My mut keeps digging into neighbors yard! Help!

[Thulsa]

In some states, (California is one) it's against the law to leave a dog on a chain all day.
The limit is usually something 3-4 hours.
It's also a misdemeanor in some places, and that means there's the possibility of jail time.
I hope the neighbors don't get too annoyed.

[Diana Holbrook]

I know everyone is giving you a hard time about the chain, but I for one want to thank you for taking steps to keep your dog on your own property. Although the barking may still be an issue with the neighbors, I for one would appreciate that your dog isn't running loose. Having a little dog on a long tether is not the worst thing. Letting him get out or get hurt by the neighbor dog would be MUCH worse.

A LOT of people leave their dogs outside during the day while they work. I'm not sure why people think it's kinder to lock them up inside, if the weather is nice. Particularly small dogs who may not have the bladder to hold it all day. Seriously... is being crated all day better? Or peeing in the house?

On the fence, if you bought some 3-4 foot wire mesh fencing and folded it in half so it went up the fence 2 feet, and out along the ground two feet... and fastened that down to the ground with stakes or heavy bricks, that would likely prevent the digging under.

Try to work on the barking though. My neighbors dog yaps all the time, and I am really tired of it.

[pikabike]

Diana beat me to it: Install underground wire mesh that keeps your dog from getting across the property line. We did this for our dog pens, which were fully enclosed on all sides plus top and bottom. Our dogs could climb, jump, AND dig like little jackhammers. Fortunately, we had been informed of all these abilities before we got them!

However, if your dog continues to bark, I agree with the comments about rehoming.

[animalcrazy]

I just had my friends Chihuahua for a week. I have two dogs and one is a Yorkie. Small breeds are high maintenance. The Chi barked constantly which set off the Yorkie. My mutt barely barks and will be quiet if you tell him to be. The Chihuahua, not so much.

My friend and her S.O. both work full time and the dog is not house broken. He peed for the first 4 days any where he wanted. I finally convinced him that he should do that outside. However, he didn't understand that bowel movements did not belong on the dog bed down stairs, nor on my book shelf.

That dog is not a good fit for my friend and your stray Chihuahua is not a good fit for you. Re-homing something that high maintenance will not be easy. You have to have the right person with experience. Putting the Chihuahua on Craig's List is not the answer.

It is not fair to your neighbors to be tortured day in and day out by your barking dog. You don't have the time to properly train it. What is the solution?

You could put it to sleep, a horrifying thought. You can try to re-home it. Good luck with that. You could surrender it to a no kill shelter, but what happens to these dogs that they can't find a home for? You could dump it on the street like the previous owner probably did because they couldn't handle it either. Again, a horrifying decision.

This is the grim reality for impulse play things that weren't thought out and discovered that it wasn't so much fun after all. The Yorkie was given to me at 5 months old and I was the third owner already. I'm still undoing the damage the Chihuahua did just being here for a week. Evidently Joe Joe Nightmare thought it was perfectly fine to pee on the bed spread in the guest bedroom. Buddy did it, why can't I? He will be eating his dinner on that spot for the next week. We were set back a few weeks because of our guest.

You have a great heart for taking in that stray chihuahua, and I loved the one I had before my two boys, even though he was probably the worst dog I ever had. Joe Joe Nightmare is a close second and a constant work in progress. We only agreed to take him because John was a couple of months away from retiring.

I just got off the phone with one of besties that has two Chihuahua's. Yep double trouble and at nearly two years old they are still crapping all over and barking, barking, barking.

We were working when we had Gomez our long haired chi, but he was crated until he was house broken. He was brought into doggie jail at the police department and John brought him home for me. It took almost two years to house break him. I felt bad for leaving him crated for 8 hours, but it's better then having him in a shelter, or physically abused by someone who did not have the patience for something so high maintenance.

I don't know what to tell you about your chi. I understand how attached you get. I cried for days when Gomez left at the ripe old age of 16. He was both a joy and a curse.

[OhBeeHave]

I have Jack Russell Terriers. Terriers are natural born diggers and we wound up with both chain link and invisible fencing. The correction on the invisible fence was set high enough that the dogs will not stay near the fence long enough to start digging.

The other option is a chain link dog run with concrete base. Put a doghouse inside for shelter, and make sure the top of the run is chain link to keep out hawks or other birds of prey.

Personally, given your work hours, I would suggest contacting a local rescue to re-home him.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Easy fix. Buy a roll of 1 inch chicken wire, lay it on the ground, pull it up so part of it is on the fence. Fasten it to the fence. Leave at least a foot of it laying on top of the ground, but more is better. Weight it down with a few rocks or bricks.

The dog won't be able to dig through the chicken wore and I have never yet had a dog figure out how to go out past the edge of the wire and tunnel under the wire.

I use stucco wire because it is heavier weight than chicken wire. I buy a 3 foot roll and have 1 foot up the fence and 2 feet laying on the ground.

[RyanR]

Get an invisible fence. That will keep the dog on your property.

You really need to stop the barking as well. They have bark collars for that.

[riaelise]

I'm not going to demonize you like some are doing. What I see is just a guy who thought he was doing the right thing by taking a dog in only to have reality set in. The dog needs attention and you can't give it to him. You can follow all of the suggestions above, but I think you really should re-home him and maybe get an older dog. Or maybe your lifestyle isn't conducive for dogs and you might look into a cat or something. The dog is young and that breed is high energy.