Digging dog was driving us all mad

by Annette Foster

Bullseye, named somewhat oddly after Bill Sykes' dog in Oliver Twist even though they don't resemble each other at all, was a lovely pup. He was affectionate and clean from day one, barking only in an emergency or when danger threatened. We are a nuclear-type family of four and Bullseye made five. No problems whatsoever.

Until Bullseye reached about the age of one, that is! Then he started digging up the carpet every time he wanted to lie down. He would scratch and scratch usually in the same spot for no apparent reason. Obviously the answer was to get rid of the carpet, which we did, and replaced it with a rug. Everything was OK for about three days and then the digging would start all over again. He even started doing it on the furniture. We were all at our wit's end and that is very definitely understating the problem.

We started to read about why dogs dig in the first place. Apparently foxes and wolves dig a den in the wild to protect their young from extremes of temperature and from predators. Could this be the reason for Bullseye's unwelcome behavior? Unlikely, we thought, as he dug in the same spot whether it was night or day or whether the air-con was switched on or off.

A neighbor suggested that Bullseye in his way was burying a bone, or some other treasured item, and then scratching later to find again whatever he had hidden in the first place. We thought this was unlikely as he always buried his bone, or whatever, in the same spot. We read on the internet that dogs with this problem tend to bury and find again in different locations, or different places in the house.

Other suggestions were that Bullseye was digging to find some small animal or prey of his imagination or even entertaining himself in a doggy way. We tried a number of solutions but none of them worked. My daughter suggested we take Bullseye for more walks, but he would return and immediately start digging up the rug again, or rather the wooden floor once we had abandoned all covering. We also tried installing fencing round the area in the lounge he loved to attack, but he simply started digging next to the obstruction, thus extending the area of the floor he was damaging.

Could Bullseye be bored? Was that the reason for his irritating behavior? Well we bought most of the doggie toys in the shop but none of them made any difference. Giving him doggie chews was another complete waste of time. We took Bullseye to the vet and he suggested keeping him outside. This did not work either as he would commence digging whenever we let him in. Bullseye loved the garden but never, ever, dug there.

We asked ourselves if there could ever be a solution. Just as we were beginning to despair, my mother-in-law suggested buying one of those circular beds with a raised edge which could be used as a pillow. Wearily I trudged off to the pet shop on what I assumed was another wasted expedition and pointless expense. Wrong again! Bullseye curled up in the bed on first inspecting it and has never dug in the house since. Never despair, eh?