Can I stop my dog digging up my garden?

[allhailtheaubergine]

I have a 9 month old rescue pup. She has been with us for 3 weeks now and is doing really well.

She is utterly destroying my garden. I have never known a dog dig so industriously. I need to be able to pop her into the garden for a wee without watching her every second she is there, particularly because she is so secretive about weeing for some reason, and won't ever wee if I am there with her (she holds it until we come back into the house and sneaks off to wee in a quiet corner of the house).

I am happy to give her a digging patch to herself, but she has almost destroyed a row of young trees, and is on a mission to remove the nice tree in the middle of the lawn. At the moment we are looking into chicken wire and fencing solutions, but any thoughts or tips about discouraging her would be welcome.

At a guess, the reason she is unwilling to wee in front of you is because she's been told off for weeing in the house, and has made the assumption that she is being told off for weeing AT ALL.

One of the reasons why you shouldn't ever tell a dog off for weeing in the wrong place; they may associate the scolding for the action rather than the location, and start sneaking off to do it in secret....

Poor girl :(

Does she go to the loo in front of you when you're out on walks?

I have never ever got cross with her for weeing or pooing anywhere. In fact I have mopped up wee, taken it outside, put the cloth on the grass and praised her for it.

She poos happily on walks. I have only seen her wee once ever - it was in the garden and I praised her for it and made a fuss of her. I know she must be doing a lot more wees in the garden because there are fewer in the house, but I don't see her do them. She prefers to do them in the house I think.

She is also a bit funny about water - ignores the beautiful, fresh, clean bowls of water she has dotted around the house, but tries to drink the drips out of the shower or the pot plants.

She is mostly calm, relaxed and cheerful. She is a very sweet girl and we are so pleased to have her with us.

I thought CK meant she had been told off for weeing somewhere in her past...rather than by you, aubergine

Total novice with pups myself, and so far (1 week) our rescue pup is chewing small patches of turf - which isn't too bad - but wonder what breed your girl is? I know some dogs love digging more than others. I would definitely give her a digging patch, and try and fence off vulnerable shrubs/trees for the time being till she takes ownership of her 'bit', iyswim.

She sounds very loved!

Ah, I mean the dog had been told off for weeing some time in her past - not CK!

I didn't mean you'd told her off!

I meant she'd been told off by her previous owner/s - the "you" I was using in my second paragraph was the generic "you" rather than you personally :)

I love being right

So, now we have established that both the dog and CKate are free to wee in both my house and garden without fear of reprisal, any ideas about the digging?

at weeing

i have two jrts who like digging. its early days for you but think about teaching the leave it command? when you see dog get into the digging zone stance then say 'leave it' reward and give dog something else to do as a distraction

also, like me, take dog on beach holiday every year specifically so she can dig all day every day for a week

Build her a sand pit. :o

my trainer says there are 9 reasons dogs dig....can't remember them all except he said, don't garden in front of them as it teaches them to do it and do give them a "safe place" to dig