Context: We've had puppy for almost 2 weeks, he's about 4mo mixed breed (probably black lab + some hound). He's a stray rescue. We rent a town house with a small yard. He's never unsupervised when awake, including when he's in the yard.
The problem: There are two spots in our yard that he cannot resist digging in. They are pretty close together (1-2 feet apart) and one is directly along the line of our fence. Every time we are in the yard if he walks by one of those spots, he HAS to dig in it. It's starting to make potty training difficult, because if he's sniffing the perimeter (where he usually pees & poos), he will find his dig spot, and then he's distracted by digging and forgets to potty. I dont know what could possibly be under the ground. The deepest the hole he's made so far is about 6inches. I haven't seen him find anything from his digging (food, worms, rocks, nothing). He doesn't try to dig in other spots.
What i've tried: Simple redirection sometimes works to get him away from the spot, but he often returns when sniffing for a spot to pee. Standing on the spot and covering it with my feet is sometimes enough to prevent him digging – but is starting to teach him to dig and bite my shoes while i stand there. Burying his unbagged poop about 3-5 inches below the soil didn't help (he hasnt yet dig up the poo, but it's almost uncovered at this point). Putting a large trash bin over the spot resulted in him going at it from an angle and making the spot bigger.
Considerations: We've considered getting a sandbox for him to dig, but it feels like there's something with this spot that he wants, not like he has an instinct/need to be digging. We rent, so we can't fill the holes with cement or anything like that.
TLDR; my puppy is digging in one specific area of the yard, and I'm struggling 1. to stop him in the moment while he digs and 2. to making it less appealing to start digging. He is never unattended, but he gets so distracted by digging that it's getting difficult to use the yard for pottying or training.
submitted by /u/Electrical_Bake6618
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