Anyone have a Golden Retriever puppy and found the magic cure to save your garden?

[ProudparentofaMuffin]

Ours clearly wants to emigrate to Australia....

Or recreate the surface of the moon....

Is it time to say goodbye to grass for the next 15years?

My daughter paved part of hers and gated the grass bit so probably not what you wanted to hear 😂

We have a lab and have the same problem. My dh is distraught over ‘his’ grass. What makes it worse is that we only had the garden re-turfed a year before getting the dog.

Two shots, before and after

We used to take our Goldie into the garden on the lead. We only stopped this when she calmed down.

Stop them whenever they start and divert their attention to something else. It's a bordem/frustration thing, sadly. Whilst they are young and you can't exercise them too much, they're little tossers IME.

I didn't let mine outside without supervision until he hit the 12 month mark. It was beyond tedious. Part of that was because the beast used to eat my sodding roses and lavender! He's much better now and can be 100% trusted. But I did spend months following him around my garden...

My DH is exactly the same, absolutely distraught!
😂. I'm a little bit more accepting of the fact that things may get destroyed seen as she is a puppy but still disheartening when I look out and all I see is a tail and two back legs sticking out the ground 😩.

I think we are going to have to monitor her at all times. She knows what she's doing...when she clocks us looking at her she lays down over her master piece and looks the other way!!

When we first got our puppy ( terrier mix) , he dug a hole , found a daffodil bulb and nearly died so we fenced off our patio with ornamental fencing . This has the added advantage of keeping the amount of mud in the house down , means he doesn’t have dirty feet before he jumps on the furniture / beds and is very easy to get in if he starts barking at stupid o’clock .

Mine was watched like a hawk in the garden. She'd be on a long lead, and the second it started, a firm "No!" from me, and she was taken inside and ignored for a minute. It took about four months to stop as an automatic thing, but even then she'd still have the urge and occasionally couldn't control herself. A big "No!" from me would stop her mid-dig and she'd look sheepish. Stopped entirely at around 18 months and never did it again.

My border collie was the same, absolutely obsessed with digging holes, we had to barricade my plants to stop him getting to them. I did get some cheaper rolls of artificial grass at home bargains to cover half the garden. It wasn’t great but better than having a garden full of holes and mud. He stopped digging the following summer.

We paved about half and put up a fence.

The only way to stop the mud unfortunately. Mine don’t dig but it gets dragged in constantly without it.

Aw, I love watching my dog dig, he gets so much pleasure from it.

The first summer was a nightmare, but then she calmed down so don't despair, you will be able to garden again! I let ours have a digging spot where she worked on a gigantic hole. She is three now and I don't think she has grown out of picking up plant pots with her mouth and attempting to juggle with them.

Four years down the line, I still have three sentimental craters in the lawn, but mainly from being under 12months old. Filling them up again with grass wasn't an option as that would have been even more exciting to dig up. I filled them with footballs instead! He was happy. It made me happy. FWIW, some say put his poop into them... only if he isn't a poop eater, of course. Mine had grown out of it by the time I heard this, so untested here 😁

You can also make him a sandpit to dig in? Worth a shot.

I was just going to suggest this. We put a sandpit in the corner of our garden and it saved the lawn and borders.

Our dog had a digging pit and he wasn’t remotely interested , even if I hid treats in it . He did his digging on the beach or at the field for a walk instead .

We never let ours in the garden unsupervised until he was about 18 months. He just couldn't be trusted.

As PP said you could also try a sandpit with treats/toys buried in it.

“Is it time to say goodbye to grass for the next 15years?“

Basically yes. Mine stopped digging, only to start doing zoomies. I have a mud patch now, no lawn. She’s 18 months, hoping she will calm down about 3.

I’ve completely given up trying to have a lovely garden thanks to our 3 dogs, but I wouldn’t change it, they’re so much fun. Although the wet winter we’ve just had is no joke. I now pay more attention to the front garden, it’s pristine because the little buggers can’t get to it.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions , and weirdly reassuring to know we aren't the only ones with the 'problem'!!

Our collie dug up three lupins and an emerging peony yesterday

@ProudparentofaMuffin
I feel your pain

3 months old and a dig monster

Fence a nice safe bit off for them to go wild in

They are absolute best doggos ever. One saved my life once.

They grow out of it but in the meantime yup, monitor at all times.

Which is sensible anyway - puppies can really get themselves into trouble when not monitored.

I have a nine hole golf course in my lawn thanks to my goldie when he was a pup. If I try filling them in, he just digs them out again. I had to put flower pots over them when he started as he'd keep going back to them. He's five now. No longer digs in the lawn but loves 'helping' me in the garden when I'm digging!