Digging holes in the lawn.

[HappydaysArehere]

Please be grateful for help. We are having to look after my daughter’s dogs. One of them is fine but the other is a red setter. When she arrived after a three hour drive she attacked the lawn in about five places tearing lumps up. That was yesterday and we are supposed to be looking after them for quite awhile! We shouted at her to tell her no but she then went onto to somewhere else. Wondering what is going to happen now as we let her out. Thank you for any help you can give.

Don't shout at her - accompany her in the garden for the next few trips so you can distract her if she starts again.

She may just have needed to release some pent up travel tension and so stop digging once she settles. Or you may have to chaperone her on all her garden trips.

Thank you LadyGuffers. That makes sense. We had our own dog for 13 years and have looked after my other daughter’s dogs while they are away plus a friend’s dog for a few weeks. None of them have ever done anything like that. It is really difficult as we are not allowed to let them off the lead although we live within plenty of open spaces. If the front door is open a mere fraction they are off at the speed of light and we are afraid of the road as they are used to a really rural area. Thank you again.

We have to chaperone our puppy
He’s happily distracted chasing bits of kibble round the garden
Or a toy
But leave him to his own devices and he will eat every flower and dig every place he finds an interesting smell.

Unfortunately for him it means he gets less time out there. But I’m hoping that he eventually stops trying to do the things we don’t want him to do, or at least he keeps it to one spot...

I think as it’s only been one day though and a long car journey yours may have just had a bit too much energy or been a bit stressed
And excited to be in a whole new garden with new smells! I bet he calms down

Thank you. Yes she hasn’t been digging since the first day. However, she is about three and a half years old and is a devil for not coming back. She runs like the wind. My daughter has the same trouble so it’s not just us. We have to keep her on a lead when we take her out. We have to be careful when opening front door. She is a real monkey. We are old and getting really fed up. Last night I was traipsing up the garden at 1.30am trying to get her into the house.