July
2007
Do Puggles Dig?
Ours sure do. Not bad and not often, but let me show you what can happen over time.
This is a picture of a portion of our backyard after our puggles got their “paws” on it. Now I’ve filled the holes with topsoil and seeded again but the damage has been done and new grass takes a while to fill in nicely. Especially when your dogs continue to play and kick up dirt. Not to mention when they relieve themselves it adds acidity to the soil making it even harder to grow new grass.
So what can we do to prevent our puggles from digging? That is the question. I used to only let them out in the yard under my supervision and make their naughty noise everytime I thought they might start digging. Well that worked, but who wants to supervise their dogs everytime they go out in the yard? Not me! So I did a little research.
Apparently dogs dig as a a result of either boredom, or too much pent up energy (also occasionally to bury things). Back when we only had one dog, Duke, is when most of the damage occurred so I guess that makes sense. Since we now have two puggles, and they are constantly chasing each other and wrestling, I can’t imagine those reasons are applicable. I’ve also heard dogs may dig because of seperation anxiety. Do they really miss us that much when they are playing out in the yard without us? Maybe?
So what can we do to stop the behavior? I’ve heard of a few different solutions. Take your dog for more walks, squirt your dog with a hose or spray bottle everytime they dig, and even fill the existing holes with your dogs solid waste (yuk). I can’t say that any of those methods work so feel free to post a comment if any of you have found a solution as well.
I love your puggle. What combination of dogs are they?
Hi Nanacy,
Puggles are a combination of a pure pug and a pure beagle.
When my puggle started digging, we put cayenne pepper in the hole. It seemed to stop him.
i am searching for a good family dog and i seem to like puggle dogs can you let me know if they would be a great dog around younger children.
thanks
Oh, my little puggle LOVES to dig. But you must remember that with puggles, they are part beagle, so once they catch a scent and want to find out what it is (in our case, it’s nuts the squirrels have buried), they will go for it.
I try not to discourage it, after all, if it wasn’t part of their makeup, they wouldn’t do it. He’s a dog and we have to remember to allow them to be dogs. So, I allow a special part of my yard for him to dig. He was trained to it in about a week, and no problems since!
I have never had a problem with my puggle digging…she is very curious with that sniffer of her’s, i just let her Follow her nose..if she goes off course a little kind reminder puts her back on track. I have never had a more curious dog in all my life. She is always busy, sniffing out and chasing a ball like there are 10 other dogs behind her as she just has to be the one to get it. I let her be exactly what she is a dog! and then my baby
My puggle loves to dig too and when I said no, he would run around crazy around me & becomes hyperactive. I followed what Cesar Millan has suggested. I will try catching him or running after him until he surrenders in a submissive position. So far it works well, but it does not stop him for digging some other time
I will be interested to try out the tips in this blog. I agree that he digs out because of following scents that were left by squirrels.