Eating Plants - New Garden

[Anthony_79]

Hi Everyone,

Up to this point, i havent had a garden in the back yard - new house. I commenced working on it over the weekend - Monday, and had a couple of plants in their pots which i just bought from Bunnings sitting in the back yard yet to be planted. I then went to work on Tuesday to come home to see the plants chewed up and all over the backyard. I'm thinking this will no doubt happen whether they are in the pots, or in the ground. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop a 6 month old staffy from ripping up my soon to be backyard without blocking it off?

Also, what plants arent dog friendly (makes them sick) which I should stay away from?

Thanking you in advance.

Cheers,

Anthony

[bikle]

It might be due to the potting mix.

Dogs love fresh potting mix and mulch because of all the decomposing nasties in it.

(especially bloody and bone).

As the soil ages, and the smell goes away, you will notice that they will pay less attention to it.

The only way to stop the from doing it is to supervise them, or remove the plants from their reach.

With the poisonous plants, you will find that a lot of them will be the ones, that when snapped, leak the white sap.

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/comlist.html << good site that shows all poinsonous plants and includes pictures.

[Anthony_79]

thank you...you have been a great help.

[Anthony_79]

what about the sprays sold in pet shops - citronella based - do they work? I intend to put the plants in the ground, so moving them wont be an option. any other ideas?

thanks,

Anthony

[shoemonster]

With the sprays and gels you have to replace them every few days, but they are meant to train them to stay away and then you can stop using them

You may actually find that when not in plastic pots the plants aren't as interesting anyway

My 2 run around my mums when we visit, and they steal her potted plants, tip the plant out and run around with the empty pots

[Dogs4Fun]

what about the sprays sold in pet shops - citronella based - do they work? I intend to put the plants in the ground, so moving them wont be an option. any other ideas?

thanks,

Anthony

I have used the citronella sprays to keep my puppy away from the BBQ: he ate two covers off it before I clicked to the citronella, but now leaves it alone.

But don't get the hideously overpriced tiny bottles from the pet shops. Go to a hardware store, and you can pay the same for a 5L bottle, with spray attachment. You WILL use a lot, as you will need to renew ever couple of days and after every rain.

[Miranda]

Garden, what's a garden Really if you want to have a nice garden and you have a puppy the only way to achieve this is to fence it off. As bikle said dogs are attracted to potting mix and freshly turned earth and anything new in the garden warrants investigation when you're just a puppy As your puppy matures she will (probably) become less destructive, but for the first couple of years she will probably pursue a 'scorched earth' policy, I have never owned a puppy who would ignore a newly planted shrub You will probably be able to keep her away from the plants when you're there, but if she's left in the yard on her own for a while and gets a bit bored believe me the new plants will be her first port of call.

The sprays and crystals that are sold in shops as dog deterrents only last a short time and produce mixed results, in other words they work better on some dogs than others, I have found that they work very well on cats, but not so well on dogs. You could give them a try, but I doubt that they'll be 100% successful in safeguarding the plants.

I wish you more luck than I've had

[Anthony_79]

With the sprays and gels you have to replace them every few days, but they are meant to train them to stay away and then you can stop using them

You may actually find that when not in plastic pots the plants aren't as interesting anyway

My 2 run around my mums when we visit, and they steal her potted plants, tip the plant out and run around with the empty pots

well from what i could tell...its the plastic pots she was after, had teeth marks all over it. thanks for your input, might give the spray a go. do you happen to know the brand / name of it?

[shoemonster]

There are a few brands at pet shops, maybe start with the citronella from the hardware store first, see if that helps first

But even before that I would see how she goes when they are planted, will you be planting them soon, is there anywhere else to put them til you do plant?

Least you know a good cheap toy now! A plastic pot plant lol

[Anthony_79]

Garden, what's a garden Really if you want to have a nice garden and you have a puppy the only way to achieve this is to fence it off. As bikle said dogs are attracted to potting mix and freshly turned earth and anything new in the garden warrants investigation when you're just a puppy ;) As your puppy matures she will (probably) become less destructive, but for the first couple of years she will probably pursue a 'scorched earth' policy, I have never owned a puppy who would ignore a newly planted shrub You will probably be able to keep her away from the plants when you're there, but if she's left in the yard on her own for a while and gets a bit bored believe me the new plants will be her first port of call.

