I have a Pug that bites the blooms off the smaller roses that she can reach. I'm hoping that the dog will outgrow this or that the roses will outgrow the dog. It's another part of my world.

Robert

Spraying some cayenne pepper on the rose may deter your dog (for a while). But that's not really teaching him to leave your roses alone.

You may want to give this a try, but remember, it won't happen overnight, you have to be persistent, and reward him when he's good: Before letting your dog out, attach a fishing line to his collar. The dog won't really see it or know that it's there. Make sure it's long enough so he can go and explore as far as he does without a fishing line attached. As soon as you see him nibbling on your plants firmly tell him "no" and pull him back at the same time. Do this every time he goes out.

Yes, it's time consuming, but your dog will actually learn that you don't approve of him eating flowers, and since most dogs only want to please us, he'll stop.

Good luck.

---
Wendy

As Wendy says, some training is in order. The pup needs to know the roses are your "territory" and he's not to touch them. You've given him initial positive reinforcement by being amused the first few times, but that needs to stop with consistant "no!"s from now on.

I've had your problem but rabbits, racoons and neighbors cats have eaten my whole plant down to the roots dead ! For two years eventhough all the books tell you to use kitchen garbage and fish emulsion as compost I haven't done that and I have gorgeous blooms and plants.
I have a trick though for your dog which helped stop my dog from wetting on the carpet when he was a baby, I put a bit of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle and sprayed his back NOT THE EYES ! when I caught him lifting his leg and it only took one try WOW!!! Well the other day the neighbors cat was laying smack in the middle of my garden and out came the spray and got her back good and I haven't seen her in my yard since. Now if I could only keep the animals from going on my grass..

I wonder if your dog is jealous of the attention given to the roses? I've had dogs be destructive of items I spent inordinate time on while I was away at work.

If that isn't a possibility, I also wonder about diet. I have a dog that eats all the rose hips she can find. When I prune, she follows me around and hoovers any red hips. One day, while I was eating a salad, I put the bowl down on the ottoman to speak on the phone. While I was one the phone, the same dog ate my whole salad, dressing and all. I took that as a clear sign that this dog, at least, needs more greens and fresh veggies. She gets carrots and apple wedges as treats. I feed a good dog food, and she isn't starving by any stretch. I think it's just her particular need. Rose hips are high in Vitamin C. I don't know about the blooms, but I imagine they are high in nutrients. Just a crazy idea. I'd hate you to be disciplining your dog for satisfying some nutritional need.

Our Jacob used to go around pulling hips off of roses. He didn't eat them tho. Just played with them.

As he matured, he apparently found other toys much more attractive.
Other than occasionally crashing through roses in pursuit of imagined prey, he pretty much ignores them.

But, at our house, in a choice between a dog and a rose, the dog would win, hands down.

Jeri

When we took our first puppy to obedience class, we were taught a technique that has helped us in thousands of situations since. The trainer told us to take all of Kelsey's toys and some of our socks, shoes, and other items that we didn't want Kelsey to touch and put it all together in a big pile on the floor. We were armed with lots of treats and sat down with her to play a game. We handed her one of her toys, she took it, we said, "Good girl," and she got a treat. We held up a sock(or other 'unavailable' item), she reached for it and we pulled it away, saying, "Mine," and gave her a treat. We worked our way through the pile. Needless to say, she had lots of treats which she loved, and she learned that when we say, "Mine," it means hands-off. We didn't even have to train our second puppy as Kelsey did all the work.

They're so good about no harm to the roses that if they get stems or canes in their ears while chasing a ball, they don't even attempt to remove them. Instead, they come to me and stand quietly while I remove the tangle. Sometimes, I mix "Leave it" with "Mine." Both are effective.

Hope this helps. I'm charmed by the image of a pup sniffing a rose and being drunk on the perfume.

Sue

Our border collie kept ours pruned last year, but after having grown up and having big girl surgery, she has not noticed them. Maybe she just lost that teething thing. She has been hard to break from digging in a certain part of the rose beds, however. She knows better and she will not do it when I am around but in the afternoons when I am busy (and she knows), she wants to go outside and then next morning, I find her favorite hole dug again. Even putting dog poop in the hole has failed to stop her.

