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E-mail received at dog fun on 17/02/01.

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Hi there, just logged on to your web page for the first time and wanted to say how much I enjoyed it, especially the training advice, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to train my two 9 month old dobermans to stop digging up my garden. They know it's unacceptable behaviour, but the first chance they get to be unsupervised in the garden, they star digging for Australia!
I would be extremely grateful for ANY help you can give me, as I am getting very tired of continually having to scrape the contents of my garden off the carpet.

Yours hopefully Gillian E

Jade's reply.

Dear Gillian, Thank you for your e-mail about your Dobermans, and thank you for your compliment about the site it has made me a very happy Doberman!

Muddy paws, charging through your house are not much fun, especially at this time of year as it is so wet. No doubt this has you pulling you hair out at times and believe me I can relate to that. I would suggest that you look at this as Two separate problems. Firstly the digging and the destruction that this will cause in your garden and secondly your dogs coming into your house with dirty feet, whether this be from digging or from a walk through muddy fields etc.

With the digging to correct this you MUST catch them in the act. If you shout at your dog Five minutes after it has dug a hole it will not be able to understand what the problem is and will just think that you are in a bad mood. If you set up a sort of stake out on your dogs you could try squirting them with a sprinkler or making a noise (banging two trays for example) or even running out telling them Leave, Leave, Leave at the very second that they start to dig, stopping when they stop, and then going out to reassure them and praising them when they stop. This will make them more weary about digging as they will be waiting for a noise or water etc.

I would point out in the strongest terms however that you should be very careful with this sort of approach as you can easily make your dogs paranoid if you over use this. Consider for example a car back firing as you walk passed it and how your dogs might feel about being bathed in the future!

Also decide what is the main problem, digging or dirty feet. Dogs dig naturally and you could consider giving them their own digging area if you are unable to stop them. One other thought is temporary fencing during the winter. My garden has a pond and large rockery at the top of it which I love to charge over and rummage through, during the winter my master puts a wire mesh fence across this area to cut down on the trauma of muddy feet. Perhaps this could be part of the solution.

As far as the second problem is concerned I would strongly suggest that you work very hard with your dogs to be able to handle their feet without them becoming stressed and nippy with you. You might already be able to do this but it is my experience that dobes are not over keen on having their feet touched.

You must make this a good experience that does not always end up with something nasty happening. Use dog treats to reassure them and work on getting them to sit and give a paw before they get the treat. Once they will give you a paw, hold it for a couple of seconds before they get the treat. If you are stroking your dogs use this time to touch the feet, just for seconds at first but over time they will become more accustomed to being handled.

You can then build this into the routine of them entering the house. Before they come in get them to sit at the back door, waiting for their treat, and wipe the front paws quickly every time they come in (wet or dry) then give out the treats, this will immediately solve 50% of the problem, the front half. I sleep in a utility room that has carpet in it and before I am allowed into my masters house part of the routine is that he tells me to 'wipe my feet' and believe it or not I run into my room he then tells me 'and again' so back in I go. Sometimes he tells me 'and again' Three times but I don't mind and most of my mud is left on my carpet.

Perhaps you could try this if you have a garage or passage etc. The key is establishing routines and over time you will be surprised what can be achieved. One last point is that being able to handle their feet will be able to help you should they get something in their pads or maybe even with nail clipping but that is another matter.

Have a look at these links about digging they might give you some ideas but as I said think about other problems that could be created by some of the solutions. Good luck.

All the best, Jade the Doberman.

The Links

http://safeway.petkare.com/facts/janes/dig.asp
http://www.hanrob.com.au/faq/dig.htm
http://www.amrottclub.org/dig.html
http://www.dogproblems.com/gardendigging.htm

As with the rest of Dog Fun we are only offering advice, we have learned a lot through our own experience and would like to further that knowledge with your help. If you have any good tips or advice that would help dog owners drop us a line to jade@dogfun.co.uk and we will display your advice and give you credit for your help!