How to Stop Your Dog Digging Up the Garden

Few things test a dog owner’s patience like walking outside to find the vegetable patch turned into a crater field. Garden beds demolished, mulch scattered across the lawn, freshly planted seedlings pulled out at the roots. Sound familiar?

Digging is completely normal dog behaviour. Dogs aren’t doing it to spite you or destroy your hard work. But understanding why a dog digs is the first step to redirecting the habit and saving what’s left of your garden. This guide covers the common reasons behind digging, what actually works to stop it, and how to give your dog an outlet that keeps everyone happy.

Dogs dig because of boredom, breed instinct, heat, anxiety, prey drive, or because they’ve watched you garden and want to join in. The best fix is to address the cause (more exercise, shade, enrichment), set up a designated dig pit using a plastic clamshell or sandpit, and redirect your dog there with buried treats. Punishing after the fact doesn’t work — the dog won’t connect the telling-off to a hole dug hours earlier.

Why Do Dogs Dig?

Before trying to stop the behaviour, work out what’s driving it. The reason matters, because the solution for a bored dog is completely different from the solution for one that’s overheating. Here are the most common causes.

Boredom and excess energy

This is the number one reason behind garden destruction in Australian backyards. A dog left alone in the yard for hours with nothing to do will find something to do — and digging is one of the most satisfying options available. It’s physical, it’s stimulating (new smells underground), and the dirt itself provides a kind of sensory feedback that dogs find rewarding. Veterinarian Dr Charlene Carig from the Animal Welfare League NSW puts it simply: digging often becomes the only interesting thing a bored dog can do.

Breed instinct

Some dogs are literally built to dig. Terrier breeds — Jack Russells, Australian Terriers, Fox Terriers, Cairn Terriers — were developed to pursue prey underground. The word “terrier” comes from the Latin terra, meaning earth. Asking a Jack Russell not to dig is a bit like asking a Border Collie not to herd — the instinct runs deep. Dachshunds, Beagles, Siberian Huskies, and Kelpies are all frequent diggers too, each for slightly different reasons.

Cooling down in the heat

Australian summers make this one especially common. Dogs don’t sweat the way humans do, so on a 35°C day, digging a shallow trench in cool earth under a tree is a perfectly logical way to regulate body temperature. If you notice the holes are shallow and your dog lies in them, heat is almost certainly the driver. Double-coated breeds like Huskies, Malamutes, and Samoyeds are the usual suspects.

Hunting prey

If the digging is focused on one spot rather than spread across the yard, your dog may be tracking something underground. Rats, mice, skinks, and insects all leave scent trails through soil. In parts of Australia, rabbit warrens near suburban properties can turn a normally well-behaved dog into a one-track excavation machine.

Escape attempts

Holes along the fence line are a dead giveaway. The dog isn’t interested in digging for fun — the dog wants to get to the other side. Common reasons include an undesexed dog detecting a mate nearby, separation anxiety, boredom, or simply something interesting on the other side of the fence (a neighbouring dog, a cat, or a walking path full of smells).

Burying valuables

Some dogs dig to cache food, bones, or favourite toys. This is leftover survival behaviour — their ancestors buried surplus food to come back to later. If you find shallow holes with a half-chewed bully stick at the bottom, this is your culprit.

Copying you

This one catches people off guard. Dogs watch everything you do. If you’ve just been out gardening — turning soil, pulling plants, planting new seedlings — your dog may interpret that as an invitation to do the same thing. Freshly turned soil is particularly irresistible because it smells different from the compacted ground around it. Trainer Karen Phillips from WA points out that dogs don’t understand your behaviour and are likely to think you’re playing in the dirt.

What Doesn’t Work (and Makes It Worse)

Before covering the solutions, here are the approaches that waste your time or backfire.

Punishing after the fact. Coming home to a dug-up garden and yelling at the dog teaches the dog nothing about digging. By the time you’re pointing at the hole, the dog has no idea what you’re upset about. The cowering, ears-back look isn’t guilt — it’s a stress response to your tone.

Filling holes while the dog watches. This one is counterintuitive, but dogs can interpret you moving soil around as an invitation to help. Do your repairs when the dog is inside or out of sight.

Putting the dog’s nose in the dirt or spraying them. Aversive methods may suppress the behaviour when you’re present but won’t touch it when you’re not. The dog learns to dig when you’re away, not to stop digging.

Shock collars or invisible fences around garden beds. These cause stress and fear, not understanding. The Australian Veterinary Association and the AVSAB are clear: aversive tools are not recommended for any behaviour problem.

How to Actually Stop the Digging

The most effective approach combines two things: address the underlying cause, and give the dog a better outlet. Here’s how.

