A preplexing dog behavior

Hello, I'm kind of new here. I did post a while back. My DH and I got a dog on the side of the road, she ended up having parvo, we did everything thing we could and miraculously she made it thorugh. She's a very sweet girl, Sydney, but lately we've been having some problems with her behavior. We had this little tree planted in the backyard. For months, she's never paid any attention to it at all. Three days ago, out of the blue, she dug it up. My DH took her over to it, said NO, gave her a slight spank on the rump (nothing to dramatic), and replanted the tree. Yesterday, she dug it up again and this time completely destroyed the tree - tearing it into little pieces. Again, my DH took her over there, said NO, gave her a slight spanking, and filled in the hole. This morning I put Sydney out again for an hour or so, she dug up the same spot. There's nothing there at this point. Why does she keep doing this??? She's an indoor dog, but I do let her out for an hour or two to play outside. She always has water, I just can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

Sometimes I have found that there is strange behavior that we as humans just can't understand! It's a dog thing !

Something about that tree just made your dog dig it up!! Spanking or trying to "discipline" a dog anytime more than a nanosecond after the act is totally fruitless!

Forget about the tree this year! Put a big inverted clay pot (or something large enough and heavy enough) over the spot where it had been - and let it be until next spring!

Maybe there were grubs in the ground that the pup thought were interesting, or maybe the sapling was planted with a manure or compond that was interesting - or maybe the sight of a little stick popping out of the ground was just too much fun to look at - and your little guy just wanted to play with it.

Personally, my daughter has brought home may little arbor day trees - and none of them have ever survived my dogs --- they pulled them out of the ground and destroyed them just like yours did. I think it is just a dog thing!

Good job nursing your pup back to health. It takes a lot of courage to help a pup get through parvo.