I've just had another idea - large rocks I can collect from the roadsides next to farmers' fields. I'd lose some planting space to them but this would not matter as long as they protect the clems from damage. I have yellow archangel/lamiastrum galeobdolon as a groundcover there so hopefully it would cover the rocks at least to some extent (the rocks would not look too pretty as they are round shaped, and I live in the flatlands where even properly designed alpine gardens appear a bit out of place). However the rocks would also cover the space where new clematis shoots are supposed to appear, growing straight from the rootball. What do you think?

Yet.. I am still at my wits end because he also digs through the flower bed in front of the clems. I have bunches of iris there and those are large enough to tempt him to pee at them. He would break the leaves and even scratch the rhizomes out of the soil :-/ I mean all the work I put into it - I just hate when he does that. I may end up with a permanent wooden log fencing around this flower bed if I do not want to lose the battle.

Regarding old tree branches I might arrange there to make it difficult for him to walk through them, they would need to be very big beacuse the dog is big and so my flowerbed would look messy. Worse, were they not big enough, he might not see them among the plants, trip and fall (if dogs ever fall?) and damage my plants even more.

Again, I will appreciate any ideas :-)

There is an electric fence made to keep pets contained, my son used this as a last resort to stop his dogs from leaving his property. The dogs wear collars with a receiver in them. The fence is buried with a few visible markers along the fence line. It didn't take long to train the dogs not to cross the line.
Now they don't cross the line, don't think they wear those collars any more and I also think the fence is shut down, but the markers are still there, the dogs see them and won't go near them. Before or if you try this check with your vet to see if this is advisable to use with your dog. This is just a suggestion, another option to an unsightly barricade.
We use to have a dog that ripped out everything I touched, a big Clematis she chewed off at ground level, I think it was February, it did come back but not until August. This same love of our lives, chewed up and destroyed 24 Mums I had just imported from King's. Wish those fences were around then.

A......

It's just a thought - are you putting bone meal? My dogs are always sniffing around the newly planted clematis.

There is a chemical that you can buy that encourages dogs to go where ever it is sprayed.

I know a guy who trained his dogs to go in one area of his yard. First he sprayed the stuff in the area, then he'd take them,leash,to the sprayed area to do their business. When finished, he'd give them a treat, then take off the leash. It didn't take long and the dogs only did their business in that one area.

Anna
What i do to help keep my doggie or other critters out of my beds is I buy fencing wire that has the 2x4 openings and cut it and then bend or hump it up and place it over my flower beds. I don't install it as a fence, but I lay it down over my bed, looks kinda like a tunel for the flowers to then grow up through the fencing, so far its worked for me.Cut the wire what ever the lentgh of the bed is and mound it over the bed. Flowers will so grown up through the wire and hide it and the wire will suport the flowers as they grow. When my doggie which is a 7 year old beagle startes to trot into by flower beds and runs right into the fence wire he turns right around and comes out nd looks at me like whatssss happening..works for me but can't say it will work for all doggies.

Hello Sandy

I thought about the same solution - mounding wire mesh over the bed at some well targeted height! It is not only the dog but also cats - my own cat and her several boyfriends - that do the damage. They scratch and dig and sunbathe there. It has been my experience that cats love neat flowerbeds, where the soil is freshly raked and the herbs smell so good in the sun. I have catmint planted here and there because it is one the few long flowering plants which grow easily in the poor soil that I have. I think yours is the most practical idea so far. I only wonder at what height to install the mesh because the cats are much smaller than the dog is - he is ca. 3' tall.

Hi Janet and A... - the electric collar and training the dog are both great solutions but unfortunately the dog belongs to my neighbours (relatives) who refuse to either put a collar on him or train him :-/ I really need to come up with some clever physical barrier.

The flowerbeds in question are not rectangular - they resemble semi-circles, perhaps 6' deep. There is a fence at the back, the clems up the fence, then some perennials towards the front and then small edging plats such as periwinkle, lady's mantle and golden oregano. Also tulips in between those. I am sure I could work out covering those with a tunnel shaped wire setup. This will not look too pretty now when only tulips leaf out from the bare soil - a tulip prison :-)

My only worry is that the dog will try to walk through the wire and will trip and fall on top of it, damaging my plants (he himself is indestructible ;-). But this is a very good idea, even though I will have to actually buy the wire.

