Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Why Do Dogs Dig?

Why Do Dogs Dig? 

I wondered about this question, each time Joey would dig another hole in our yard. And I ruminated on the answer to this question many times.


Our chocolate Lab would move whole boulders in his industrial digging.

His persistent digging certainly gave me something to do in the mornings and afternoons, filling in holes, that is. Rolling out and laying down chicken wire to secure a certain area, like it was a crime scene.

The hole that Joey dug to escape from our back yard also got filled in with stones and planks. So when he started digging holes everywhere but there, in places that were away from the property line and fence, I was pretty content. "Pick your battles", I learned.

This summer it hit 100 degrees F. on a regular day. On a cool day it was in the 90's. Joey's holes were getting deeper. And larger. And deeper. The roots of our trees were getting pretty exposed.  "Pick your battles", I answered my frustration.

Suddenly one day, I understood.


There he lay, in the cool of his paw-made cabana, under the shade of a tree his chocolate-brown body camouflaged in the speckled browns and whites of the play of dirt, shade, and sunlight, almost like a speckled fawn would be .

And that's why dogs dig!

2 comments:

Narziss und Goldhund said...

You've got it!

It's absolutely the same with my dog. :-)

Jane said...

Thank you!