Collie cross digging through the carpet

[Mich]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Can anyone give me any advice? My collie cross who is nearly four has suddenly started trying to dig through one corner of my dining room carpet. Nothing has changed in her routine but she started this about four weeks ago. And before anyone suggests she is bored she is walked with other dogs 7 days a week off lead on a beach where they all run mad until they are exhausted. We also spend a lot of time mentally stimulating her. We don't look for her to be a dog that can do wonderful tricks but every day we make her do all of her commands, find food under the right tub, find hidden toys etc, etc.

During the day she does not dig at all. However come evening after 2100, she will then just dig madly in one corner. I immediately try to distract her and bring her attention to me but she is totally focused on digging. I now have a huge hole in my dining room carpet.

Has anyone experienced this sort of thing? She is a great dog but recently has started displaying some strange behaviours but I cannot put my finger on anything as we tend to keep her routine pretty much the same. Being a collie they do like routine so have always felt this important.

I can easily buy another carpet but that's not the point. I need to try to understand why she has suddenly started doing this. Although it is summer our house is not exceptionally hot so would not think she is trying to cool down.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[eingana]

The only dog I've known personally who did this was doing it due to pain from a tumour, but I understand that this is a very unusual reason for doing this and it's far more likely to be an obsessive behaviour, which is very common in intelligent dogs like collies.

I think you may need to have a one to one session with a behaviourist to identify all of the OCD type behaviours and look at how to address them. It's unlikely that this is the only thing that she's doing that is part of the pattern and it may take a behaviourist to work out why she's doing this and how to stop her.

Have you tried keeping her out of the living room during the hours that she normally does this? What happens? Does she dig wherever she is?

This sort of complex behaviour takes more than a simple training session to address I'm afraid.

 

[Kirawan]

Coincidentally, this happened with my whippet recently. It was during a thunderstorm!!! - maybe something has unsettled your collie, similar to this. Subsequently, the whippet would scratch up the carpet for no specific reason and it began to be a habit. What I did (and so far, it has cured it) - was to put some boxes where the digging took place. I did say NO, and let the whippet watch me covering the spot. You could put anything that was not possible to easily move...and see if that works. I wonder if yours has had an upset recently.

If there are other strange behaviours, that are out of character, like moodiness, or snappiness or hiding... it might be worth taking her to your vet and have her thyroid checked (a low thyroxine level can initiate untoward behaviour) and it is easily treatable.

Good luck.

 

[Mich]

Eingana, thanks for that. She does only dig in the one place and normally at about the same time. I will try tonight keeping her away from that room and see what she does. At the moment I am not sure I have enough for a behaviourist. I have cured the fact she would not come in the back door unless I was physically there and to be honest can see nothing else at all that has changed. However if I can't solve this and anything else does occur that will be my next move.

Kirawan, hi.

There is nothing else that Skye is doing that is out of character, she never snaps or gets moodie with us and her temperament has not changed in any way at all. That said she is a dog that can get spooked so it is possible something has happens that I did not see. I will also try your suggestion of putting something there to stop her getting to the area and see what happens.

As always thanks for the advice guys, I will let you know how I get on.

 

[Mich]

Well just an update.

I covered the area of carpet that Skye had been digging and I also took her out of that room around the time she normally does it and played a couple of games with her for a while. Then I let her wander back into the room. She did not even look at the corner where she had been digging, just settled down for a sleep.

So, early days I know but that is the first night in a few weeks (I know my original post said she had been doing it for about 4 weeks, on reflection it was actually more like 2) that she has not tried to dig. So hopefully if I just continue to do the same thing every night for the next while I can stop it happening again.

Thanks again for the advice, two issues (hopefully) solved in a week, not bad but I am sure it won't be long before I am shouting for help again lol.

 

[Kirawan]

Sounds good to me.. well done. Kindest responses usually work best. Hope Skye forgets about digging now! I would still keep the boxes there for a few weeks if it were me.

 

[Mich]

It was actually a suitcase I used so now it looks a bit strange with it lying in the corner of the dining room but at least it is hiding the hole in the carpet lol. Will definitely leave it for 3 to 4 weeks and then leave it for another few weeks before replacing the carpet just in case.

I am hopeful she will forget about the digging but I am sure she will come up with something else just as crazy. Eingana I think hit the nail on the head yesterday when she mentioned OCD so I am sure she will continue to do some crazy things.

But she is our princes and we love her !!!!!!!!!