SO frustrated with the puppy!

We adopted a puppy from the animal shelter just over a month ago. Up until the last week he has mostly left the gardens alone. Now he is suddenly digging in them and today he dug up and beheaded a broccoli that was FINALLY about ready. Yesterday I sprinkled ground red pepper in the beds...definitely didn't work.

Oh dear, puppy needs a run. good luck, you will prevail with the puppy!

Oh boy! Puppy needs a job I commend you for giving the pup a home I wish I could give you some advice but I can't. You could try to put him on a leash and every time he goes towards the garden, lead him away. I have used stakes and string to make markers in the past. Lead the dog around and when you get to those points turn away. Eventually, (with any luck ) the pooch will learn its boundaries. At least while you are looking

Ellie ,

Your post made me smile , I have had to take precautions ....

Our pooch never now has free run of the garden , he's always on a leash with me or laid by me with his leash dropped onto the floor and he's under the command to lay & or stay .

He is a 20 month old head banger of solid muscle , he's a blue merle working sheepdog first cross with a working golden retriever gundog, weighing in at 33 kilo ( 72 pounds ) . He is 38 inches high when sat , he'd trash everything including the £2,000 glasshouse in seconds if he had freee roaming rights.

plantoid wrote:Ellie ,

Your post made me smile , I have had to take precautions ....

Our pooch never now has free run of the garden , he's always on a leash with me or laid by me with his leash dropped onto the floor and he's under the command to lay & or stay .

He is a 20 month old head banger of solid muscle , he's a blue merle working sheepdog first cross with a working golden retriever gundog, weighing in at 33 kilo ( 72 pounds ) . He is 38 inches high when sat , he'd trash everything including the £2,000 glasshouse in seconds if he had freee roaming rights.

I am almost ready to go on the hunt for a new dog to live with me. I lost my best companion of 16 years last April

My dogs are fenced out of the graden and are not allowed in ever. At well over 100 lbs each my garden would also be trashed.

I had a rottweiler and a spaniel and I had to put fencing in each box. Just the cheap low white stuff, but t worked.

You can kind of see it at the end of this box:

Here is a more upclose look:

Years ago I had a dobie who had to be accompanied in the garden. Tennis balls were the best toys in her judgement and she was so please to find them growing in on vines the back yard, even if they didn't bounce too well.

When I first caught her picking them (she never damaged the vines) tossing them in the air and catching them I had to turn my back so she could not see me smiling. It was just too funny. I miss that tomato picking dog.

When I first caught her picking them (she never damaged the vines) tossing them in the air and catching them I had to turn my back so she could not see me smiling. It was just too funny. I miss that tomato picking dog.

Shannon, I think a dogs mouth is amazing. Our boxer will sometimes sneak an egg from the basket when the kids are collecting. She can run around and play with that egg forever and not break it...guess I'm easily impressed

Camp, its tough. We lost both of our beagles from old age within the same year. At first we were really torn about getting a new pup or dog. For some reason you almost feel guilty, but there are so many great animals out there that need a good home, and once you have them, you realize how much of a void they fill. You need a new pooch

nKedrOoStEr wrote:...snip.... At first we were really torn about getting a new pup or dog. For some reason you almost feel guilty, but there are so many great animals out there that need a good home, and once you have them, you realize how much of a void they fill. You need a new pooch

So sorry for your pain Camp. I waited almost 10 years before I took another chance on puppy love. When the time is right the thought will not go away. God himself takes the time to connect us to the perfect pal.

Boy, does this bring back memories! Many years ago I had a wonderful golden retriever that was taught the garden was off limits, but he figured any fruits on the very edge that was just sitting there were fair game. He'd walk along and snatch is victim off while he sauntered by. He did have the guilty look when caught on it, though. I sure miss him!

I heard the coolest story the other day from a customer at my part time job at a local drugstore. I thought this was the thread to share it. Two customers were talking with me about dogs and this man said he'd had his dog for over 7 years and he and his family loved it. He went to the county animal shelter and asked them to see the next dog on the list to be euthanized. They brought him the dog. He adopted it. The rest is history. Isn't that just amazing?

PS - My cattle dog mixes love to chew on/eat MM. Maybe it's the peat moss because they eat my blueberry soil as well? I'm thinking of just fencing off a corner of my yard and putting all pots and beds there. I liked Choppers idea a LOT, and it would work for all my shorter legged dogs, but I don't know if it would stop the 3 year old lab or not...but she's also the smartest and would probably stay out if I worked with her a little. Can you tell I'm a fellow puppy-lover?

