Dog Digging in the Yard: Why Dogs Dig and What Actually Helps

In brief

Digging is part of normal dog behavior and, to begin with, not a training failure. Four things matter. First: very different reasons can lie behind digging, from a mouse tunnel to a cool hollow to nest building in a female with a false pregnancy. Second: there is almost no research on digging itself; what can be said comes from neighboring fields. Third: what helps depends on the reason. A digging pit, scent work, shade, company and a secure fence each solve a different problem. Fourth: punishment after the fact and home remedies in the holes don’t solve the underlying problem.

This guide shows which functions digging can serve, how to find the reason in your dog, what to watch for in the yard, and what actually helps.

1. Digging is normal dog behavior

For people, digging is mainly a problem for lawns and flower beds. For the dog, it is a way to get at something, to hide something or to make himself a spot. In an older experiment, beagles were moved from enriched, spacious outdoor group housing to six weeks of solitary housing in small indoor kennels. In the kennels, the dogs walked and dug comparatively little, which the authors interpreted as an adaptation to the housing. At the same time, they showed changes that were classified as signs of chronic stress (Beerda et al., 1999). That was a laboratory experiment, not a study of digging. But it shows that less digging doesn’t automatically mean the dog is better off; sometimes it only means he no longer has the opportunity.

In practice: most dogs that dig in the yard are doing something that pays off for them. So the question isn’t how to switch digging off, but what your dog gets out of it.

2. Why dogs dig: possible functions

The following functions are possible explanations, and several often occur together. The relative frequency of these functions in family dogs is not established by the research reviewed here.

2.1 Exploring and following scents

Mice, moles, voles, insect larvae or scraps from the compost can get a dog digging. Typically, he sniffs intensely at one spot, pauses, listens and then digs right there.

When a dog digs after a mouse or a mole, that is predatory behavior. Research on it is surprisingly thin. The first systematic description of the predatory sequence in dogs was based on 60 videos analyzed by two independent observers and found four functional phases: searching, approaching, chasing and biting (Broseghini et al., 2024). Many familiar claims about the predatory sequence have not been tested. A systematic review of interventions for problems caused by predatory behavior found only a few studies with methodological limits and pointed out that simply preventing the behavior can carry welfare costs for the dog (McLennan, 2023).

In practice: dogs digging after a mouse are often hard to reach and keep returning to the same spot. The digging itself often pays off for them, even if they never catch anything.

👉 Predatory behavior in dogs

2.2 Cooling off in a hollow

In practice: on hot days, some dogs dig shallow hollows in the shade or in damp soil and lie down in them, because freshly dug soil is cooler than the surface. If the digging happens mainly in summer and the dog lies in the hollow afterward, cooling off is the obvious explanation. There are no studies on exactly this behavior.

Heat becomes serious when a dog has no way to cool down. In a large analysis of veterinary records from the UK, most heatstroke cases with a known trigger were due to exertion, but 12.9 percent were due to environmental heat without exertion (Hall et al., 2020). A dog left alone in a yard without shade for a long time on a hot day belongs squarely in that group.

👉 Heatstroke in dogs

2.3 Burying and hiding

In practice: some dogs dig to hide something: a chew bone, a toy, a piece of bread. They put the item in the hole and push soil over it with their nose. You see this more often when a dog gets more chews than he wants to eat right then, or when another dog lives in the household.

2.4 Nest building in pregnant females and females with a false pregnancy

If a female scratches in corners a few weeks after her heat, pushes blankets together or digs hollows, she may be building a nest. That is to be expected before giving birth, but it also happens with false pregnancy. A review describes false pregnancy as a physiological state in non-pregnant females toward the end of the cycle, involving, among other things, nesting, enlarged mammary glands, milk production and maternal behavior. It is common, and mild cases usually need no treatment (Gobello et al., 2001).

In an analysis of cases from a Spanish veterinary teaching hospital, false pregnancy typically began with behavioral changes, followed later by physical signs. In females that had been spayed, it began at a median of seven days after spaying. The authors suspect that false pregnancy is more common than diagnosed because owners often don’t recognize the signs (Falceto et al., 2024). If your female suddenly starts digging and is also mothering toys or more restless, it’s worth checking the calendar.

