Need some help from you Dog owners

[Green Horn]

Here's the deal. My Beagle keeps getting into our landscaping in the backyard and tearing it up. Not that I can blame her. It provides a nice cool spot in the shade. I would like to know if there is an easy way to keep her out of the bark mulch and bushes. The other day I bought these crystals to sprinkle around in the dirt that are supposed to repel dogs and other small animals. Didn't work though. If anything it just made the dirt smell niceer. :) I've also tried putting chicken wire down underneath the bark mulch to keep her from digging it up. That hasn't stopped her either. I would like to find a way to keep her out of the stuff but without having to put fencing around the landscaping. I don't want it to detract from the look. Is there any other kind of scent or spray that will keep her out? Oh yeah, and I've tried the whole training thing too. She won't go in there when I am out in the backyard but as soon as no one is around... She's one of those sneaky dogs. :confused:

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rooster]

Electronic fencing is the best thing since obedience school. I've got it for my dog, and you literally can't drag her across the line!! :eek:

 

[JWW]

I know you dont want to fence it off but try it temporarily. I used 24" chicken wire for a couple months. After taking it down they have not gone back in.

 

[MrLuckey]

I totally agree with Rooster on the underground/invisible fencing.

 

[ktmboy]

I would try the electronic fence. A few years ago I had a dog that I tried everything to stop from digging out. I finally ran a shocker wire around the base of the fence. The first two or three nights we were awakened by a loud yip. By the end of the week I didn't even have to plug it in anymore!

 

[Green Horn]

Ok I'll try this response again. A single bolt of lightening, a blank screen and now I am typing all over again. :mad:

One detail I left out of my original post is that the landscaping is temporary. It will all be uprooted in the fall since I am building a deck in that space. I like the electric fence idea for future landscaping projects though and will keep it in mind. I may end up going with the chicken wire idea since it'll work for the next couple of months. I may also just dig it up this weekend and move all the plants and bushes to a more permanant location. Then maybe I'll use the electric underground fence idea. Thanks peeps. :thumb:

 

[490Dave]

My Golden used to do the same... I finally decided to make a special place for her to dig and cool off in, it was in full view of the yard so she didn't miss a thing. I kept it watered and tossed her toys and a few bones overthere to get her interest.
No problems since.

Dave...

 

[23jayhawk]

Chris, it's good to know we don't have the only beagle in the world that is a natural born excavator. :cool: 

I'm surprised the chicken wire under the mulch did not work. It did for me. Once his paw hit the wire a couple times, he gave up. How was your dog able to get through it?

 

 

[dirty~d~]

No need to use electric fencing or permanent fencing...

Give her an alternative place to dig and lay. Then fence off the landscaping until she stops even trying to go in there. Once she is using 'her spot' all of the time then take the fencing down and see how it goes. Dogs don't do things to misbehave so why 'punish' her with electricity? Positive reinforcement sinks in a lot better. ;) My latest dog Skipper (husky/chow) was a handful. He has no regard for rules and if he ever had a conscience to begin with he probably ate it LONG ago. He was doing the same thing to the gardens that your dog is doing... digging them up to lay in cool, fresh dirt. We fenced them off and gave him a new spot to dig up. He hasn't tried the gardens since. Now if we could only get the dang cats to follow the same rules. :think:

 

[LoriKTM]

Yup, agree with the posts on giving the dog her own spot to dig in.  Bury a couple bones, or toys to get her interested in "her" spot.   Reprimand her if you catch her in the act at your landscaping, and praise her when you see her digging in "her" spot.  She'll get the idea quick enough. 

Invisible fencing is expensive, and while it may keep your dog from leaving the yard, it doesn't provide any protection if other dogs/animals enter the area!  Also, some dogs will "jump" the fence if overexcited.  However, they won't come BACK over!

 

 

[altagirl]

The invisible fence is probably the nicest solution appearance-wise. We couldn't keep our dog from going under the deck or in my new flower garden and we just bought an electric fence kit from the pet store - they're made to protect gardens from rabbits on up (not too big of a shock). Cheap (maybe $40?) and sets up in about 10 minutes. We just leave it up and on for the first day there's something new we don't want him to touch - then turn it off, but leave the wire. Then ditch the wire after a few weeks and at that point he's just used to not going in the area anymore. Bonus is that now he's scared of wires (probably a good thing in general) and you can just wrap a bit of wire on things like sprinkler heads and other stuff you want him to quit eating/digging at.