Forgot to mention as an older pup he thoroughly enjoyed picking up my Northern lights azalea up by the roots and proudly dropped it in the middle of the drive way and gave me a big smile, like "See Mom!" Amazingly, after after six uprootings he finally learned and the planted actually LIVED!

A short fence might just do the trick. Any type of barrier is sometimes enough to discourage a dog from entering the beds.

We have my son's golden retriever and my short-legged corgi and they won't go into the 12" high raised beds, but the unlumbered berms for the strawberries and asparagus are fair game. I've often found Daisy, the golden, happily lying in a fresh dug spot in the asparagus bed. That fresh cool soil is hard to resist. I'm thinking taller chicken wire fencing for that bed this year.

My only dog I have ever been able to let out without a leash is now 14 yrs old...a cockerpoo we found on the road at three months old...she Never got into any raised bed..but let you have a normal row garden lol..she loved them..never tore them up..just loved to roll in the aisles...

Now she has arthritis too bad to be able to even get in the raised bed...

Two years ago we had to put our 14 yr old husky/wolf down..was NEVER gonna have another outside/big dog! Then last March went to humane society with daughter. cause SHE wanted to look...couldnt help it!

Told them I wanted to see the BIG dogs...yup they were all for it lol...came home with an 80 lb australian shepard! Chase now weighs about 60 lbs lol..He is much healthier and I have a dog outside..just didnt feel right to have a huge yard and no dog in it lol..

BUT he digs lol...so cable tieout... He had no training so we are still working on the leash stuff

Chopper wrote:I had a rottweiler and a spaniel and I had to put fencing in each box. Just the cheap low white stuff, but t worked.

I tried that with my Chihuahua/Border Terrier X rescue and it didn't stop her one bit. Not only did she dig in the garden, but she found at least 4 other places in the yard...generally under shrubs...where she dug, and dug, and dug then settled her little heinie in the hole for a proper snooze. You cannot believe the amount of damage that little 20 pounder did, so now she's verboten without the leash as plantoid does.

Lol. All these stories are great! Makes you wonder why we love the little critters so much. Guess some of us just have a soft spot in our hearts for the creatures that love us unconditionally.

Even though they dig up our yards, poo on our carpets and try to eat our furniture

nKedrOoStEr wrote:Lol. All these stories are great! Makes you wonder why we love the little critters so much. Guess some of us just have a soft spot in our hearts for the creatures that love us unconditionally.

Even though they dig up our yards, poo on our carpets and try to eat our furniture

Well who can resist when they look this cute?!?!?

That is a fine lookin pooch!

Luci.....I couldn't pass that one up either.

In 2004 when my toy poodle passed, I told myself no more dogs. They break your heart. Well, early in 2006 I saw a 4-mo old corgi who's days where numbered. No one wanted her because she tinkled when you spoke to her. She got so excited she rolled over and wet. No one wants a dog that will ruin their rugs. Well, my apt has slate floors so right away I thought I could handle that until she was trained, so I took her home.



I just couldn't resist that darling foxy face.

Taken last month. Today she's over 6 and the best thing in my world. And no tinkling problems since she was a pup so I made the right decision.

Here is my Roxie girl, aka Roxanne when she is in trouble


Here is Roxie and Logan. My daughters Corgi QB!


When they were puppies:

Hey Roo!........Roxie and Logan are sooooo darling! My son's Bro-in-law has 2 boxers, one 9 and a new pup to grow with the kids. They are great family dogs. Love the pics.

My Katie the dog, aka Katie the 93lb lapdog who thinks she's a cat... was funny when she was about 6 months old, (still is) I had Hungarian Yellow Hot Peppers growing in pots on the deck. Katie LOVED eating the peppers right off the plant... strangely enough she won't touch hot peppers now, I wonder why?

She's almost 5 yrs old now and I will be taking her into my veggie garden this year as I build it and trying to teach her NOT to go across the beds. However, the first time she chases a Chipmunk or a Squirrel across the garden, out she goes! And she'll not be allowed back in... except on a leash...lol

Aran

Here is Merle the gangliest " Yoof " in town .

He hears & understands all I say , then chooses to ignore it .

He's not such a bad pooch for he's starting to turn into a failry sound dog till next doors Mutt is let loose in their yard to yap itself silly.

That rubber chew in the middle picture that he has just dropped and is in mid air is a " Kong extreme XXX " weighs about four pounds of very tough rubber , it's usually for a Saint Bernard sized dog .. Merle can easily trash one into 1/2" chunks in less then two hours if he plays hard.