HELP!!!! She won't stop digging!

DenverDog9 · Young Weim Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 137

So Denver is in the backyard with our German Shepard all day when we are at work. Everyday we get home there is a new spot that she has dug into. When I get home I tell the hole BAD hole and I know that she knows she did wrong but she won't stop doing it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

anne · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

I hate to say this, but there's really nothing you can do except try to train her to only dig in one spot. A Weim left out in the yard is a bored dog and they will dig, or bark, or otherwise do "bad" things to relieve boredom.

I don't believe dogs know they did wrong after-the-fact. I believe they live for the moment and what you think is guilt is the dog reading your body language and displeasure when you come home and see the holes in your yard. (This is just like when people think that their dog feels guilty for having a potty accident and punishes them afterwards.)

josie · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:42 am Post subject:

I agree with Anne. In order for a dog to understand why it's being punished, the punishment needs to come either during or only 1 second after it has done the thing you don't want. So, if you caught her actually digging the hole she might understand what the punishment is for, but not otherwise.

What you are seeing is appeasement behaviour from her - when you scold her, she knows you are angry with her (but not why) and she tries to appease your anger and turn it off with her body language. This doesn't mean she "knows" what she has done, just that she knows you are angry with her.

If you leave a Weim outside in the yard, it is going to entertain itself and anything is fair game.

DanniGirl · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:23 am Post subject:

Like everyone else suggested, catch her in the act.
My parents have a spaniel which constantly dug holes looking for rocks. (She's a strange dog... Rolling Eyes

)
My father caught her in the act a few times, punished her and it worked.

josie · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:42 am Post subject:

The only problem with what Dannigirl has suggested is that you won't always be there to punish her when she is digging. So, sometimes when you are out she will be able to dig and find this great fun and rewarding in itself. And other times you will catch her and punish her. This isn't going to teach her not to dig - only not to dig _when you are watching_.

You need to restrict her access to the yard to either an area she is allowed to dig or keep her indoors or in a run. I know people who have made sandpits for their dog - they bury kongs and fun food items in the sand pit and let their dog dig there all it wants. The dog learns that the fun stuff is only in the sand pit and it stops wanting to dig anywhere else and only digs in its pit.

sterlingsmom · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:47 pm Post subject:

my puppy started digging in the yard, and I buried poop in the holes. She doesn't dig anymore!!
My neighbor tried it too with her GSP, and it worked!! Very Happy

DanniGirl · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject:

josie · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:53 am Post subject:

Actually yes, it is exactly the same for an UN-potty trained pup - when you are at home, you can take it out frequently and ensure that all poops and pees get outside. When you leave the pup at home alone, you are not there to do that. Pup begins to toilet in the house and learns that this is possible and the feeling getting rid of the discomfort of needing to toilet is a reward too. Dogs are creatures of habit and once they have done something once, they do it again and again. Not saying this is a huge incurable problem which will go on forever, because usually as dogs grow older they have a natural desire to toilet away from their "den", which is the house in this case, and usually even badly toilet trained dogs get the hang of it. You don't have any such natural desires in your favour with the digging issue...

No, it's really about variable schedules of reinforcement. Basically variable schedules make behaviour stronger. For example - assuming both dogs here know the word "Sit" in all different contexts and have it well generalised:

Handler A always, always, always 100% of the time, rewards a Sit with a cookie.

Handler B only randomly rewards Sit with a cookie.

Which handler has the dog which you think will keep trying for longest, keep working hardest at those Sits? Common sense says it's Handler A, right? But it's not - it's Handler B. Randomly rewarding is called a variable schedule of reinforcement. It is incredibly powerful and the reason why most top dog trainers who use reward based methods move to variable schedules as soon as a dog shows that it understands a command.

It is also the theory behind gambling and slot machines - you don't get money back every time you put it in a slot machine, do you? You randomly get some money back. Yet this keeps people gambling, keeps people playing and they try harder to get it. If every time you put a dime in, a dime came out the bottom, it would be pretty boring.

The same goes in this situation:

Dog A is punished every single time, 100% of the time, for digging in the yard. It never is able to dig in the yard without being punished. It associates the punishment very quickly with digging in the yard, and it gets no reward from this behaviour because it is never allowed to do it anymore.

Dog B is randomly punished. Sometimes he gets a punishment, sometimes not. The punishment is on a variable schedule. Sometimes he gets rewarded for digging because digging itself is a rewarding thing, just like the dog above randomly sometimes getting cookies for Sit. This will only make the behaviour stronger, only the behaviour here is an unwanted one.

Variable schedules of reinforcement strengthen behaviour and by allowing the reward of digging sometimes, you are putting it on a variable schedule.

anne · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:53 am Post subject:

Agree 100% with Josie!

Anyone interested in really learning to train their dog should do some reading on learning theory.

Intermittent rewards make the behavior stronger! That goes for people too!

DanniGirl · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:33 pm Post subject:

josie,
I understand where you are coming from.
A few months back I took my pup to a professional trainer "Dogs for VIPs" and she suggested the same thing; variable schedule of reinforcement. I've used it thus far and I've had tremendous results.
I also agree with the sandpit suggestion, if you can't stop the undesired behavior all together - direct it elsewhere.

IMO, I'm just simply saying with a quick response (catching the pup in the act) followed by a quick punishment, dogs are smart enough and they will eventually learn what's acceptable. To be honest, it never occurred to me the variable schedule of reinforcement would apply to digging/undesirable behavior. Some dogs are soft and will cower just by giving them a dirty look and that could very well be the reason why the punishment worked so well with the Spaniel.
That's why I like these forums so much, I'm constantly learning something new. Wink

josie · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject: