see your puppy digging in an unexpected area, don’t be exasperated; rather, act gently to switch them to the designated area. Your consistency in getting your puppy to the specified area helps you learn where your dog is allowed to dig. 

• Make Your Garden Unpleasant: To derail your dogs from digging into your garden, use unattractive parts of your garden like mulch, rocks, or garden fencing. These unpleasant things make your dog less enjoyable when digging in your garden. 

• Provide Mental and Physical Stimulation: Give your puppy plenty of exercise and mental stimulation through walks, playtimes, and training.

4. Use Deterrents

If you want to keep your puppy digging at the unwanted areas in your garden, use deterrents, which is an effective strategy. 

Here are some methods of demoralizing your puppy from digging in specific areas:

• Let's Use Natural Deterrents – You can use natural deterrents like citrus peppers, vinegar, or cayenne in your dog’s digging zone. These strong, insane smells and tastes can deter you from digging.

• Pre-made Repellents – Use commercial safe repellents for your designated area to discourage your dogs from digging. These safe-dog products are often used in spray form and may be applied to the areas you want to protect. 

• Physical Barriers – Let's use a dog’s physical barrier like garden fencing, chicken wire, or mulch rocks around your protected area. It’s difficult for your puppy to dig those spots.

• Motion-active Devices – You may consider motion-activated devices such as sprinklers or ultrasonic deterrents. You can activate those devices when your puppy attempts to dig your preferred area. 

• Mulch and Ground Cover – You may use mulch, stones, or ground cover plants in areas where your dog wants to prevent digging. These deterrents can discourage your dog from digging in your preferred zone. 

5. Improve Garden Conditions

Suppose you intend to improve your garden condition and play a significant role in preventing your dog from digging into your preferred zone. Here are strategies to improve your garden and prevent your dog from digging behavior:

• You can Use Solid Soil – To ensure your garden is healthy and well-balanced, lest your dog can be tempted to dig your garden or plants if there is loose, dry, or sandy solid. Also, water your garden regularly and fertilize the soil to make it compact and less appealing for digging.

• Maintain Cense Vegetation – You may have dense tree plants or vegetation along the fence line that creates a barrier for your dog from digging. You also use woody plants, bushes, or ground cover plants to make it difficult to enter the fenced area.

• Setting Garden Edging – You may try to use garden edging or border fencing to create a physical barrier between your dog and the fence. This will help you to prevent your dogs from getting close to digging under the fence.

• Ensure the Shade and Shelter – Make sure your garden is shaded and has a shelter where your dog can rest. Usually, dogs dig the soil to create a cool spot to lie down.

• Monitor Your Dog and Supervise – You can keep an eye on your dog while in the garden. Your supervision will remind your dogs that if you notice something at the time of digging, change your dog’s behavior to create a cool spot to lie down.

6. Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a strong and impactful training – you can be encouraged and desire to see changing behavior in your fondled puppy. Here are key strategies for using positive reinforcement to prevent your digging under the fence:

• Identify Desired Behaviors: You can determine the behaviors you want to apply to your dog, such as staying away from the fence, playing in a designated area, or using an identified area for a digging zone. 

• Appreciate While Navigating Your Behavioral Style: You must have tactics to apply to your puppy positively and with high motivation, like treats, praise, giving new toys, or playtime. You will see how your dog changes behavior as the dogs love it. 

• Consistent Cues: Consistency is key in training your dog. Suppose you live in a household with multiple people; this is important to ensure everybody in the household has the same training cues and methods. If any of your family members are different in the same household, you will face a risk of confusing your dog, which makes your dog unproductive. So, everybody at your house uses the same verbal cues.

• Ground Reduction of Rewards: When your dog consistently explores the desired behavior, gradually reduce the rewarding time. This step will help you to maintain a balanced behavior without depending on treats.

7. Provide Essential Training

You can provide essential training to prevent your dog from unexpected behavior like digging under the fence. Now, see some important training tips to help you manage and turn away your dog’s face.

