Here's a rather simple problem that owners sometimes face and which shows that dogs do not deliberately try to test our patience.. they are just following their natural instincts. Ok, here's a dog and .. his biscuits buried all over the back yard!
Hi Daniel,
I have a four year old labrador who loves to bury food. Every time I give him a biscuit he runs out into the yard, digs a hole in the corner of the garden and buries it. He never seems to go back for the buried biscuits but comes back to me and cries for more. My wife and I have uncovered literally hundreds of decaying biscuits when we dig the garden. Its such a terrible waste as well as being a little yucky. We are almost at our wits end. How do we stop this behavior and what leads him to do it anyway?
yours,
Larry
SitStayFetch Reply:
Dear Larry,
Burying food is not that unusual at all. In fact, it is in your dog's nature to bury items such as bones for later consumption. Its been long recognized as a form of hoarding or food storage that is inherited from the wolves. Because your dog has a readily available supply of food from you, there is no need to dig up the food stored in reserve. And so it rots.
Other than restricting the amount of biscuits that you are feeding him, the easiest solution to your problem is to restrict access to the yard until after he has eaten the biscuit. Alternatively you could try burying chicken wire under the surface of the dirt so your dog can't dig. Take a look at my book SitStayFetch and go to the section entitled Dog 202: Common Dog Problems Solved.
I hope this helps!
Daniel Stevens
If you're really serious about obedience training your dog then go to the Dog Digging and Obedience Training page right away! You'll discover all of my most explosive dog training secrets, strategies and tips that took me over 14 years to test, fine-tune and perfect.
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