Does anyone have any great suggestions to prevent dogs from digging under fences? My friend's young dogs constantly dig under their fence gate. The owners even filled in the holes with gravel, but the dogs still dig in the gravel. Any ideas?
Tracey from Westerville, OH
Sprinkle cayenne, chili powder, or black pepper in the dirt. That helps a lot, they are too busy sneezing to dig. It work with my large dogs who use to dig tunnels, and it doesn't hurt them, if they start in a new place do the same thing again. (04/05/2008)
By Mary/p>
Unfortunately, if the dog's nature is to dig, the only thing I've heard of is to pour cement under the fence line. (04/05/2008)
My dog would dig large holes and stick his head under the fence, so I filled the holes with his feces and he stopped. If they dig in another spot, simply put some poo there too. After a few weeks of the switch-a-poo, they will stop. (04/05/2008)
Dogs tend to dig out of boredom. If they are outside-only dogs, I would suggest she install a doggy door. Give one special toy each day and take it away at the end of the day. Keeps them guessing. Fill a Kong toy with peanut butter or stuff it with biscuits. Crate training is the way to go. (04/05/2008)
The only way to really stop the digging is by way of a barrier. One way is to put down some heavy wire-type fencing, like heavy chicken wire, or leftover chunks of chain link fence fabric just under the soil. It must be anchored well; so that when the dogs dig, they encounter the wire, which prevents them from going deeper.
If they have some nice, big rocks that the dogs cannot dig out, they could also put these in the holes before filling them in.
Since it is at the gate, maybe they can install some paving slabs on each side of the gate. They might have to remove an inch or two of soil (for leveling them so the gate can swing), then put in some of the square paving stones from the home center.
We once had a hole the dog dug under the fence to try to follow a rabbit that came in and out that way; and we drove some wooden garden stakes into the ground at the bottom of the hole, then screwed them to the fence, creating "jail bars" for Buster. (We wanted the rabbit to still be able to come and go and this allowed it to do so, but the dog could not follow.) Since your friends have a problem at the gate, this might not work for them, but elsewhere it is a nice, fast fix. (04/05/2008)
By Jill
We did cement all around the areas affected. It's lasted for many many years. It's cheap and just requires some labor. It doesn't even have to look perfect because the grass and dirt will eventually cover most of it. (04/07/2008)
By Me
Those cheap pavers, the cheaper ones are 2 inches thick by 8 wide by 16 long. I ran a line of those around the bottom of the fence, they were 80 cents each then, with black plastic trash bags under it so I wouldn't have to deal with weeds coming up between them. I had to laugh when I saw the dog trying hard to dig, on top of the brick, shortening his toenails by himself! He has not tried to dig under the pavers to this day. I took pity on him and put a pile of sand for him to dig in, and he loves to do that. (04/07/2008)
(submitted via email)
I had seen a question before asking how to keep your dog from digging under the fence. Go to this website and see if this may be the answer to this problem. digdefence.com
Todd
(02/03/2010)
By Sally
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