I feel your distress. I lost two of my favorite roses before I realized what was happening. They were fine one day, then the next day their blossomed heads hung low and stared at the ground. Upon closer inspection, I found the holes in the area of my roses. I dug one up and sure enough the roots had been completely severed and chewed up to the base.

I refuse to use poisons as they can harm or kill unwanted targets. So, I did a bunch of research and decided on a Macabee trap. It kills quickly and more humanely than other methods. When I got to the hardware store, they didn't have a Macabee, but they had a Victor trap (I think they're nearly identical). I followed the instructions for installation and had my gopher the first day. It killed quickly without undue suffering on the animal. I don't like to kill things and do my best to live with nature, but I exhausted all other alternatives with this little devil.

The rest of my vegetable garden and roses are safe. The two injured roses are rehabbing in pots with some rooting hormone. Fingers crossed they'll survive.

I recommend the physical trap kill method, because poisons are indiscriminate and live traps (if you release the live gophers/moles) just create problems for other homeowners (damaging their garden) and other wildlife (may displace another non-damaging animal) .

And, sorry I didn't answer your question. I have three prey-driven dogs. None of them were any help. They have complete run of the area and were unsuccessful. However, it doesn't mean yours won't be successful. Could they be harmed? I suppose it's possible by a bite or a scratch. Although, there are plenty of farm cats and dogs that have done this for generations with nary a scratch. I don't know about disease transmission (rabies, leptospirosis, etc.)

I agree with Socrmom06 that using the traps mentioned is better than poison. It really works. Today I too have a rose bush soaking in a bucket of water due to gopher attack.

Kasie

The dogs will dig up the lawn much more than a gopher, and develop bad habits. I would not encourage them to go after the rodent.

Are you sure it is a mole and not a gopher? For gophers, I use the green painted metal steel traps they sell at Lowe's. They are constructed well and are easier to set than the plain galvanized metal ones. I follow the directions that come with the traps and have great success. The barbs get them right through the lungs, so they do not suffer like they would from poison.

I have never had a mole. I imagine there is a similar trap made to catch them.

Renee

I use the Macabee trap for gophers with great success. You've received good advice here. The only other thing I would add is that others recommend you leave the dead mole/gopher buried in the hole to deter others from moving in. I haven't done this mostly because I haven't trapped recently, but plan to.

How do you know it is a mole? Moles and Gophers are two different animals.

Moles make a ripple in the surface of the soil. Gophers make piles of loose soil on the surface. Moles eat grubs and earthworms. They may disturb plants but they don't eat them. Gophers eat plant roots and come up at night and eat plant tops. Racoons dig up plants, there will be gouges in the soil like a motorcycle making a "rooster tail". Possums will dig around too, but mostly they eat fruit, snails and slugs, (snail and slug eating a good thing).

Since you have dogs, DO NOT USE POISON. It can kill a dog as easily as a gopher or mole.

Even worse if you poison rats or other animals like that and one of your dogs or cat (if you had cats) eat the poisoned animal, they will also die. It happened to a friend of mine. He lost his cat.

I think Lynne was clear they will NOT use poisons. I believe they're looking for alternatives and wonder about their dogs ability to solve their problem and their dogs' relative safety.

Hi, just chiming back in to thank you for the advice and give an update.

We did buy a couple of mole traps, but my husband said they were pretty much junk, and didn't think he'd even be able to set them effectively. We asked friends with the same breed dogs we have and their advice was to let the dogs do what dogs do.

Fortunately, though, we haven't had a recurrence of the damage. There's no more evidence that the mole is still out there. I read somewhere that human urine might deter a mole, so I had DH get out there that evening and pee on our lawn... who knows if THAT's what warded the mole off or if we're just lucky, but for now I'm knocking on wood and crossing my fingers that it was a one-time thing.... will let you know how it goes! :)

Funny, we haven't tried the human urine thing, but surely hubby will be amused by my request! LOL! Thanks for the idea :-p

Happy to hear your problem has been resolved.