Last Updated on 04/10/2024 by Aapt Dubey
How to Stop Dog from Digging Under a Fence?- Almost all the dogs possess the habit of digging. The most popular technique they follow when escaping from a place is digging under the fence.
Dogs used to dig under the fence to make a borrow to escape from the place, which destroyed the view of the house’s boundary. This is why most dog owners look for steps to stop dogs from digging under the fence.
Your dog’s digging behavior can cause a lot of disturbance, especially when digging in your neighbor’s backyard. You have to figure out why they are doing so. Use a chicken wire around the fence or put gravel under it.
This article will discuss the solutions to these problems, like what steps a dog owner should follow to stop the dog from digging, the causes behind the dog’s digging behavior, and the precautions to take. Continue reading the article to know more.
Why Do Dogs Dig Under a Fence?
There can be various reasons for your dog’s digging behavior, which we will discuss below to give you an exact idea of why dogs used to do this.
For Entertainment
If you keep your dog alone at home all the time without giving him any toys to play with, then the canine gets bored and looks for work to release the energy formed in the body.
Most puppies remain very energetic, and they always urge playing sessions from their owner to release their energy and get some entertainment.
But when the owner doesn’t give the pet access to the playing sources and keeps him alone at home, the canine used to dig; thus, digging is mainly seen in those dogs whose owners remain as busy throughout the day as they used to do it to release their energy.
Some dog breeds are bred to dig, such as terriers and beagles. This means that the behavior of digging has been in some dogs since birth, so they keep digging in the ground or under the yard’s fences. The dogs find it a source of entertainment, so they keep digging.
To Escape from the Yard
Sometimes, the reason behind digging your dog under the fences can be just the dog’s intention to escape from home.
A question might arise in your mind: Is the dog happy or not in the house, which is why he is trying to escape? However, it would help to not worry about your dog’s escape from the house.
This is because when the dogs used to escape, they wanted to roam outside by playing with the street dogs out there.
Dogs not spayed or neutered used to do this behavior more than other dogs as they were searching for other canines with which they could mate after puberty.
Non-neutered dogs try to attract their opposite genders by roaming here and there in the street, which they use to dig under the fence to make way for them to escape from the house quickly.
For the Attention of the Owner
If you notice that the dog is continuously trying to dig in front of you, then the most probable reason behind your dog’s digging can be the pet’s attention-seeking behavior.
When the owner keeps ignoring his pet and doesn’t give play sessions to the canine, the dog starts digging in the ground. They used to do this to signify to their owners that they wanted some time from the owner.
The above-discussed points are the main facts behind the dog’s digging behavior. So, if a dog owner is looking for the reasons behind dogs digging to take the proper preventive measures, they can go through the points mentioned earlier.
How to Stop Dog from Digging Under a Fence?
Now, as we have discussed the causes of the dog’s digging behavior, it’s time to discuss the solutions to this problem.
The solution to solve the dog’s digging behavior can be complicated and time-consuming, too, but a bit of practice can add perfection to your work.
As discussed below, a dog owner can follow steps to stop the dog from digging under the fence.
Figure Out the Reason Behind the Digging Behavior
The most crucial step to follow in this case is to figure out the reason behind the dog’s digging behavior. This is important because it will help the owner take preventive measures for the problem detected.
If the digging behavior is due to the attraction to the opposite genders for mating, then the owner can go for spaying or neutering the dogs. Thus, finding out the reason is necessary to follow the appropriate strategies.
Use of Chicken Wire to the Fence
This type of wire acts as a barrier between your dog’s digging behavior and the fence. It is made of galvanized steel that maintains hexagonal gaps, which stops the dog from digging when inserted into the wall.
This happens because when the chicken wires are used on a fence, they are inserted by maintaining an angle of 180 degrees to the ground, which prevents the dog from digging under the lower edge of the wall, thus stopping the dog from digging under the fence.
Construct a Digging Zone
Forming a digging zone is a good option, but it works only when the digging is in your dog’s DNA.
As we have discussed above, some dog breeds are bred to dig, so in this case, to stop your dog from digging under the fence, all you can do is provide him with a separate place and let him know that this was the particular place where the pet has to dig whenever it wants.
You can let the pet know about the digging area by making the digging area different in appearance from the rest of the lawn.
The owner is also advised to use cue words like “No dig” whenever he notices the canine digging in another place, and this will make the pet understand that digging in any other place instead of the digging area is not allowed.
Use of Gravel at the Base of the Fence
Using gravel at the base of the fence is one of the best choices, as dogs find it difficult to dig in gravel.
This is because gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments, known as crushed stone, and it is difficult for the dogs to travel by using their paws as the friction between the particles is more significant than that between articles.
So, placing two to three layers of gravel at the base of the fence will create difficulties for the dog digging. Due to those severe difficulties, the canine will stop digging independently under the wall.
Increase the Workout Sessions of the Pet
Sometimes, the dogs might use digging to release energy from their bodies. The excessive amount of energy stored in the dog’s body makes the pet anxious when he doesn’t get anything to do to release the power in his body.
Introducing exercise sessions in the pet’s schedule will not only maintain the good health of the canine. Still, it will also help the dog release the energy stored in its body, thus making the pet less anxious. It stops the canine from digging under the fence if he has been doing this out of anxiety.
Proper Praising and Ignoring the Behaviors
When the dog is digging into the ground to seek the owner’s attention, it is the owner’s responsibility to spend some quality time with the canine friend to make the pet feel less lonely.
The central fact that the owner has to take care of is that the dog might also generate a misconception that his digging brings the owner close to him, so the pet continues to do this.
So, ignoring the digging behavior after you have spent enough quality time with your pet will help avoid such misconceptions about your pet.
All the above-discussed methods are among the best and the most preferred methods for dog owners to stop their dogs from digging under the fence. So, if a dog owner is looking for steps to prevent their dog from digging, they can entirely rely upon the above-discussed steps.
So, here we are, done with the entire article, and have discussed all the information that can help you learn how to stop dogs from digging under the fence.
We hope that the information discussed in the article has cleared all your doubts regarding the matter. Thanks for staying till the end with us and reading the whole article.
