I'm sorry to hear about that. I just started a garden last month right in one of my dog's favorite places to romp around in the yard. When I'd take him outside (he's mostly an indoor dog), I'd stand by the garden and whenever he'd get too close to it, I told him "No."

It only took a few times to train him to stay away from it, but then again he's no puppy. I've raised him since he was a puppy and he obeys about 80 percent of the time, which is enough to keep him out of the garden.

If your dog is mostly an indoor dog, then I suggest keeping a close watch on him when he's outside. If he's an outdoor dog, then I don't know what to tell you!

Carla,

I feel your pain. I have seven dogs and I love them dearly, but it is hard to garden with dogs. And I am not going to lie to you. It is very, very, very hard to keep a dog out of a garden area unless you use a fence.

Of the seven dogs we have, there is only one I really trust in the garden. His name is Biscuit and he walks and lies down in pathways and generally behaves. I have another one named Sheila who is old and completely deaf. She behaves pretty well, unless a deer walks by or a rabbit is hanging around. Then she will trample everything in her effort to go after the wildlife. Since she is now completely deaf, yelling "No, Sheila" is not as effective with her as it once was. Here's a few options.

1. Make your dog his own section of the yard. Fence it in, even if only with chicken wire or rabbit wire. I know this may be an expense, but it will save you money in the long run. Believe me, I know. Our dog yard is 30' x 30' and has two separate shaded areas, a wading pool, lots of dog toys, etc. Three of the dogs (black lab/terrier and black lab/rottweiler mixes) stay in this yard most of the time. I put the other dogs in there to play with them for a portion of the day. I also have two or three inches of straw mulch because the grass doesn't stand a chance in there and the dogs don't like mud. We do let them out to run and play ball but only when the garden gate is closed.

2. If making the dog his own yard is not an option, fence in the garden. You don't really have a choice. Gardens offer beautiful enriched soft soil that is fun to dig in. They may have amendments that smell really good to a dog, like bone meal and blood meal. (I have a dog who carries around every box of bone meal I buy and tries to bury it. I kid you not.) Dogs are gonna act like dogs. Your dog can probably be trained to stay out of the yard while you are around because, after all, he or she wants to please you. However, even my older dogs who are pretty good about minding me, will behave differently if they are outside and I am not. They walk on things and trample them, dig plants up, chew plants up, etc., etc., etc.

3. If the thought of a fence is not visually pleasing, you could consider electric fencing. We had to use an electric fence to keep one dog from digging under the wooden privacy fence when we lived in Fort Worth. Once he knew he would be shocked by the fence, he never dug again. After a while we turned off the electric fence and he never even knew it.

4. Invisible fencing is supposed to work well, esp. when professionally installed. It does involve the dog wearing the shock collar so he will get a jolt when he ventures over that underground wire. These systems are costly, but unobtrusive.

5. Some commercial dog repellents exist and some people have luck with them. You won't know if they work for you and your dog until you try them. Citrus peels supposedly repel animals from garden beds. So do 'unpleasant' mulches like pine cones or those prickly sweetgum balls from sweetgum trees, although they might repel you as well.

6. Don't let your dog watch you plant things. I have a terrier who will come into the garden and pull up a just-planted annual flower and proudly bring it to me. If I let her, she'll continue doing it until she has 'retrieved' everything I just planted. I think it is a game for her. Since learning she is prone to this, I make her stay inside the house, barn or dog yard when I am planting. She is also banned from stepping foot in the veggie garden because she likes to dig.

Finally, remember that they will behave differently at different times and under different conditions. All 4 of my older dogs can be trusted somewhat in the garden in the spring or fall, but in the summer you can't trust them at all. In the summer heat all they want is to dig out a nice cool hole so they can lie in the dirt and cool off. And, if there is a nice tall crop growing somewhere, like corn or okra or sunflowers, that will make them some shade, that is where they are going to dig.

I wish there was a simple, inexpensive solution, but there just isn't. The best solution is fencing, and it is also the most costly. If there is a Freecycle group in your area, you might pick up some fencing materials through it.

Dawn

Oh no Carla I am so sorry!
I think Dawn is right though there is not much to do except fence the garden. Chicken wire might do fine. That is what we used to keep our pets out when we lived in the country. But we had concrete curbing around it so my dog couldn't easily dig under it.

I am still having some problems with my cat getting into my beds but I think now that they are more full perhaps he will stay out. My moth balls didn't phase him one bit.

Dawn has given good advice. I just wanted to express my sympathy. I know how it is to lose plants to pets. Not funny at all.

G.M.

Hi Carla,

I feel so bad that all the viable solutions are expensive ones. I felt kind of heartless laying it out in such plain English, with no sugar coating, so I had to come back and express more sympathy. I am sorry that your four-legged bundle of energy is doing this to you and your garden.

Over the years I have tried so many different methods to keep animals (pets, farm animals and wild animals) out of the garden. What I have learned (and learned quite painfully) is that every time I have tried to go for the least expensive method, it has tended to be the least effective method. Then I have to do something else, and then something else......it ends up costing more in the long run. So, save yourself a lot of frustration and direct your efforts to what you think will work BEST the first time so you won't have to do something else a second or third time.

