We love our canine companions, but our beautiful yards don’t. Dogs dig for many reasons. It is possible he is seeking entertainment, prey, comfort or protection, escape or attention. First step for solving the problem is to diagnose why your pooch is digging. After that you can follow advice customized to the situation of your dog. One golden rule to change any behavior in your dog is to be consistent. You have to make it clear to your dog that it is not acceptable behavior.

After determining the reason for the digging, you must pinpoint the solution. Some proven techniques to stop digging behavior are described below. If applied correctly, these 10 techniques will help to control the digging problems of your dog.

1. Try to give your canine companion lots of exercise, including heaps of mental and physical stimulation. The energy of your dog must be burned off in one way or another so why not channelize it into some positive work?
2. If your dog is always digging to bury a bone, then do not give bones. You can substitute it with chewing toys like rawhide bones.
3. You can confine your dog when you cannot supervise him. Try to place your dog in a crate, kennel run or indoors whenever you are not around to spy on your pooch. Further, you will need to do this until you have fixed the digging problem of your dog.
4. You can also blow up some balloons and bury them in the area your canine companion likes to dig. When your pooch strikes the balloon, the noise of it popping startles him. The negative association it produces is enough to stop your pooch from digging in the future.
5. If you are able to be around your canine companion for a few days, you could have some success with this technique. Whenever your pooch starts to dig, spray him with the hose and reprimand him. This technique will produce a negative association to your pooch each time he digs. You must perform this method every time your dog starts digging holes for it to be successful.
6. If your canine has any favorite spot which he likes to dig, you can bury some chicken wire just under the surface of that particular area. When your pooch starts to dig he will not like the feeling of his paws scraping along that wire.
7. This method does not sound nice, but it is a very effective and popular way to stop your pooch from digging. You can fill up the holes your dog has created and add some of his poop (feces) to the filling. Most pooches are really put off by this and will not attempt to dig again.
8. Some pooches just copy what they see their human companions are doing. So if you are working in the garden, suddenly your dog may be interested in doing the same. These types of dogs need to be confined while you are working in the yard. It is probably another form of attention seeking behavior of dog.
9. If your canine companion is digging under the fence, it is worth filling in all the holes in and under the fence. By blocking these outside distractions, you take away the visual temptation that your pooch may be trying to get at.
10. There are also many commercial products which claim to help digging problems. These products are also effective for some dogs and may be worth a try if you cannot manage the digging problem of your dog through above mentioned methods.