Dog question

[Jerry H]

I have a Blue Heeler pup that's one year old.
I can not stop him from digging holes in the yard. He knows he has messed up when I point the the hole so he knows he did something he shouldn't have. I am sure he is digging because he is board. I don't want to get rid of him but I am also getting tired of filling in holes so I can mow the yard.

This is not my first Heeler so I know how much energy they have.

Would getting him a playmate (another dog) help?

Open for suggestions except for hump him till he pees. I figured I would get that out of the way because I am sure I will get that at least once

[BigThicketBoy]

Maybe digging grub worms or something.
I know a lot of times they dig holes to get down to the cooll dirt.
My lab did and I put a kitty pool for her to get in

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[Johnny Dangerr]

We allow our healer 3 holes. Any new ones get filled in with dirt and dog poo...........

[Jibby]

How often do you exercise him or let him work? The dog could be bored OR like said before, he's found that holes are cooler.

[huntandfishguy6]

At certain times of the year we have moles in the yard. My Catahoula tries to dig them up. She will dig a hole two feet deep straight down, then stand in the hole barking at the ground.

[PROUDREDNECK]

I agree with you, heelers are hiperactive and they require lots of excercise.

Sometimes they like to chew everything on hand like shoes and personal owner´s items, and seemengly diging holes is one of their favourite pastime.

In my humble oppinion and based on my personal experience with my heelers and some others from close friends I can tell that most of their wrong behavior is due to two things, one and the most important being a dominating breed they compete for leadership against the owner, we must be the alpha guide for them all the time, otherwise we´ll have a not so good dog (talking about obedience).

Second and most common, lack of attention... when they feel alone not cared or loved is when they start doing not so smart things and if we don´t put a stop early we´ll regret this ever.

Yep, sometimes another dog in the house helps but I think he´s just wanting to get your attention brother.

Be patient specially during the first year of he´s life and you´ll have one of the very best dedicate, loyal and loving friend.

[txhunter007]

I have a smaller dog but she only digs when her nails are long.

[RyanE17]

We got golden pup to entertain our older golden after we moved into a house with a yard. The younger one thought digging was fun and it was almost impossible to catch her in the act. Fill the holes with dog poo. If your dog keeps digging, invest in a shock collar and watch from inside. It'll take time but, it only took me catching her digging with the shock collar on once. Digging wasn't as much fun afterwards and we haven't had an issue since.

[lost cajun]

My blue heeler was active and digging In the yard too. We got a red heeler to keep her company.
Pretty soon my blue grew out of it but the younger one took over the digging. They eventually both grew out of it, except for in the heat of summer when they’re trying to cool off.


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[MadHatter]

I agree with you, heelers are hiperactive and they require lots of excercise.

Sometimes they like to chew everything on hand like shoes and personal owner´s items, and seemengly diging holes is one of their favourite pastime.

In my humble oppinion and based on my personal experience with my heelers and some others from close friends I can tell that most of their wrong behavior is due to two things, one and the most important being a dominating breed they compete for leadership against the owner, we must be the alpha guide for them all the time, otherwise we´ll have a not so good dog (talking about obedience).

Second and most common, lack of attention... when they feel alone not cared or loved is when they start doing not so smart things and if we don´t put a stop early we´ll regret this ever.

Yep, sometimes another dog in the house helps but I think he´s just wanting to get your attention brother.

Be patient specially during the first year of he´s life and you´ll have one of the very best dedicate, loyal and loving friend.

Spot on. We have a 11 month old Catahoula. Never chewed up anything, house trained at 9 weeks, inside dog, rarely exercised during the day, and 0 problems. Tell him no once, he'll never do it again. Took 24 hr surveillance to achieve that though. He's never once been out of mine or my GF sight, since he was 7 weeks. He's never had a chance in his life to do anything wrong, and get away with it, or without being caught in the act. Never been left alone even for 20 min. Never knew a dog could be this smart, but never had the time or circumstances to train one like this either. Now, he's ridiculously good. And attention is all it took. Just always watching what he was doing, and making him stop immediately. I realize not everyone is in a position to do this with a dog.

[Jerry H]

He is mostly an inside dog. He sleeps in his crate and in the morning I let him out, play fetch with him in the house until it's time for me to get ready for work.. I put him out and feed him and the ******* will dig a hole while I am in the shower.
I am thinking about putting the cone of shame around his neck and leather socks on his feet to keep him from digging.

I would just take a shower in the backyard so I could watch him but the neighbors might not like that..

[bbqfan5909]

Its a 1 year old pup, give it time.

[Hi-Lonesome]

My blue heeler was active and digging In the yard too. We got a red heeler to keep her company.
Pretty soon my blue grew out of it but the younger one took over the digging. They eventually both grew out of it, except for in the heat of summer when they’re trying to cool off.


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As an owner of 3 heelers in my life this is true. They grow out of digging eventually. My best advise is to get them on a ball to fetch. The ball will be their reward and you can train very effectively by using the ball, no treats are required. They need to fetch vigorously daily for 30 min to an hour. A tired dog is a happy dog.