Dog digging under neighbor's fence

vscrivano23

We just got a new dog a little over a week ago and we've just discovered that she likes to dig holes in the morning. She dug two holes under the fence between our yard and our neighbor's. We plan on filling it in and reinforcing the yard this weekend, but should I say something to them? I'm wondering if I need to go over there and tell them what happened and that we do plan on fixing it. I've just never met them, so I don't know how they'll react. They also have three dogs and they saw us with our dog trainer on the street, so I'm hoping they will know what we're going through. Would you just fill it in without saying anything, or would you bring it to their attention?

LuckyAngel07

Agree with PPs!

Also, to help stop her from digging further, watch her like a hawk while she's out there. NO unsupervised yard time. This way, you can catch her and redirect her from digging immediately, so she'll learn this a no-no.

GL with her! 

vscrivano23

So after all that we realized it was not our dog digging - it was actually the neighbor's dogs. We looked over the fence and there was a mound of dirt on their side, plus you could tell by the angle of the holes. We stuck some firewood in there for now until my dad can help us reinforce the yard. We never ended up confronting the neighbor's about it. Casey still likes to dig, but it's always in the middle of the yard because she gets a kick out of pulling the grass up. The only thing we can really do is keep on eye on her until she hopefully grows out of it.

LuckyAngel07

vscrivano23:

So after all that we realized it was not our dog digging - it was actually the neighbor's dogs. We looked over the fence and there was a mound of dirt on their side, plus you could tell by the angle of the holes. We stuck some firewood in there for now until my dad can help us reinforce the yard. We never ended up confronting the neighbor's about it. Casey still likes to dig, but it's always in the middle of the yard because she gets a kick out of pulling the grass up. The only thing we can really do is keep on eye on her until she hopefully grows out of it.

I wouldn't say "confront" your neighbors; just give them a heads up their dog is digging, and you'd rather not end up with a compromised fencing system!

Your dog will "grow out of" digging in the yard by you guys doing what I mentioned in my post above.

SUPERVISE her every second in the yard (yes, it's a pain to have to watch your dog in your fenced-in backyard, but you owe it to yourselves and her as good doggy parents) and redirecting her when she digs to doing something you can praise her for. She won't just learn on her own not to dig; some breeds are even predisposed to digging, so "growing out of it" never happens unless training is implemented.