We had a few spots where he tried to dig under the fence and we just laid down some of those big flat paving bricks, which solved that pretty quick.

 

[MrLuckey]

Greenie - a few notes about the electronic fencing. I've had a few dogs that just seemed to be untrainable with the 'positive reinforcements' methods referred to when it comes to things like digging etc. I would like to mention a couple of items regarding the electronic fencing we put in:

It delivers a very small amount of electricity - not even enough that it hurts or even close to it, its a surprise and more of an annoyance than anything. Yes, I tried it on myself.

Ours has a beeper that starts going off when the dog gets close, she doesn't just get zapped all of a sudden.

Ours came with flags that we put up all around the perimeter at the same point that the beeping (warning) starts.

We spent a lot of time the first couple of weeks walking Lucy around the yard with a leash, pulling her away once the beeping started as part of her training.

Yes its part of her training (later on) to stray across the flags and get a slight tingle....I think she has actually got tingled maybe 4-5 times... she learned what the beeping and flags meant pretty quick. Dogs are pretty smart.

As time goes by, you start pulling out every other flag etc. until there aren't any more visual clues.. but the beeping as a warning is always there.

I've seen some owners of large dogs walk them with those choker collars on, trust me if I was a dog I'd rather get shocked before getting a choker collar yanked anyday.

The mild shock our fence delivers could never be described as painful. It is more of a teaching aid.

Lucy jumped the fence ONE TIME since we put it in and it was very early on.

Since she got the hang of it, we've even left the gate to the driveway open a few times accidentally and she hasn't left the yard.

Our alternative was to spend a couple grand building a 7' tall fence or find her dead on the road.

I think we did the right thing.

 

[KXaggerator]

There may be a few things in addition to what has been stated to consider:

First is that a Beagle is a hunting breed and the dog may be going after gophers. The most obvious sign of this would be multiple dig sites around gopher mounds or mole tunnels.

Second, she could be bored when you are not around and is just looking for a way to pass time until she can be with the family. Do you have another dog for her to play with?

Third, it could be separation anxiety, which can be a strong emotional problem in some dogs. Maybe she found that when she digs in the yard you come out to see what she has done and you give her attention positive or negative. Dogs are surprisingly similar in psychological behaviors to people.
Dog separation anxiety link

Or I an over analyzing this whole thing. If you do use a standard electric fence be sure to buy a small shock unit designed for dogs, not cattle or horses.

 

[MWEISSEN]

I hope I don't get blasted by dog owners, but I had to use a mouse trap to keep our lab off the furniture. It worked! Also, bitter apple spray works very well if the dog is digging or chewing in the mulch.

 

[altagirl]

Depends on the dog. I had a bottle of that bitter apple stuff - accidentally left it out on the deck and the dog ate it. Literally - the whole full bottle - I brought the chewed up piece of plastic that was what was left of the bottle back to the pet store (mostly because I thought it was hilarious) and they gave me a refund. Luckily our dog has never chewed up anything in the house so we haven't really needed it - the small animal electric fence did the trick outside.

 

[MWEISSEN]

Yeah, the electric fence works really great. Our yellow lab, about 10 years old, has responded well to the fence. We have a foster pup (Paws with a Cause), a black lab, that has eaten two holes in the wall in our utility room, and munches anything it can get ahold of. The bitter apple works fine, but the fence doesn't phase this dog (yet).

 

[Chief]

I bought the underground fence at K-Mart a few years ago for about 125 dollars. Put the line in 1'' down. Dug a narrow ditch around 2 acres with a gas garden edger. It sure beat the 1200.00 estimate I got.

For the most part it worked, I had a redbone coonhound. When I would leave the yard without him I could hear him Yip as soon as I was out of sight. Then I'd yell at him to get back in the yard and hear another yip as he crossed back in. Seems as though dogs always have a way of getting around the rules when they put their mind to it :)