Black Lab Pup
All About Labradors

How do you stop them from digging holes?

by Siobhan
(jhb)

Question:

Teddie is an 8 month old black lab.

At first he started chewing stuff and throwing the dustbin over, then one day he saw my son digging in the sand, and now my garden is full of holes even though he knows its wrong, when he sees me or my husband walking that way, he pulls his head and tail down and walks away.

I don't know what he wants, and I can't get him to stop.

Any suggestions?

Answer:

Here is a page on chewing that you may like to read.

This sort of behaviour is quite common with young labs. They have a lot of energy and couple that with their intelligence, they get bored easily and look for ways to entertain themselves.

You need to teach you dog what he can and can’t do and all this will take a bit of time.

Try allocating him a section of your garden that he is allowed to dig in (Keep his toys in this area). This way you praise him for digging in the right place and reprimand him for digging in the wrong place.

One comforting thought is that the majority of labs outgrow this phase before they are 2 years old.

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How do you stop them from digging holes?

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Jul 13, 2010
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Digging
by: Candy

The best way to get your lab to stop digging is to cut off their tail. Just make sure you cut it off far enough..right up behind their ears! JUST KIDDING!! We live in Florida and the weather is always HOT! We have raised 4 labs, two lived 17 years, one is now 7 yrs and one is 7 months. They have all dug holes in the summer; it is their way of cooling down. They dig then lay in the cooler, damper sand/soil. My husband used to say that he had a working relationship with his labs; they dig all week long and then on the weekends my husband worked to fill up all the holes. We purchase a cheap kiddie pool at Wal-Mart every spring; keep it in the shade, change the water daily and the boys LOVE IT! You would be surprised how often during the day they will go and cool down in their pool. At the end of the summer if it is ragged and has split edges, toss it and wait for spring to buy them a new one. You will find that this will 'curb' some of the digging but not all of it, after all it is hot for us outside and we don't wear a fur coat all summer.

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