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Old 15-05-2003, 02:08 AM
Tegan
 
Posts: n/a
Default grubs, moles, and now dogs.. how to deal w/ lawn's circle of life

Sundar Narasimhan wrote:
the dog is now tearing up whole pieces of the yard, digging.


Sundar: There's a pets discussion group too, but from what I've seen,
it's tragically mired in flame wars, and reading the mean-spirited
posts there raises my blood pressure. Anyway, if you don't find a
solution to the mole issue (I know moles are *another* phenom some
folks choose to live with, since they do help get rid of the grubs),
and want to try to address just the dog's behavior OR if you decide
that it isn't about moles and is just a behavior thing: I've never
had the problem of a dog who was committed to digging, but the pet
lady on the radio has a strategy that she recommends applying to many
behaviors you'd like to eliminate: Try to find a situation in which
the behavior is desirable or at least not a problem. Try to teach the
dog a name for the behavior, in order to put the behavior on command.
Then ask the dog to do it when it's ok, and redirect the dog when the
behavior is not ok... SO, in this instance, she says pick a spot where
you don't mind having the dog dig, and go dig there yourself, saying
"dig, dig, dig" in a playful, happy encouraging voice as you do. Film
the dog watching you do this, and send the film to Funniest Home
Movies... WAIT, no, forget that last sentence. Then, call the dog
over and encourage her to dig there, too. When she does, celebrate
like mad (assuming that you do have a way of doing this that won't
scare her - that the dog will recognize as celebrating her catching
on) - at my house that would go "Yaaaay! Wooohooo! Good Girl! Good
Dig Dig Girl!" with applause, of course. When the dog goes to dig
anywhere else, catch her as she JUST about to start (the pet lady is
really big on timing), and direct her to the spot and encourage her to
dig there. Celebrate like mad.

I'd be interested to hear if this kind of thing has worked for anyone.
As I said, I'd post at the pets group, but they just creep me out
over there. Hope no one minds.

Best of luck.