Step 1: Increase exercise and enrichment

A tired dog digs less. Full stop. If your dog is getting a fifteen-minute stroll around the block and nothing else, that’s not enough for most breeds. Aim for at least one solid walk per day — thirty to forty-five minutes for an active breed — plus some form of mental stimulation.

Enrichment ideas that work well in Australian backyards: scatter-feed the morning meal across the lawn instead of using a bowl, fill a Kong Wobbler or Lickimat and freeze it overnight, set up a snuffle mat, or hide treats around the yard for a scent game. Rotating puzzle toys keeps things fresh — the same toy every day gets boring fast.

Step 2: Set up a designated dig pit

This is the single most effective tool for persistent diggers. Rather than trying to eliminate a natural instinct, redirect it to a spot where digging is allowed and encouraged.

1. Get a plastic clamshell sandpit (the kind sold at Bunnings or Kmart for about $20–40 AUD) or mark off a corner of the yard with garden edging.
2. Fill it with a mix of sand and soil. Pure sand drains well but some dogs prefer the texture of loose soil.
3. Bury treasures inside. Start easy — a meaty bone half-visible on the surface, a favourite toy poking out. As the dog catches on, bury items deeper.
4. Praise and reward when the dog digs there. Make the dig pit the most rewarding spot in the yard. Treats, excitement, and attention all go here.
5. Redirect from garden beds calmly. If you catch the dog starting to dig in the wrong spot, call the dog away (don’t yell) and guide the dog to the dig pit. Reward when the dog engages with the right area.

Cover the pit when it’s not in use if you’re concerned about cats or wildlife visiting overnight.

Step 3: Protect the garden with barriers

While training is underway, physical barriers prevent the problem from practising. Options that work well in Australian gardens:

• Low garden fencing or mesh panels around beds — even a 30cm-high border can deter casual diggers.
• Chicken wire laid flat over freshly planted areas and covered with a thin layer of mulch. The wire feels uncomfortable underfoot and most dogs give up quickly.
• Large river rocks or chunky pebbles placed around garden edges — dogs prefer soft soil, not rock.
• Raised garden beds, which put the soil above nose height and out of easy reach.

Step 4: Address heat and shelter

If your dog is digging to cool down, the fix is environmental, not behavioural. Make sure the yard has reliable shade throughout the day — a shade sail, a covered area, or access to underneath the house. A children’s wading pool half-filled with water gives the dog a way to cool off that’s more appealing than a dirt trench. During Australian summers, avoid leaving the dog outside during the hottest part of the day (roughly 11am to 3pm) if shade is limited.

Step 5: Deal with fence-line digging

Escape digging needs a different approach. Start by working out what’s on the other side that’s so interesting — is there a neighbouring dog, foot traffic, or roaming cats? If the dog is undesexed, talk to your vet about desexing, which often reduces roaming drive significantly.

Physical deterrents along the fence line include burying chicken wire horizontally at the base (roll sharp edges away from the yard), placing large rocks or pavers along the bottom, or extending the fence underground by 30 to 50 centimetres. If the digging is driven by anxiety rather than curiosity, that’s a separate problem worth discussing with a behaviourist.

Step 6: Manage the fertiliser problem

This is an Australian-specific trap that many gardeners miss. Organic fertilisers like Dynamic Lifter, blood and bone, and chicken manure pellets smell incredible to dogs. Some dogs won’t just dig in the fertilised soil — they’ll eat the stuff, which can cause gastro. If you use these products, keep the dog off the treated area for at least forty-eight hours, water the fertiliser in well, and consider switching to a pelletised option that breaks down faster. Chat to your local garden centre about dog-safe alternatives.

Dealing With Puppies That Dig

Puppies dig. A lot. And much of it is normal exploration — they’re investigating their world with their paws the same way they investigate it with their mouths. The behaviour often settles down around twelve months as the puppy matures and finds other outlets, especially if exercise and enrichment are consistent.

Setting up a dig pit early is the smartest move. The puppy learns from the start that digging here is great and digging there is boring (because you redirect every time and the garden beds have chicken wire). Teaching a solid “leave it” cue early also pays dividends — not just for digging, but for every situation where the puppy needs to be called away from something.

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When to Get Professional Help

Most digging problems are solvable with exercise, enrichment, and a dig pit. But if the digging is driven by genuine anxiety — the dog digs obsessively at doors, floors, or crate bases, or only digs when left alone and shows other signs of distress — the issue is emotional, not environmental. A veterinary behaviourist or qualified trainer can help assess whether anxiety is the root cause and put together a behaviour plan. Your vet is the best first point of contact.

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Frequently Asked Questions