👉 False pregnancy in dogs

2.5 Escaping or trying to reach something

In practice: if your dog digs mainly at the fence, under the gate or along the property line, he often wants to get to the other side. Behind it there may be a neighbor’s dog, a female in heat, wildlife at the edge of the woods, or the wish to be with his people. This form is the most dangerous, because a dog that gets through can end up on the road or chase wildlife.

2.6 Attention and under-stimulation

If a dog digs mainly when he is alone in the yard for a long time, boredom seems likely. In dogs, however, boredom has hardly been studied. A conceptual review argued that boredom probably has adaptive value because it prompts exploration, and that it can show up as both restlessness and sleepiness (Burn, 2017). Another review classified boredom as an animal welfare concern and recommended giving animals a choice over their level of stimulation (Meagher, 2019). “He digs because he’s bored” therefore remains a plausible guess, not a diagnosis.

Attention can also play a role. In studies of repetitive behavior in dogs, not of digging, what maintained the behavior differed from dog to dog: in some it was the owner’s response, in others the stimulus itself (Hall et al., 2015). Applied here, this means that if someone comes running into the yard after every hole, that alone can make digging attractive.

In a large Finnish survey of more than 11,000 dogs, more time alone was associated with higher scores for hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention (Sulkama et al., 2021). That is an association, not a cause, and digging was not recorded.

👉 Boredom in dogs

2.7 Breed and personality

In practice: some dogs dig much more than others. Often mentioned are terriers and dachshunds, originally bred to work at and below ground, and some northern breeds that like to dig hollows. There are no reliable data on breed differences in digging. Breed can be a clue, but it doesn’t explain why your dog is digging in this spot right now.

3. Identify the function first

In practice: before you change anything, watch closely for one or two weeks. These questions help:

• Where are the holes? At mouse tunnels points more toward predatory behavior, at the fence toward escape, in the shade toward cooling off, in a quiet corner toward hiding or nest building.
• When does your dog dig? Only on hot days, only a few weeks after a heat, only when he’s alone, or also when you’re standing right next to him?
• What happens afterward? Does he lie down in it, eat something, bury something, look at you, or run off?
• How does he seem while digging? Focused and hard to reach, relaxed and playful, or frantic and restless?

If your dog suddenly digs much more than before, or also scratches at doors inside the house, stress when left alone or health reasons may be behind it. That needs a professional assessment.

4. Safety in the yard

In practice: slug pellets, fertilizer, pesticides, rat poison and vole bait are especially risky in a yard with a digging dog, because they sit right where the dog digs. Many of these products are toxic to dogs. Avoid them where possible, or use them only where your dog can’t get to them. Flower bulbs and some garden plants can also be toxic.

In practice: what gets dug up often gets eaten too: compost scraps, moldy food, dead mice, bones. Moldy material can be toxic, so the compost belongs out of reach. If your dog vomits, trembles or drools heavily after digging, go to the veterinarian immediately.

In practice: check the fence regularly from below. Holes and washed-out spots often go unnoticed until the dog is already out.

👉 Plants toxic to dogs

5. What actually helps

The research reviewed here contains no controlled study that directly tests specific training measures against digging in the yard in family dogs. The following steps are derived from the possible functions and come from training practice. Where there is research on a neighboring topic, it is mentioned.

5.1 A permitted digging pit

In practice: for many dogs, a digging spot of their own is the best solution. That can be a sandbox or a sectioned-off area with loose soil that is more attractive than the flower bed. At first, bury a few treats or a toy shallowly while your dog watches, and celebrate every find with him. Later, bury the rewards deeper and also when he isn’t watching. If he digs somewhere else, calmly redirect him to the digging pit. A digging pit in the shade serves two functions at once.

5.2 Give the nose something to do

If scents are behind the digging, the nose needs other tasks. In a study of family dogs, two weeks of nosework shifted a measure of cognitive bias in an optimistic direction, compared with a control group that practiced heelwork (Duranton & Horowitz, 2019). A review of scent activities found a growing but patchy literature and concluded that the mechanisms through which scent work might benefit dogs are incompletely understood (Fountain et al., 2025). Whether scent work reduces digging has not been studied.

