Bea digs

[flyer]

So Bea, it seems is house trained. No accidents for well over a week and she has had access to the whole house.

 

Bea is glancing at cars at night, then getting on with things. This is coming along nicely. It must be the lights as she takes no interest in the daytime.

 

So now Bea is digging. She dug before, but it had stopped. Bea has plenty of exercise as in an hour and 1/2 on the trails every morning and other walks, has access to the house and comes on errands with me just like Colt does, not to mention she plays with Colt lots. I think Bea digs because she enjoys it. Immensely. She is not what I would call an anxious dog at all. She, like Colt is very athletic and energetic when outside and very relaxed at home.

 

You know I'll be honest here I have been wondering if Bea has Jack Russell in her. She is so terrier in so many ways. I had terriers when I was a kid. She leaps, is very vocal, very, digs and is just a little stubborn, just a little. The farm she came from did breed their own dogs when needed for over forty years and I am sure at some point they must of had Jacks being a dairy farm. I saw mom and dad and they looked all BC to me, but well, it'd be easy enough to happen somewhere along the line and then all the genes got together and decided to come out in Bea. This is not a complaint at all. I'm loving this little dog!! Yes she is also going to be on the smaller side I think.

 

So, I'm thinking of giving her a little sand pit in the back yard. It's big enough that I can put it away from the house. Good idea? Nothing detrimental that I might be missing by allowing this is made for digging place? Or should I work on no digging in the yard.

[juliepoudrier]

I doubt there's JRT in Bea, even a little. My Twist is a digger. Ask anyone who's ever seen her when we're hanging out at home, at friends' farms, at trials. She'll start to dig and then look over at me as if to ask if it's okay. If I'm not paying attention she can make quite a hole before I notice. If I tell her no, she'll stop, at least for a little while. I have a picture of her that a friend took where she's cutting her eyes at me to see if I'll let her dig while we were waiting between runs while setting sheep at Don McCaig's trial last spring (in other words, she's not digging just because she's bored--the sheep were very tough there and she was worn out from having to really push them and hold them by the end of the open class, and yet still she wanted to dig between runs.) She has a grandmother on her dam's side named Digger (hmmm...wonder why?).

 

Kat is also a digger, but mainly along with Twist, and they will dig at mole hills all day long if you let them. They dug a trench across one part of the path I walk them on through the back of the property, following moles.

 

Phoebe, Twist's daughter, also digs, with gusto and "singing" to herself all the while. Both Phoebe and Lark like to dig in mud puddles as well.

 

My other dogs don't tend to dig. Aside from Kat, all the diggers are related, and I am quite sure there's no terrier involved.

 

I have photos I took at a friend's place where she was digging post holes for fence, and one of her border collies was helping her.

 

In other words, border collies come by the "digging gene" quite naturally I think. Twist is the worst of my group because she'll dig anywhere if we're just hanging around, but the others I named are all are happy to dig too.

 

J.

[Ooky]

I have a picture of her that a friend took where she's cutting her eyes at me to see if I'll let her dig while we were waiting between runs while setting sheep at Don McCaig's trial last spring (in other words, she's not digging just because she's bored--the sheep were very tough there and she was worn out from having to really push them and hold them by the end of the open class, and yet still she wanted to dig between runs.)

 

Oh, so cute! "Will she let me now?"

 

Odin loves digging too. I rarely let him, but when I do he can make a huge hole in no time at all - even as a 4 month puppy he could.

[flyer]

I doubt there's JRT in Bea, even a little. My Twist is a digger. Ask anyone who's ever seen her when we're hanging out at home, at friends' farms, at trials. She'll start to dig and then look over at me as if to ask if it's okay. If I'm not paying attention she can make quite a hole before I notice. If I tell her no, she'll stop, at least for a little while. I have a picture of her that a friend took where she's cutting her eyes at me to see if I'll let her dig while we were waiting between runs while setting sheep at Don McCaig's trial last spring (in other words, she's not digging just because she's bored--the sheep were very tough there and she was worn out from having to really push them and hold them by the end of the open class, and yet still she wanted to dig between runs.) She has a grandmother on her dam's side named Digger (hmmm...wonder why?).

 

Kat is also a digger, but mainly along with Twist, and they will dig at mole hills all day long if you let them. They dug a trench across one part of the path I walk them on through the back of the property, following moles.

 

Phoebe, Twist's daughter, also digs, with gusto and "singing" to herself all the while. Both Phoebe and Lark like to dig in mud puddles as well.

 

My other dogs don't tend to dig. Aside from Kat, all the diggers are related, and I am quite sure there's no terrier involved.

 

I have photos I took at a friend's place where she was digging post holes for fence, and one of her border collies was helping her.

 

In other words, border collies come by the "digging gene" quite naturally I think. Twist is the worst of my group because she'll dig anywhere if we're just hanging around, but the others I named are all are happy to dig too.

 

J.

 

Okie dokie then.

 

I have had a dog for as long as I can remember and most had something to work through, like Colt and his shyness. Well Bea, seems to have so many things about her to adjust in order to make life with humans safe and pleasurable. And when I say adjust I mean make acceptable to all of us including Bea. Thus the sandbox in this instance.

 

I am really looking forward to seeing what this little gal can do when it is time for a job/hobby. Colt and I start agility training first week of March, but I think Bea would appreciate stock. Just not sure the stock would appreciate Bea with me handling her!!

[ejano]

Robin would have dug to China when he was 3-4 months old - the muckier the spot the better. I finally got up the energy to plant a shrub I'd bought and replant some day lilies and he was right in there helping me as soon as I'd turned the first shovelful of dirt. Brodie wasn't much better but he was selective about his areas. Chasing mice, moles, and sometimes I think earthworms! I still see some intermittent digging, but its for mice and moles, and the odd woodchuck hole.

 

I did think of rigging up a sand pit (even a kiddie swimming pool filled with sand) and hiding special toys in it just to control the places that he and Brodie dug -I'd seen it in one of the pet dog magazines....but couldn't convince DH of the necessity of it..... I still think it would have worked...but they did start a new game -- hiding everything they could find in their "den" under the pine trees.

 

As you may have seen from my other questions and comments, every day is a new adventure with these growing pups. Like any growing mammal, they change very rapidly and its both bewildering, challenging and fun to keep up with them. I've not had a pup since, well, I was a "pup", so its like learning parenthood all over again!

 

Liz