How do stop a dog from digging up the lawn

[howth]

We have a 18 month old Border collie/lab cross who digs up the lawn constantly. Last summer he dug big holes in the lawn, hoped he might have grown out of it by now but he has started again, any ides would be gratefully received.

[Illyria54]

I have exactly the same problem with my Border Collie/Something X and he has taught my other dog to do the same................................ Bless! What I have found that helps is if you give him somewhere to dig, ie. his own patch, somewhere where it is not too noticeable, let him be there when you prepare the ground for him, if he is food oriented bury some goodies all over 'his' patch of ground along with a couple of favourite toys and things and make a game of it, if you see him digging in places he shouldn't, take him over to this piece of ground and again bury something there and let him dig it up, if he is as intelligent as my boy Harvey is then he will soon get the idea, he does sometimes 'slip up' but I just have to jog his memory occasionally, do you take him for plenty of exercise? and could you perhaps do some agility with him, these types of dogs need a lot of stimulation, both physical and mental.

[pmjblue]

hate to say this, i had to have all traces of lawn taken up and slabs laid !

[Illyria54]

That works too!

[maggie01]

We had all the grass taken up in our last house but the garden is a bit too big where we are now. We have fenced the lawn off and the dogs only go up that part of the garden when I am out there. They just have the run of the paved area.

[northernsole]

Better alternative to slabs. My mother-in-law breeds labradors and has five full grown labs aswel as the puppies. Her garden got to a stage where due to the digging and all the wee her lawn turned into expanse of mud (no grass in site). Rather than lay slabs they has a company in to lay an astroturf type material. It was fantastic looked just like real grass but no need to mow it and you don't loose the greeness of the garden. It was also really resonable cost her 400 pound and her garden is massive, only took them a day to lay also.

[howth]

Thank you so much for all your replies, we tried the errect a tempory fence to stop him going on the grass, seems to be working but hopefully we wont have any strong wind or else we will need to rethink.

northernsole, I like the idea of the fake grass, you dont happen to know the name of the company your mother in law used, that sounds really good....and not having to mow the grass, wow I am very interested!