• You Should Train Tour Dog with Obedience – You can apply basic commands like “sit”, “stay", “come”, and “leave it.” Your basic commands for training the dog with basic obedience form the foundation for good behavior and help to manage your dog effectively.

• Engage in Mental Simulation Activities – Keep your dog mentally energized with your interactive response, like providing toys, throwing dog foods, puzzle feeders, and training exercises. Mental stimulation helps you prevent your dog’s destructive digging behaviors.

• Provide Routines for Exercise and Physical Activities –  Make sure your dogs get routines on physical exercises through walking, playtimes, and other activities. When your dog is tired, your dog will engage in unwanted behaviors out of excess energy.

• Provide Your Dog’s Training Classes – You can go to professional dog training and enroll your dog in training classes. Only a professional trainer can provide guidance and techniques to your dog to address specific behavioral issues.

8. Create a Safe and Comfortable Environment

When you create a safe and comfortable environment for your dog, it is necessary to stop unexpected behaviors, like digging under the fence. Here are tips to make sure your dogs feel secure and happy in their surroundings:

• Secure the Outside: You should ensure your fence is powerfully built and secure. Check the gaps or weak areas your dog may exploit to dig under the fence.

• Provide Shelter: You need to follow up to ensure that your dog has easy access to a comfortable and sheltered area where your dog can rest. A well-configured dog house or a shade sport in the yard can provide protection and a sense of security.  

• Comfortable Bedding: You can provide soft and puffy bedding for your dog to take a rest. This will encourage your dog to stay at the case bedding and urge the dog in search of a more comfortable spot.

• Regular Exercise: Make sure your dog continues enough physical exercise through walks, playtime, and more activities. Continuous physical exercise helps to burn off extra energy and reduce weariness, which reduces your dog’s digging habit.

• Social Interaction with Humans: Spend dedicated time with your dogs and provide more social interaction. You know dogs are social animals and dive into companionship. Regular interaction with your dog helps reduce anxiety and restrain from digging. 

• Safe Toys and Chews: Let's provide your dog with various safe dog toys and chews to keep your dog entertained and engaged. So, your dog’s energy will transform into appropriate activities.

9. Monitor and Adapt

You might be wondering about your dog’s behavior and adapting your strategies as needed to effectively prevent your dog from digging under the fence. The following essential steps will guide you and help you to be proactive and responsive with your puppy:

• Regular Observation: Always keep a close eye on your dog’s behavior, especially when they’re in the garden or yard. Regular observation helps you to identify the symptoms of your dog’s digging attempt. 

• Identify the Key to Digging Behavior: You must pay enough attention to what triggers your dog's digging behavior. It may be activated by weariness, anxiety, or the presence of a small animal like a mouse. Detecting the right triggers helps you to identify the root cause of your dog’s digging behavior.

• Adjust Training Techniques: When you see certain training techniques not working, be flexible and try out different approaches. For instance, if positively reinforcing is not effective, consider incorporating deterrents or additional training sessions. 

• Monitor Health and Well-Being: You must be cautious about your dog’s health and follow up as if there are no medical issues that could contribute to your dog’s digging behavior.

• Adapt to Changes: You should prepare to adapt your strategies and see if there is anything you need to change to ensure your dog’s growth. Your puppy may need different approaches than adult dogs and changes in household or surroundings may also require adjustment.

Conclusion 

Finally, to prevent digging behavior, you need to consider providing a safe and stimulating environment that enriches your dog’s behavior. Also, you have to meet your dog’s physical and mental needs – this will help to minimize your dog’s unexpected behavior and make you happier and more harmonious.

Moreover, to ensure your dog’s consistency in behaviors – you need to maintain a consistent approach, which helps prevent your dog from digging under the fence and strengthen bonding with your dog through positive reinforcement and training. 

So, When you ensure your dog’s consistent training, adequate exercise, enrichment, and creating a safe and comfortable environment, you can effectively prevent your dog from digging under the fence. This may turn into a good relationship between you and your beloved puppy. 

When your puppy lost but didn’t return home. In these cases, you can easily get help from PawMaw, a huge pet community, to look for your pet and get it back home as quickly as possible.