# Digging Furniture and Walls



## Sharon&Jasper (9 mo ago)

Jasper will be a year old in a few weeks. For the most part I am able to divert his attention when he does something I don't like but indoor digging/scratching is driving me a bit nuts right now. He will paw at the arms of the couch when he's on the floor or the cushions when he's on the couch. He sleeps on my bed and I expect a little rearranging of the blankets to suit him, as my previous dog had done. The problem is when he starts really digging on the bed and he won't be distracted with toys or chews. Also, he sometimes scratches at walls in various rooms. This is not when he's confined or separated from me. He may do this a bit more when he hasn't had enough exercise. We've had a lot of rain lately so fewer walks. I've tried to compensate with indoor fetch but even so we've had more bouts of the zoomies. I'll have to pay more attention to confirm a relationship.

Distracting him with toys isn't working right now. Last night I gave him a time out in his crate. He did stop the digging when I let him out but I'm not sure that is the best solution. My thought is that I should be giving him a command for a preferred behavior but I'm not sure what that should be. Settle or relax and down stay come to mind. These are things I need to work on anyway. Has anyone else addressed this problem?


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## LWalks (Feb 7, 2021)

Mine both love to dig, and I allow it on their beds (or anything on the floor) but not on the couch. The way I’ve done it, which worked pretty quickly, was to correct verbally (eh eh) or it could be giving a positive command like ‘settle,’ and if they didn’t stop, they were calmly but quickly removed from the couch. They love being on the couch so they caught on pretty quickly! This is similar to how I dealt with anytime I felt teeth when they were a puppy during play or any other undesirable behavior— immediately stopping the fun!


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Sounds like he needs to burn off some energy.


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## Johanna (11 mo ago)

The digging behavior is something that I've noticed with my Oliver who just turned a year old. It's something I've watched curiously because it's been new to me and I've had many dogs in my household over the years. Ollie will sometimes just dig an imaginary hole in the floor (vigorously) but sometimes will do it on the bed or the sofa. After taking mental notes for months now, I've come to the conclusion that his digging behavior comes when he's trying to sort something out in his mind. He does it at times when I think he's feeling frustrated or confused about something and doesn't know exactly what to do... so he digs (he never digs outside). Or he's just bored and I'm not available to give him the attention he wants right this second. I think it's like a coping mechanism to him while he's trying to sort something out or settle himself. He will do it more when he can't get the attention he's craving. He loves to be center of everything!! And yes it's worse when the weather doesn't cooperate for outdoor exercise. It's gotten less as he's grown but he still does it. I can almost see his wheels turning now as he does it because I've been paying attention to when it happens and trying to figure out what leads up to it. If he's digging on the couch, then a simple "uh, uh!" will stop him... but he knows very well that when I make that sound he should stop whatever he's doing. I'll look forward to seeing other responses because I've experienced it too. But I can say that I think Tom is definitely correct in saying that he needs to burn off some energy (physically or mentally) when he starts the random digging.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LWalks said:


> Mine both love to dig, and I allow it on their beds (or anything on the floor) but not on the couch. The way I’ve done it, which worked pretty quickly, was to correct verbally (eh eh) or it could be giving a positive command like ‘settle,’ and if they didn’t stop, they were calmly but quickly removed from the couch. They love being on the couch so they caught on pretty quickly! This is similar to how I dealt with anytime I felt teeth when they were a puppy during play or any other undesirable behavior— immediately stopping the fun!


we do the same. They are allowed to dig in their own bedding, but never on furniture. A quick, “Eh!” And if they start back up, they are removed. Being on human furniture is a privilege, not a right!

But the scratching on other things does not sound like nesting behavior. It sounds like he takes pleasure in the behavior itself. Forthis reason, I think, if I were you, I would teach him to scratch a nail board. This has two advantages. He will have his scratching fun in an accaptable way, AND, you will not have to trim his nails!!! Win, win!






There are lots of other YouTube videos on this method too!


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## LWalks (Feb 7, 2021)

krandall said:


> we do the same. They are allowed to dig in their own bedding, but never on furniture. A quick, “Eh!” And if they start back up, they are removed. Being on human furniture is a privilege, not a right!
> 
> But the scratching on other things does not sound like nesting behavior. It sounds like he takes pleasure in the behavior itself. Forthis reason, I think, if I were you, I would teach him to scratch a nail board. This has two advantages. He will have his scratching fun in an accaptable way, AND, you will not have to trim his nails!!! Win, win!
> 
> ...


I meant to mention this— we’ve actually been working with both of ours on the scratch board and they LOVE it. Jo is better at it than Charlie (he does it too lightly for it to do much) but I can get her front nails completely filed in a few minutes with the board. It was pretty easy to train, though we haven’t really mastered the back feet so still need to trim those. We’ve been doing some pre-agility training, and other day when I put a box down to work on front paws up, her immediate reaction was ‘ooh do I scratch this too?!’ She was very disappointed when the answer was no!


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

LWalks said:


> Mine both love to dig, and I allow it on their beds (or anything on the floor) but not on the couch. The way I’ve done it, which worked pretty quickly, was to correct verbally (eh eh) or it could be giving a positive command like ‘settle,’ and if they didn’t stop, they were calmly but quickly removed from the couch. They love being on the couch so they caught on pretty quickly! This is similar to how I dealt with anytime I felt teeth when they were a puppy during play or any other undesirable behavior— immediately stopping the fun!


Perry loves to scratch/ dig and rub his whole body (he starts with his head and then twists around to get his whole head then back rubbing) - but he's not allowed to do it on the bed or furniture, I just redirect him to the floor or his bed. I do the same ' verbal correction" and then tell him "floor" and he knows to go down to the floor to do what he wants there


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