Sandbox/Digging box for Terrier Dog

Reg'stoy

I enquired over on the gardening forum if anyone had a Sandbox/Digging box in their gardens (Yet to get any replies).

We recently got a rescue dog from Dog's Trust and she is a wonderful addition to our family (she's much more than a pet) we both love her to bits. The only snag is she seems to think she's in the movie 'The Great Escape' and is well on her way to digging tunnels 'Tom', 'Dick' and 'Harry'.

I googled the problem and some people recommend a Sandbox with some of her toys buried in it. Have any posters here any experience of building one or even if such things exist for dogs.

If I might be so bold as to ask another favour, we both realise that on occasions we might have to leave her in the back garden for a couple of hours and were just wondering if there was any hints on how she would keep herself entertained. We have a kennel out the back, which she uses as an observation deck (she sleeps indoors) plus she has a kong and toys to beat the band.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Don't worry we invested in a new fence to keep her safe out back when we're not there which is very rare, normally we keep her inside if we have to go shopping etc.

ISDW

If you're quick, you may still find some sandboxes in the toy shops or Argos, left over from the summer. Just the plastic moulded ones, they double up as paddling pools and a lot of them come with two pieces, a bottom and a lid.

This could help with your other question as well, how to keep her entertained.

I love Kongs, I think they're fantastic, filled with tasty things, frozen so that it takes them even longer to empty.

Well done for rescuing her, sounds like she landed on her paws with you:D

TooManyDogs

+1 on the plastic paddling pool/sandbox from kids shops. Keep an eye on www.jumbletown.ie, they often have them there for free. I got one off a neighbours skip and thought I'd use it to water my pots, my mini JRT had other ideas and uses it as a pool, she lies down on her side in it in hot weather!

What about putting some treats inside a plastic bottle and screwing back on the lid, takes my dogs ages to figure out how to get the treats out. You could hide a few in the garden. It does mean cleaning up bits of bottle. Kongs are great too, only danger in the garden is it may get buried, expensive way of suppling toys if you end up replacing toys!

jap gt

TooManyDogs wrote: »

What about putting some treats inside a plastic bottle and screwing back on the lid, takes my dogs ages to figure out how to get the treats out. You could hide a few in the garden. It does mean cleaning up bits of bottle. Kongs are great too, only danger in the garden is it may get buried, expensive way of suppling toys if you end up replacing toys!

thats not a great idea, my neighbours dog need an op after eating a small bit of a plastic bottle

TooManyDogs

jap gt wrote: »

thats not a great idea, my neighbours dog need an op after eating a small bit of a plastic bottle

I know dogs that needed ops after eating bits of wood, stones, bones, bits of tennis ball, bits of dog toys, balloons.......

Most dogs will chew and swallow bits of pretty much anything but needing an op because of it is fairly rare. You'd have to stop your dog chewing absolutely everything to keep them 100% safe so not realistic in my view. You need to monitor your dogs toys no matter what they are to prevent your dog consuming it if that's his nature.

tk123

OP we got a platic toy chest thing in B&Q and filled it with play sand and top soil for our guy when he was digging up the garden. The problem was that he got all mucky and wrecked the place lol so we gave up on it. Our garden just had a smallish patch of grass and it was turning into a mud pit so we ended up getting patio slabs because it was easier to keep clean.

jap gt

TooManyDogs wrote: »

I know dogs that needed ops after eating bits of wood, stones, bones, bits of tennis ball, bits of dog toys, balloons.......

Most dogs will chew and swallow bits of pretty much anything but needing an op because of it is fairly rare. You'd have to stop your dog chewing absolutely everything to keep them 100% safe so not realistic in my view. You need to monitor your dogs toys no matter what they are to prevent your dog consuming it if that's his nature.

all true, but would you tell some one give your a bit of wood/plastic etc it might kill him but sure it will keep him entertained, if a dog gets at any of the above and needs an op thats ok its an accident, but advice like letting the dog eat a bottle to get a threat is silly to be honest

TooManyDogs

jap gt wrote: »

all true, but would you tell some one give your a bit of wood/plastic etc it might kill him but sure it will keep him entertained, if a dog gets at any of the above and needs an op thats ok its an accident, but advice like letting the dog eat a bottle to get a threat is silly to be honest

Exactly where did I suggest the OP let their dog eat a bottle??? Only 1 of my dogs has managed to devise a way of getting the treats out of the bottle, the others spend hours playing with it and working on it, and in all the years I've had dogs and given them bottles never has any dog ate the bottle. If you read my earlier post I said they'd have to be careful to see if the dog was consuming anything, that also includes regular dog toys.

Let me ask you, do you throw balls for your dog? or a stick? also apparently dangerous if you're going to be strict about it.

ISDW

I know a dog that was nearly put to sleep because they thought he had a tumour in his mouth - turned out it was a piece of stick that had punctured the roof of his mouth and then stuck there, getting infected, swelling up etc. Quite funny in a way, his owners fed him roast chicken for about a week, thinking they were going to be saying goodbye to him very soon. Obviously they were delighted when the vet realised what was actually going on.

I have a dog toy that is to all intents and purposes a plastic bottle, it has a rope that comes out of it and it entertains my lot for hours, you put treats in it. http://www.k9shop.ie/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=64&category_id=9&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 (hope this link is allowed, sorry if its not)

jap gt

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Exactly where did I suggest the OP let their dog eat a bottle??? Only 1 of my dogs has managed to devise a way of getting the treats out of the bottle, the others spend hours playing with it and working on it, and in all the years I've had dogs and given them bottles never has any dog ate the bottle. If you read my earlier post I said they'd have to be careful to see if the dog was consuming anything, that also includes regular dog toys.

Let me ask you, do you throw balls for your dog? or a stick? also apparently dangerous if you're going to be strict about it.

TooManyDogs wrote: »

+1 on the plastic paddling pool/sandbox from kids shops. Keep an eye on www.jumbletown.ie, they often have them there for free. I got one off a neighbours skip and thought I'd use it to water my pots, my mini JRT had other ideas and uses it as a pool, she lies down on her side in it in hot weather!

What about putting some treats inside a plastic bottle and screwing back on the lid, takes my dogs ages to figure out how to get the treats out. You could hide a few in the garden. It does mean cleaning up bits of bottle. Kongs are great too, only danger in the garden is it may get buried, expensive way of suppling toys if you end up replacing toys!

can your dog open the lid?

ISDW

jap gt wrote: »

can your dog open the lid?

Most of my dogs can.

adser53

ISDW wrote: »

Most of my dogs can.

Me too. They prefer empty plastic milk cartons over EVERY other toy they have with the exception of a stuffed kong but thats obvious
!

TooManyDogs

jap gt wrote: »

can your dog open the lid?

Yes she can!

ISDW

Sorry to take this totally off topic, this is Diesel with a glass jar that was on the worktop in the kitchen. He picked it up, carried it into another room, opened it and ate the marmalade - all without breaking the glass:eek:





Sorry, I tried to make the pics smaller, but I can't.

TooManyDogs

Love it!