Any advice on keeping a dog from digging? I have a rescued GSP (we think she's 10 months old). She is very calm, smart and well behaved, especially for a rescue. However, she is trying to make me rich by trying to find oil in my back yard. She is house trained and loves it outside, so staying out with her for hours is not an option.

I have watched her and scolded with a firm "no" when I've caught her. I tried putting her poop in the holes as well as cayenne pepper, but they don't sell it in gallon bottles.

Her name has gone from "Daisy" to the extended version of "Daisy the Damn Digging Dog". Any advice is appreciated.

If you are not already, you need to be exercising this girl as much as possible. She sounds a little bored or stressed to me. GSP's can be kind of clingy with their people and if she is a rescue dog, then being outside alone might be a little stressful for her. She can be bored from not enough exercise also.

Shorthairs, as with any hunting breed (especially a pup this age)... need tons of exercise, not just a walk around the block, but a full on WFO run for about an hour, two to three times a week... minimum!

find a place like a baseball field or somewhere where you can cut her loose and see if more exercise doesn't fix the digging problem. That's what i would try first.

I agree if they are tired then the dog will relax some. I have an 9 mth old GSP that got bored over the holidays while we were busy and started digging to China next to a rose bush. I swear that hole is two feet deep. I filled it up the other day, it rained, and she dug it again. Plus she had mud from her nose to her tail, covered the driveway, and my wife's car in mud. I put the dog in the swimming pool and gave her a bath. So this time I used chicken wire to cover the area after filling it in the third time. She hasn't messed with it in 3 days.

I usually will take her for a daily two mile bike ride around the neighborhood. I use a harness and leash.

Are there gophers where you live ?

The gopher thing has me a little worried, lol. We do have them in our acre field so I wouldn't be surprised if my new pup goes after them when he comes home.

No gophers. I live in a residential neighborhood with a large back yard. Our oldest dalmatian (15) likes to paw the grass for bugs so maybe that is what my GSP is after, just to the extreme. I do make her run and she plays hard with one our 7 y/o dalmatian. I also play chase & fetch with her in the evenings.

She is very calm natured and not like the energetic GSP's I've read about. She has plenty to keep her busy, or at least I think.

Two solutions:

1. dog turd (his) in the hole and cover. won't dig there anymore.
2. chicken wire just beneath the surface, covering the hole. won't dig there anymore.