The sprays and crystals that are sold in shops as dog deterrents only last a short time and produce mixed results, in other words they work better on some dogs than others, I have found that they work very well on cats, but not so well on dogs. You could give them a try, but I doubt that they'll be 100% successful in safeguarding the plants.

I wish you more luck than I've had

This is exactly what i was thinking / fearing. she wasnt interested in them all day Monday when i was about, and when we played around. i left for work at 8am on tuesday morning, had my dad ring me at 10am to let me know that the plants are no longer around

[Miranda]

This is exactly what i was thinking / fearing. she wasnt interested in them all day Monday when i was about, and when we played around. i left for work at 8am on tuesday morning, had my dad ring me at 10am to let me know that the plants are no longer around

Yep, that's exactly what I mean

[Anthony_79]

There are a few brands at pet shops, maybe start with the citronella from the hardware store first, see if that helps first

But even before that I would see how she goes when they are planted, will you be planting them soon, is there anywhere else to put them til you do plant?

Least you know a good cheap toy now! A plastic pot plant lol

I've sent you a PM / email.

yeah i'll do that, see what bunnings has first.

i have, i've moved them to a spot while i put some garden beds in place prior to planting.

cheap toy...they were 25 buck plants she ripped...50 buck toy that didnt survive

[Miranda]

If I were you I'd wait until she's a little older before doing any major garden design, maybe just plant a few robust shrubs at the moment and fence them off individually, leave the more delicate plants until later.

[Anthony_79]

There are a few brands at pet shops, maybe start with the citronella from the hardware store first, see if that helps first

But even before that I would see how she goes when they are planted, will you be planting them soon, is there anywhere else to put them til you do plant?

Least you know a good cheap toy now! A plastic pot plant lol

i sent you a PM / Email.

yeah ill go to bunnings...see what they have.

i have moved the plants to a spot where she cant get to them...i hope. once i've done the garden beds ill be planting them.

ahhh $25 plants each x 2...not a cheap toy...esp when they didnt last long ah well it looked like she had a ball.

[shoemonster]

Yeah but for the future, just buy her the empty plastic $2 pots

[Anthony_79]

Yeah but for the future, just buy her the empty plastic $2 pots

i think it reminded her of an empty coke bottle which she loves to play with.

funniest thing was, when i got home, opened the roller door, she usually runs up to say hello. this day, no hello, she ran out the flap door, tail b/w her legs, head down like she had done something wrong. i went to the back where all the mess was, and she usually follows me everywhere...she wouldnt go to have a look at it with me, nor would she look at me. was quite funny.

[Ellie]

When we brought our baby Cocker home at Christmas, OH and I went to Bunnings, bought some 1.5 metre high wire and tomato stakes and built a fence right around the perimeter of our garden bed in the back yard. We also put individual tree guards around a couple of new shrubs. So far she hasn't chewed anything in the garden. Oh, apart from my potted petunias and miniature roses on the back deck . Inside however is a different story. She's chewed through four computer cables and two others attached to the stereo system........plus a few other things.

Good luck!

Ellie

[Heidley]

Our breeders kept asking if we had a nice backyard, I was somewhat puzzled why they were so interested! Now I know why, Sampson loves running around, digging things up, draging sticks around etc. Luckliy we hadn't gotten around to doing much to the year as we'd always planned on ahving our fur kid! The few plants I did have from the previous owners are either not there anymore or in a rundown state now!

[Anthony_79]

Our breeders kept asking if we had a nice backyard, I was somewhat puzzled why they were so interested! Now I know why, Sampson loves running around, digging things up, draging sticks around etc. Luckliy we hadn't gotten around to doing much to the year as we'd always planned on ahving our fur kid! The few plants I did have from the previous owners are either not there anymore or in a rundown state now!

there are options. just depends how much effort you want to put into it. i can fence it off and the problem will solved...but i dont want to do that initially.

[Paganman]

My dogs did this when they were young, I have a staffyx and a bitsa and the staffyx was destruction on legs, but theyre old now and don't do it anymore.I think when theyre puppies theyre real inquisitive and full of life and energy and get bored easy and that's why they do it.

Chris