Hyper Thai Dog And Digging Holes

[Amir]

I think the topic describes pretty well my 10 month old Thai dog. I picked her up last June 2009 in a small soi in Muang Ake next to my house. She has been operated (no heat periods... no babies... no street dogs around our gate) and is in pretty good health and very active.

Only thing, she seems to be quite "hyper" (our neighbors comment) and is always running everywhere in all directions in the garden when we are at home. Okay, she is staying from 9 am to 4 PM in the house (when we are at work and my daughter at school) as otherwise destroys our garden and digs pretty deep and large holes.

I was wondering if someone knows if this is normal for Thai "Soi" dogs (she is not a Soi dog anymore as picked her up when she was about 2 months old) and if there is a way to make them cool down a little. I was thinking about building her a big cage for outside in the garden...

Any advice would be great.

Thnaks

Amir

[bina]

thai dogs dig. instead of caging her in try fencing off the part of the garden u want to protect; give her an area that she is allowed to dig in-- its not hard to train a dog to only dig in a specific area.; tire her out with a good long jog/walk/ball chasing bit of fun before u turn her lose in the garden/ bury items for her to dig out in a specific area of the garden (nice smelly big un cooked cow bone); leave her a soccer/football ball to play with/by about age three she should mellow out some although its a matter of personality and also breed. the soi dogs , like many 'village' type dogs, are diggers, just like foxes and wolves dig. so u cant fight it, but u can control where and what.

a tired dog is a good dog.

bina

israel

[Amir]

thai dogs dig. instead of caging her in try fencing off the part of the garden u want to protect; give her an area that she is allowed to dig in-- its not hard to train a dog to only dig in a specific area.; tire her out with a good long jog/walk/ball chasing bit of fun before u turn her lose in the garden/ bury items for her to dig out in a specific area of the garden (nice smelly big un cooked cow bone); leave her a soccer/football ball to play with/by about age three she should mellow out some although its a matter of personality and also breed. the soi dogs , like many 'village' type dogs, are diggers, just like foxes and wolves dig. so u cant fight it, but u can control where and what.

a tired dog is a good dog.

bina

israel

Thanks Bina,

Just spent my working hours (oups) on the net to try to check on Thai Soi dogs... If I am correct the one I have is a kind of Thai Ridgeback and so your right diggin' is in their nature more then other dogs.

I will try the bone buried somewhere in the garden.

Thanks for the advice!!

Amir

[londonthai]

I don't know much about thai dogs, but I wouldn't allow my to dig anywhere, especially in the garden. This habit makes dog unruly, unable to learn and obey commands.

thai dogs might be digging holes to cool themselves - so provide a cool area, trim and comb hair, take for swimming or even make a small pool, wash/shower daily.

engage her with some activities, walking/running (many kilometres per day, you might be cycling in the park, along canals, footpaths, safe roads - early morning and late evening is the best because of the lower temperatures).

provide her a companion when nobody is home, one of the neighbours might take care of her or get another dog (can be any race), so she won't be lonely and stressed.

[bina]

londonthai, its very easy to teach dogs where its allowed and wehre forbidden to dig; u do it while u control the dog; it wants to dig, u show him the area with an inducement (slightly buried tasty treat); when he goes for digging else where, u again have to say no (use a long lead for this at first), then show him the digging area, and he gets a reward. for stubborn areas, fencing it off for a while helps also... when u arent around, the 'no no area' has to be fanced off to prevent the dog from digging... it needs diligence and persisitance and consitencie but it works. even my terrier knows that he is not allowed to go in our garden or dig (or the neighbor's garden where he was doing some expensive damage.) he now has a 'allowed digging area which is equally enjoyed by my three, and my neighbors two, and the two down the path.... its quite a big hole now so we fill it with sand and dirt and dont bother to try to plant anything there. when we water it, the dogs go nuts to dig there (tis disgusting really for two lhasa apsos to dig in it and get their beards full of dirt, but worth the fun for them)...

some people i know use a large tractor tire to enclose a sandy dig area for their large dogs (this tends to attract cats to poo there but cant have everything)...

bina

israel