Thank you for your responses !

One more thought, how about a motion detection sprinkler ?

A......

We have our big pond surrounded with a Fishock Fence. It is to deter raccoons and loose dogs and it works like a charm. The shock does not hurt them and they don't come back. It isn't attractive but will keep the dog off your Clems until they grow.

They are easy to set up and around $50 at Petco or a farm store. You don't want livestock electric fences, too strong of a charge.

This is cheaper than a Scarecrow, motion sensor sprinkler.

You didn't mention what you are using to amend the soil, but I suspect it has fishmeal, bonemeal, or something similar that is drawing them in. You might try something that has no odor that is appealing to animals, at least in this one area. I have to use granular fertilizer in the backyard as anything with manure, etc. drives my dogs crazy. They are usually sweet, well mannered dogs, but they go crazy if I open a bag of cow manure. They eat it like it is steak!

Thank you very much for all the suggestions!

I checked on the clematises today and they all seem to have recovered - one only to be eaten by snails ;-) The dog did break off last year's stems but - luckily - new stems emerged from the ground for each plant.

I thought of a simple device today, in fact only modified my original idea. I installed a small bamboo trellis at an angle of 45 degrees for each plant and attached it to the fence. I did not put the trellises between the plants and the fence the plants are supposed to grow onto, but in front of them, so that the base of each plant is "hidden" behind the trellis and only the upper part grows through it at the height of ca. 7 inches from the ground. I will increase that height in a couple of weeks when the plants get bigger.

Also, I kept my fence around the beds - I noticed the dog does not force himself through it unless I stop paying attention and let the fence lean a bit so that the clotheslines loosen around the sticks and begin to hang down invitingly. When the soil goes dry, one or two sticks fall and voila! he enters. Perhaps I will buy thin metal poles to replace the sticks - they are very cheap at the hardware store, and stand up much better.

I did not use bonemeal, and did use cow manure for those clems but I buried it deep in the soil. Who knows - maybe he can smell it. I think he mostly goes there to check out any new stuff (last time he entered when I left a pair of work gloves there!) and mark his territory. Now when he scratches at least it will be in front of the clems and not right through them. The trellises are new so I hope he can see them clearly, if not, I will try bigger and stronger ones.

Thanks again for your suggestions. A motion sensor sprinkler might be fun to watch :-) but I decided to try the cheapest possible solution once more.. I'll report on how well it worked.

Anna beth, here are some other things you can do. In addition to making it harder for the dog to get to the plants, you can... make a digging pit for the dog. Dogs often like newly planted or dug areas because soft dirt is SO MUCH FUN to dig in. A sandbox of his very own can give him an attractive and legal alternative. You need to teach him to go there. You can do this by (a) "salting" it with fabulous treasures, such as a raw bone or two each day for a couple of weeks, and (b) whenever you catch him wanting to get to an "illegal" spot, calmly lead him over to his pit and praise him for sniffing and digging there. You can also dig yourself -- this seems to be socially facilitated so dogs will often dig if we dig.

A motion activated sprinkler will only work if your dog does not like being sprinkled. Many dogs, especially Labs, Goldens, and some herding dogs, actually like the water.

Finally, if he is out in the yard unsupervised a lot, he is probably pretty bored and looking for remodeling projects to keep him occupied. Bringing him in the house, taking him to training class, and giving him more mental work will help overall.

"Finally, if he is out in the yard unsupervised a lot, he is probably pretty bored and looking for remodeling projects to keep him occupied. Bringing him in the house, taking him to training class, and giving him more mental work will help overall."

Such good advice, I wish all dog owners, especially my neighbors, would read and follow......

I'll add take him for long walks too.

I agree with the advice on how the dog should be cared for. I wish his owners did all those things. They are elderly people and claim to have no energy to do them, though. They found him hungry in the street years ago and he's been with them ever since..