More toys alone, on the other hand, aren’t necessarily the answer. In a controlled study of family dogs, providing toys for a short period did not significantly change the welfare measures recorded; group assignment was only pseudo-randomized (Chan et al., 2023).

In practice: searching for food in the grass, search games or mantrailing give the nose a task you do together. A few minutes of a search game often achieve more than a box full of toys.

👉 Mental stimulation and scent games

5.3 Shade and cool places

In practice: if your dog digs mainly on hot days, he needs a cool place that isn’t in the flower bed. Shade, a shallow tub of water, fresh drinking water and, on very hot days, the cool hallway inside are better than a filled-in hole. On hot days, your dog shouldn’t be outside alone for long.

5.4 Keep him company instead of leaving him alone

In practice: the yard is no substitute for walks and company. Be there when your dog is in the yard, especially while you are establishing a digging pit. That way you can redirect him in time, before a new hole appears. If you can’t be there, the dog is often better off inside. Freshly planted beds can be fenced off temporarily.

5.5 Secure the fence if escape is the goal

In practice: if your dog digs at the fence to get out, training alone isn’t enough, because every successful escape reinforces the behavior and is dangerous. Secure the fence physically first, for example with wire mesh sunk into the ground or a strip of paving along the boundary. After that, it’s about what draws the dog out: a privacy screen often helps against a neighbor’s dog; against the wish to be with you, only your company does.

5.6 Reward alternatives

In practice: reward your dog in the yard for everything you like to see: lying calmly in the shade, playing with you, chewing on his blanket, digging in the digging pit. Many owners only pay attention to their dog in the yard once he digs. Turn that around. If he starts in a forbidden spot, call him to you in a friendly way and give him something else to do.

6. What doesn’t help

You can also keep a dog from digging by shouting at him, pulling him away or filling the holes with unpleasant things. In the moment, he may stop. The question is what he learns from it, and at what cost. A dog that is scolded in your presence often doesn’t learn “digging is wrong” but “dig when nobody is looking.” The yard becomes a place of conflict, and the underlying function remains untouched. The review on predatory behavior also points out that simply preventing a behavior can carry welfare costs (McLennan, 2023).

Punishment after the fact doesn’t help either. If you only find the hole hours later, your dog can’t connect the punishment with the digging. All he experiences is a person who gets angry for no apparent reason.

In practice: also skip home remedies recommended online, such as feces, chili, pepper, mothballs, vinegar, balloons or mousetraps in the holes. Some are toxic, others irritate the mucous membranes or injure the dog, and none of them explains why he is digging.

7. A note on the evidence

Digging itself has barely been studied in dogs. Research on digging in family dogs remains limited. Robust data on its frequency, functions, and effective interventions are scarce. Everything else comes from neighboring fields or from practice.

The beagle study (Beerda et al., 1999) was a laboratory experiment on restriction and stress in which digging was one of many behaviors. The predatory sequence (Broseghini et al., 2024) is based on 60 videos, the review of interventions (McLennan, 2023) on a few limited studies. The papers on boredom (Burn, 2017; Meagher, 2019) are conceptual and untested in dogs, the studies of repetitive behavior (Hall et al., 2015) did not concern digging, and the Finnish survey (Sulkama et al., 2021) shows associations from owner reports. The studies on scent work and toys (Duranton & Horowitz, 2019; Chan et al., 2023; Fountain et al., 2025) measured welfare, not digging. The heatstroke data (Hall et al., 2020) come from UK practices, and the papers on false pregnancy are a review (Gobello et al., 2001) and a case analysis from a single clinic (Falceto et al., 2024).

The classification of functions, the observation questions, the digging pit, and the advice on fencing, safety and management are therefore marked as practical experience.

8. Conclusion

Digging isn’t misbehavior; it’s normal dog behavior with various possible reasons. If you find out why your dog digs, you can change things in a targeted way instead of just filling in holes.

The three things that make the difference:

Identify the function first. Where, when and how your dog digs often reveals what he gets out of it.

Create a permitted alternative. An attractive digging pit, search games and cool places instead of prohibitions.

