Dachshund digging problem

[crystall80]

Well, we finally got a chain-link fence put in so our doxy's can be outside as much as they like, and boy do they like it! I know they are notorious diggers, my 10 year old digs until she can't move. We don't mind it, we just side step the pot holes all over the back yard. The problem is my 10 year old is intent on digging under the fence and roaming free, the other 2 could care less about digging under the fence, but they will follow her if she digs out. We have put chicken wire around the bottom of the fence and buried it a few inches down, but Reese will still dig up the chicken wire and go under the fence. Any other ideas on how to stop her from getting out? Our next stop is to put electric wire along the bottom of the fence, but I really don't want to do that. But I want them to be safe. Any input would be helpful!!!!

 

[MatthewLP]

Hummm, Well you've started and allowed the bad habbit and don't like the end result now.

I'm not fond of capital punishment for dogs based on results you no longer like. However, I would try cyan pepper, or capsaicin powder.


Matthew L. Plummer
Kansas City, Mo.

 

[crystall80]

Digging is in their nature, it is not a bad habit I let them form like peeing in the house or tearing up furniture. I wanted a helpful reply not a condescending half answer thank you very much. If I wanted that I would have gone to yahoo answers. I was asking for helpful advice on how to control the digging, which you did not supply.

 

[Doxmom]

Yikes - tough problem. My Bree loves to dig in my garden, but he's only on a leash. We don't have fences separating the houses here (I'm in Florida, too).

You almost have to watch them or check the fence each day to fill the holes back up. I can't imagine how you would stop the digging if they're left free in the yard. I agree, the digging gene is in their DNA!!

 

[Wandering Man]

I bury lawn timbers under our fence. They worked to keep our beagle in the yard of our old house years ago. Now, at a different house and with different dogs, they work to keep our one digging dachshund and his brother in.

Frank is not only a jumper and a climber, he's also a digger.

The lawn timbers are 4 or 5 inches deep and 6 or 8 inches wide. This seems to be enough to discourage our dogs from trying to get all the way out. They'll dig at it, and then move on somewhere else. I haven't had to put the timbers all the way around the yard, just where he had already dug, and a coupld of other places that looked like good escape routes.

Thinking back on it, I believe I went two wide for our beagle, but I don't know that I really needed to do that. A single timber has worked for Frank.

 

[Doxmom]

Frank...that name always cracks me up!! Sorry, but it's such a people name, you don't expect a dog to be called Frank. It's very cute!!!

 

[Wandering Man]

Thanks.

We can't take credit for his name. The shelter where we adopted him gave him that name. I asked why they picked Frank, and they said because he reminded them of a hot-dog (frankfurter).

We kept the name because it was in line with the name of the dog we had lost: Henry. Henry was named by his first family. The breeder who sold us Henry said the family had a 10 year-old boy who was mistreating him, so they returned him (Henry, not the boy).