Let Your Dog Dig—It's in her DNA!
On a recent beach excursion with my elderly dog Otis, I twice encountered a young man with a five-month-old Labrador Retriever puppy. On the first pass, he was telling his puppy to “leave it”, meaning to not engage with my dog. While not disclosing that I am a dog trainer, I encouraged him to instead let his puppy meet Otis.
The meeting went swimmingly: His puppy demonstrated an appropriate degree of deference to and respect for Otis, and Otis allowed the puppy to sniff her nether regions. We each went on our way, with the puppy having just learned a great deal about dog-dog social greeting from an older dog who knows the ropes.
When we again passed them a few minutes later, his puppy started digging in the sand, to which the owner responded with a sharp “NO DIG!”. At first I was going to let it go, but then in a friendly way, I suggested that he let his puppy dig. We were at the beach after all, and digging is an important component of behavioral diversity, as was our social greeting a few minutes earlier.
This does not mean you cannot use training to discourage the behavior in your rose garden. But never letting your dog express behaviors that are evolutionarily ancient can lead to even more challenging behaviors. You might “capture” the digging behavior by naming it and putting it on cue (“dig!”) which will help teach your dog when and where digging is acceptable and where it’s not.
What is Behavioral Diversity?
The trend in behavior science in the last few years has been a shift away from forcing our dogs into the unnatural constraints of our modern world (walking straight lines, tethered to a leash, meeting many, many dogs in a brief period of time, etc.) and to instead providing opportunities for the diversity of behaviors that is hardwired in their DNA.
This concept is often referred to as behavioral diversity or behavioral wellness. Just as physical exercise alone does not satisfy all of a dog’s needs, neither does perfect obedience. A dog may walk politely at heel for an hour and still be deprived of opportunities to sniff, explore, dig, forage, investigate scents, choose social interactions, and make decisions about its environment. These activities are not frivolous distractions from a dog’s life; they are the substance of it.
Modern dog owners are encouraged to view every interaction through the lens of control. We interrupt sniffing because we’re in a hurry. We prevent greetings because they may be imperfect. We discourage digging because it is messy. We ask dogs to suppress natural behaviors for our convenience, then wonder why so many struggle with frustration, anxiety, and chronic under-stimulation.
Of course, not every dog should greet every dog, and not every hole should be dug. Good judgment and safety matter. But there is a meaningful difference between setting reasonable boundaries and reflexively saying “no” to behaviors that are entirely appropriate in the context.
That young Labrador puppy was doing exactly what millions of years of canine evolution had prepared him to do: He first engaged in a polite social greeting with an older dog and then he dug in the sand at the beach. Both were healthy, species-typical behaviors. Both represented opportunities to learn about the world. Providing for behavioral diversity is the focus of work by canine ethologist Kim Brophy and her important work at the Family Dog Mediation Center.
As Otis and I continued our walk, I found myself hoping that the puppy’s owner would occasionally choose curiosity over control. Dogs already spend much of their lives adapting to our world. Whenever possible, we should return the favor by allowing them moments to be fully and authentically dogs.