Safety and management first. Remove anything toxic, secure the fence and don’t leave your dog alone in the yard for long.

Key takeaways on dogs digging in the yard

Less digging doesn’t mean better welfare. Beagles moved from spacious outdoor housing to small indoor kennels dug less and at the same time showed signs classified as chronic stress (Beerda et al., 1999).

Simply preventing has costs. A review of interventions for predatory behavior found few studies and pointed to possible welfare costs of prevention (McLennan, 2023).

Nest building is part of false pregnancy. False pregnancy is common, involves nesting among other signs, and typically begins with behavioral changes (Gobello et al., 2001; Falceto et al., 2024).

Environmental heat is a risk of its own. 12.9 percent of UK heatstroke cases with a known trigger were due to environmental heat without exertion (Hall et al., 2020).

Scent work is a good candidate. Two weeks of nosework shifted a measure of cognitive bias in an optimistic direction (Duranton & Horowitz, 2019), but the mechanisms are incompletely understood (Fountain et al., 2025).

Working on a behavior problem with your dog? Our step-by-step dog behavior workbooks cover leash reactivity, being left alone, resource guarding, two-dog households, barking at passersby and noise fear.

References

• Beerda, B., Schilder, M. B. H., van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M., de Vries, H. W., & Mol, J. A. (1999). Chronic stress in dogs subjected to social and spatial restriction. I. Behavioral responses. Physiology & Behavior, 66(2), 233–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00289-3
• Broseghini, A., Lõoke, M., Guérineau, C., Marinelli, L., & Mongillo, P. (2024). Ethogram of the predatory sequence of dogs (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 279, Article 106402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106402
• Burn, C. C. (2017). Bestial boredom: A biological perspective on animal boredom and suggestions for its scientific investigation. Animal Behaviour, 130, 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.006
• Chan, K., Arellano, C., & Horowitz, A. (2023). Here puppy, chew on this: Short-term provision of toys does not improve welfare in companion dogs. Animals, 13(21), Article 3340. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13213340
• Duranton, C., & Horowitz, A. (2019). Let me sniff! Nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 211, 61–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.12.009
• Falceto, M. V., Garrido, A. M., Bueno, M., Tejedor, M. T., Cantin, J., Garza-Moreno, L., & Mitjana, O. (2024). Prevalence of pseudopregnancy in bitch attending a veterinary teaching hospital in Spain. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 59(S3), Article e14638. https://doi.org/10.1111/rda.14638
• Fountain, J., Fernandez, E. J., McWhorter, T. J., & Hazel, S. J. (2025). The value of sniffing: A scoping review of scent activities for canines. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 282, Article 106485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106485
• Gobello, C., de la Sota, R. L., & Goya, R. G. (2001). A review of canine pseudocyesis. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 36(6), 283–288. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0531.2001.00322.x
• Hall, E. J., Carter, A. J., & O’Neill, D. G. (2020). Dogs don’t die just in hot cars – Exertional heat-related illness (heatstroke) is a greater threat to UK dogs. Animals, 10(8), Article 1324. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081324
• Hall, N. J., Protopopova, A., & Wynne, C. D. L. (2015). The role of environmental and owner-provided consequences in canine stereotypy and compulsive behavior. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 10(1), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2014.10.005
• McLennan, T. (2023). Review of literature on interventions aimed at resolving problems caused by predatory behaviour in dogs (Canis familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 266, Article 106037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2023.106037
• Meagher, R. K. (2019). Is boredom an animal welfare concern? Animal Welfare, 28(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.28.1.021
• Sulkama, S., Puurunen, J., Salonen, M., Mikkola, S., Hakanen, E., Araujo, C., & Lohi, H. (2021). Canine hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention share similar demographic risk factors and behavioural comorbidities with human ADHD. Translational Psychiatry, 11, Article 501. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01626-x

Note: This guide does not replace individual advice. If your dog may have eaten something toxic while digging, or is vomiting, trembling or acting unusual, go to the veterinarian immediately. If he suddenly digs much more than before or seems restless while doing it, have health causes and stress ruled out.

Frequently asked questions about dogs digging in the yard

Causes, safety and training