How do I get my dogs to stop digging up my flowers and other landscaping plants?

I have 2 dogs. One is a 2 year old Rotty and the other is a 4 year old rotty mix. Both are VERY sweet dogs. They have taken to digging in my flowers though. I plant them they dig them back up. Last year I planted a few trees and the Rotty actually unearthed my trees and used them like a chew toy! We have 3 acres and it is all fenced in with invisble fence. They have a LOT of toys out in the yard, plenty of bones and they always have food and water. When it is nice outside they are outside while we are at work. If it is wet or snowing they stay in the garage while we are at work. All in all they are outside or in the garage for 2-4 hours daily. The rest of the time they are with us in the house or outside with us. How do I stop them? They can't feel THAT neglected... I would consider them very spoiled doggies. They are rarely alone! Could this be anxiety? Any help would be apprecitaed. Thank you!

How do I get my dogs to stop digging up my flowers and other landscaping plants?
I put up that black plastic 1" mesh fencing you can get at Tractor Supply, Lowe's %26amp; Home Depot. I also sprayed my plants with Texas HOT pepper sauce... I bought the largest, cheapest one I could find at the grocery, and it worked. Bitter apple did NOT deter my girl who LOVED to pull up my plants to chew both roots and leaves.



I did also have to put that fencing around my young trees. They don't feel neglected. They JUST have a STRONG NEED TO CHEW! @-%26gt;--
Reply:I don't think it's that they are feeling neglected. When you're gone they probably just get bored and think it's fun to dig in the dirt and play with new stuff. Try buying the small pickett fences at hardware stores or even Walmart. I use a thin metal one in my yard where I don't want the dogs to get into. Yes mine are large enough to hop over but when I first put it up I made sure to always be out there and when they'd hop over it I'd tell them "NO!" I did this for a few weeks and now the dogs don't even care to go over there. But this might not work for all dogs, especially those left unsupervised for a few hours... it may be too tempting but it's worth a try and it's not expensive at all.
Reply:Consider running the Invisible fence around the flower beds.



It that doesn't work, you could put up a small ornamental fence around the beds to keep them out. AND go outside with them and correct them.



I have 5 dogs, 4 are labs. They like to RUN through my flower beds. It's a constant battle but the small fence did solve the problem for us.



EDIT: It's not anxiety, it's boredom. Mine did that when they were bored or while they were playing with each other. They didn't pay attention to where they ran.



More toys, more supervision and less time out alone =).
Reply:Well my two Rotwialers did the same thing. So we got them trained, now they are the best behaving dogs I know.