My French bulldog, Annie, is about ten years old so I decided to get her a little sister to come along behind her. Annie seemed to have been born house trained and never chewed anything, but not little sister. Willa loves to chew--I mean anything; however she is better after her big-girl surgery. We try to keep her in chewing material so she will leave thing alone. Willa likes to chew wood so she drags sticks around when I am out in the garden. Try giving her something other than dog toys...a stalk of celery, a carrot, or just a sitck. Willa understands NO most of the time; she and the fly swatter had a little talk about chewing my table leg. We haven't managed COME yet. When she takes out toward the horses in the pasture, I have to quickly offer doggie biscuits to get her back. Love my pets!!!

I had a golden retriever who ate the roses when she was a puppy. She seemed to outgrow this at around 2 years old. She was a very sweet, but highly nervous dog. She stopped 'pruning' the roses at about the same time she calmed down a bit. I do know that training with postive reinforcement can help. Good luck!

My dog hates water. Hates it. The squirt bottle is my most effective discipline tool with just plain water in it. She's well aware of the boundaries of the garden now!

My cats are fascinated with roses and will chew on any that are in a vase or potted. They especially love to smell the fragrant ones. I'm guessing that they enjoy the flowers as much as we do, and they must find the leaves extremely tasty.

A squirt bottle of water CAN work, (very well, in fact), but only if the pet doesn't realize it is coming from you (found this out later from my vet). They have to think it is from their actions only. Otherwise they are "good" when you appear, but will sneak behind your back. My kitties all sneak.

I'm actually thinking of potting up a couple of roses just for them chew as much as they please. They're indoor kitties, so maybe there is something beneficial in the roses that they need. They probably chew on plants in the wild.

I feel about my kitties like Jeri does about her dogs. They're part of our family.

Sandy

Baxter ate multitudes of roses in my garden. They do tend to outgrow it and in the meantime you can try the pepper thing, but grit your teeth and prepare to correct it verbally. By the way, Francis is a particular favorite of all rose eating dogs. I rescue Great Pyrenees and they head straight for that rose everytime.

Jean

Not my dogs, although they like to play in my rose gardens. They understand that my roses are off limits. My cats seem to like to eat my roses, that's why they are indoor cats.

Dogs are "man's best friend" because they live to please you. If you punish them, whether it's with a fly swatter, pepper or a spray of water, you do nothing more than make them afraid of you or sneaky. They don't grasp your point. It's important to think about training ourselves to understand how to motivate them to please us - if you don't want them to do something, provide them with a better alternative or teach them something that's within their grasp, like a simple and direct command (one that's unthreatening and clear in meaning). If you're having some trouble grasping the concept (as I certainly did when I began raising our dogs), check out an animal behaviorist or trainer. There are so many that are excellent. I cringe when I think of all the dogs that are punished because we as their owners are unsure of how to teach, regardless of our good intentions.

Sue

don't know about the roses, but perhaps if you mixed in some large venus fly traps or pitcher plants?

Dogs are "man's best friend" because they live to please you.
Sue

*** Ah Sue.
I knew I loved you.
Miss Brisa thanks you -- and Mr. Jacob would, if he were a nicer "person".

Jeri

We worked so hard this spring with new landscaping and a new rose garden. I always walk the grounds early every morning because it gives me a great sense of joy to see things growing and thriving. I had my First Lady of Shalott blossom and considered photographing it but did not. Next thing I know, the petals are chewed and pieces are on the ground next to the plant. My 15 month old lab had ravaged it. A few days later, a second bloom and same thing. I use fish emulsion fertilizer so now my pup is attracted to the garden (which is non-toxic to her) and chews the mulch. I will try the bitter apple spray first and if this is unsuccessful, I will sacrifice a few blossoms to capsicum spray. Eventually there should be hundreds of blossoms at once and hopefully, she will outgrow this taste for roses.

The fish emulsion is non-toxic to my dogs and best for roses as well so a no brainer.