The dog is also elderly now and very attached to his owners. They actually think he is allowed to do some damage once in a while as he is only an animal, and a large one too, seemingly of greyhound descent :-/, so he needs his space. His pen cannot be small - he needs a larger garden ;-) And he behaves the way they allow him to. They think I'm at fault for planting things where he can reach them. They do not mind our yard, including the front of the house, being a large dog pen, where he can do what he likes - damage plants, dig holes to sleep in on hot summer days etc. It's only me who wants tidy flowerbeds and gets upset when plants are broken. My neighbors consider themselves animal lovers and me - pain in the neck :-)

Actually I do not mind his digging holes either - the yard is still far from tidy, so he can have his hole under a barberry shrub. Just not right in my flowerbed where I worked hard and spent money on plants. I just need some clever protection for them - perhaps it will have to be a permanent wooden fencing.

Oh, Anna Beth, I didn't realize he wasn't your dog. :) It sounds like you are lucky to have your philosophical attitude about him, because things aren't likely to change too much. I wonder if he would go into a doghouse if you were to put one "inside" the barberry shrub? Maybe that would resolve his "needs." (Or not.)

I am an animal lover AND a gardener. My solution is that the dogs have a yard, which contains nothing but whatever grass will grow there, and I have the rest of the property for my plants. And of course my dogs are indoor dogs so they don't spend a lot of time being bored outside anyway.

Speaking of the dog yard, I must get out there and mow. It's not good when the grass is taller than the dogs.

Well, I know that when I planted bulbs in the fall (tulips) that my dogs LOVED digging them up, along with the squirrels and a skunk! I know exactly how it feels to spend a few hours playing in the dirt and have your dogs ruin it! I finally figured out why they kept digging up my bulbs.....BONE MEAL! I caught my puppy (7mo old) eating it out of the box two days ago, YIKES! She has also gotten ahold of my 1/2 full bag of compost and drug it around the yard, taking a bite now and then.

I have gotten into the habit of putting mothballs around things I plant with bone meal. If you mulch, put them under the mulch but don't bury them. If you don't mulch, I would try putting them about half-way pushed into the soil, so that they aren't so visible or so stinky from so far away ;) If nothing else, this is a $5 try, and its worked with about a 90% success rate for me. =)

I have 3 jack russells and all they do is dig. They destroy my flowers every year and spend the entire day trying to get out of the fenced yard. I am getting ready to put an electric fence around the entire yard to keep then in and also out of my flowers. I love these little dogs but enough is enough.

Mothballs - I have not thought of it! I will try them near the clems and particularly around my catmint plants. I wonder what the cats will do when they smell them? I have robinia twigs and larch twigs with cones (!) piled around and over the catmint so that the cats cannot roll in it but still once in a while they try to sneak through them. Just yesterday they broke off one of my 4 early blooming apricot iris stems, trying to get around the twigs to the catmint. The twigs are only a good protection if you fill the flowerbed with them to the point when the plants are hardly visible - this doesn't make much sense.

Nickelsmum - a doghouse inside a barberry bush? Ha! He has one, we had it built for him perhaps 5 years ago. We put it on the side of the barberry bush and the dog never goes inside. Instead, he digs a hole on the other side of the barberry and is very content to spend his time there, sleeping or watching us from under the shrub. That's the kind of a dog he is. Generally quiet and sweet but some things are just non-negotiable, like living in a doghouse (he is an indoor dog, too), sitting on request and not marking his territory.

Anyway, he seems less of a pest than some other dogs mentioned here. Also, we had another dog for a colleague to the present one, years ago. We had to give him away because he was barking his head off most of the time. He was an expensive, full blood hunting dog - had team-chasing-things-while-barking in his blood :-/ I thought I'd go mad when people were walking their dogs along our fence - which they do several times a day - and two huge dogs would chase them back and forth, barking like mad. I am glad THAT is over.

Thanks a lot for your kind words and ideas :-)

The only downfall of the mothballs is the smell, although that's what makes them work! You will only need a few...