Leo is a great dog. Only about 15 pounds. He's great with the kids, great with ignoring their toys (most of the time...), etc. Just great. In the backyard, though, he has learned that digging can be fun.
I'd love to be able to let him play in the back yard for an hour or two by himself sometimes - it would save him from having to go into the crate when my wife is upstairs putting the kids down for naps, or running to the post office, or whatever. But if he's digging holes up against the air conditioner, or something like that, it just can't happen.
My plan: Flagstone. Under the gate of the fence where he has tried to dig out we will put a nice flagstone accent, which he obviously can't dig through (there is a bit of a gap under that gate that he can see out of, and it makes him curious). Around the tiny concrete pad where the Air Conditioner unit sits, we'll toss a few pieces of stone as well, since it's all just in a flower bed planter surrounded by tiny bark pieces. Between a few other plants in the planters we'll set a few more random stones. Any time we see he's digging a hole somewhere, maybe we should just toss a stone there? He's never tried to blatantly dig a hole in the middle of the grass at all, and I hope he doesn't.
So for those of you with dogs occasionally playing in the back yard, any other hints to stop the digging? What should he have out there to keep him busy? He seems to love old soda bottles more than just about anything. He's not going to live out there at all - he's an indoor dog and we love him in the house, but he loves to run and play outside, too. It's when he tires of running and playing and starts investigating that he gets in trouble!
I'd love to be able to let him play in the back yard for an hour or two by himself sometimes - it would save him from having to go into the crate when my wife is upstairs putting the kids down for naps, or running to the post office, or whatever. But if he's digging holes up against the air conditioner, or something like that, it just can't happen.
My plan: Flagstone. Under the gate of the fence where he has tried to dig out we will put a nice flagstone accent, which he obviously can't dig through (there is a bit of a gap under that gate that he can see out of, and it makes him curious). Around the tiny concrete pad where the Air Conditioner unit sits, we'll toss a few pieces of stone as well, since it's all just in a flower bed planter surrounded by tiny bark pieces. Between a few other plants in the planters we'll set a few more random stones. Any time we see he's digging a hole somewhere, maybe we should just toss a stone there? He's never tried to blatantly dig a hole in the middle of the grass at all, and I hope he doesn't.
So for those of you with dogs occasionally playing in the back yard, any other hints to stop the digging? What should he have out there to keep him busy? He seems to love old soda bottles more than just about anything. He's not going to live out there at all - he's an indoor dog and we love him in the house, but he loves to run and play outside, too. It's when he tires of running and playing and starts investigating that he gets in trouble!
). We have little concrete tiles placed all around the sides of it, and a litte 'porch' area around her dogloo, where she can lay to get cool. It's very nice, and doesn't look bad or anything. I'm sure the flagstone will look even nicer. When we aren't having church, and I want to let Holly play outside we have a tie-out, and we put her on it, and let her run around. She does tend to dig when she's left out alone (I keep an eye on her from my bedroom window, so she's not in any danger being alone outside) and I always have my window open, so I yell her name, and normally she'll stop. We do have 2 or 3 holes out there though, that I would fill, but I have a feeling she'll just dig them up again. She's in the shade of 3 or 4 trees (practically the only shade in our yard, except for the huge oak that her kennel is under) so I know she's not hot, she's just doing it out of boredom. 
