How to stop my dog from hunting bugs indoors
Dogs obsessed with hunting, digging for, and eating insects indoors can become fixated to the point of refusing to come inside, tearing up surfaces like windows, and spending hours hunting invertebrates. This behavior prevents them from settling down and can turn into destructive habits like scratching or biting at walls and windows.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
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How to stop my dog from hunting bugs indoors
- 1Using robot bugs meant for kids or catsDid this help you?
- 2Trying a wobble feeder or a hexbugDid this help you?
- 3Setting up an indoor dig box filled with torn-up cardboard or old rags with hidden treatsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“And then we saw it...it was still somewhat alive but all of its limbs were gone and it was down to just...the...shell...DID WE TEACH HER THIS???? DID WE CREATE THIS MONSTER???????”source ↗
“I’ve a collie x lurcher who is on a mission to mass murder every invertebrate in the vicinity. Is there any toys to simulate this?”source ↗
“she doesn’t want to come in since there’s crane flies out. She’s also starting to dig in hopes of finding more wiggly things”source ↗
“We’ve a disabled dog who digs and licks windows as a coping mechanism and unfortunately her little puppy brain has decided that’s going to be her role model. She doesn’t realise he’s licking it and spent yesterday biting our windows.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 42How to get a puppy to settle down indoors without barking
- 20How to keep palmetto bugs from coming upstairs from the attic
- 55How to get rid of tiny flying bugs coming out of wooden furniture
- 2Should I move my senior outdoor cat to an indoor apartment?