I think chicken wire might work, even at a height of only 2 or 3 feet. It worked for us for about 3 years before the dogs finally realized they could jump over it, and then we had to replace it with woven wire fencing.

If it is any consolation, think how much worse it could be. You could have walked out the door to see a herd of cows in your garden. (WHen it happened to me it was a LOT of cows.) Or even the neighbor's goats! There, don't you feel a little better now?

Dawn

Hi Carla,

Think of it like at least it is your dog. The neighborhood dogs and cats are having a great time in my front flower beds. What do you do with someone elses dog? You can train yours, I am just stuck by spending money on chicken wire plus the labor involved in laying it down. Then what do I do about the larger dogs that just use my shrubs as the urinal in the area? When I drove in the driveway this evening the large black cat that has suddenly decided it lives here was using my hosta and hydranga bed as his litter box. People may not like me but gosh the animals seem to adore me and my dirt.

So, your dog does sound awful cute. I love labs.

Have a good evening. Steffie

Dawn, what part of Oklahoma do you live in? Sounds much more exciting that Broken Arrow!

Tmelrose,

I live at the very southern edge of Oklahoma, in Love County, right between Thackerville and Marietta. As the road goes....I am about 10 miles from the Red River and the Oklahoma-Texas border. As the crow flies, I am less than 1/2 mile from the Red River.

I live in a fairly rural area. It used to be very, very, rural, but (and don't laugh it this, those of you who know this area!) we are now having a big population boom and I am getting new neighbors all the time. Land prices have GREATLY escalated these last few years, and there is no way we could afford the land we have now if we'd had to buy it at currant prices.

As the area around the WinStar casino is being developed more and more (a housing development with homes in the $350,000 price range is going in right between the casino and the Red River), the wildlife is moving more and more our way, so we're seeing more wild things all the time.

A lot of people south of Thackerville have sold their land to developers and land speculators and are moving up our way if they can find available land.

We do still have neighbors with lots of farm animals like cattle, horses, chickens, turkeys, quail, guineas, and goats. Every now and then some of these farm animals 'escape' and then the chase is on to get them put up before they eat someone's garden or get hit by a car.

Last year we were on the receiving end of repeated visits from one particular herd of cows. Other than the fact that they were milling around in the road in front of our place, they really weren't a problem for us. The hard part was figuring out where they came from, because none of our neighbors were missing any cattle! And, you would see them one minute...and run to the house to get someone to come help you herd them out of the road....and when you came back out, there would not be a cow or bull in sight. Not one. But they always left behind little piles of evidence.

The Great Mystery of the Disappearing Cow Herd was finally solved when I found them in our swamp one day. Turns out they were coming from a ranch a mile or so from us as the crow flies. Somehow they were getting from their place onto the place just west of us. That ranch (now a weekend place for folks from the Dallas area) had a damaged water gap gate over the creek that runs through their property and ours. The cows were traveling about 1/4 mile through that creek and then out onto the roadway near us. Once we had it figured out, we notified the owner and he found and fixed the problem area and we haven't had a cow problem since.

With all the wildlife around us, sometimes it seems like I spend my whole day trying to keep the wild things from destroying something or somebody. I love, love, love all of the wildlife, though, so we try to peacefully co-exist with them. But, I have to tell you, all these wild and domesticated animals keep things hopping.....every day around here is pretty much a circus or a zoo, and I never know what to expect. :)

Dawn

I have cats that are inside and outsides cats and of course they all want to be out with mama when I am gardening. I am learning ways to discourage them from my garden and I am learning to adapt. The good thing is that I have so many beds that I am starting that I can usually put some object in the way of my seedlings that they will just move to an empty bed to do their business. It's still frustrating though.

My problem are the two raccoons that have taken up residence behind my house in the woods. I live on the outskirts of town in Hall Park and my house backs up to a running trail and miles of wilderness. Anyway, I planted early strawberries and could not wait to try the first 6 that were just getting ripe enough. I got up this morning to do my usual stroll with coffee in the yard and guess what? The 6 strawberries that I had been anticipating were gone. The raccoons did not hurt the plants at all. They picked them rather expertly. lol I will have a lot of strawberries later so I hope they can't eat them all and will save me some but I see that I might have a problem. Does anyone (Dawn) have advice? Do they eat tomatoes? I am planning a bed for grapes next year. What do I do?

Well for now the dog is on a long dog runner type of thing. I thought that all was well until I could get some other fix... the pigs decided to prove me wrong today while I was not home LOL! Apparently the were out for awhile because they visited the veggie and flower gardens.

Nothing to bad happened a trompled tomatoe and some up rooted petunias. And a nice place walowed out in a low spot.
A friend happened to visit while I was gone and put them away before I could even get home! I missed all the fun :)

Carla

Carla, Pigs? Oh, good heavens, if it is not one thing then it is another, isn't it? Pet pigs, like potbellies, or domesticated swine? I'm glad the damage was minimal.

Julie, Raccoons are very, very, very difficult to manage. We usually trap them in a live animal trap using canned cat food as bait. Then we drive out into a very remote area where there are very few homes, and those homes are few and far between, and we release the coons near a creekbed that is not close to anyone's home.

After trapping, the most effective deterrent is an electric shock fence. You want the kind that is meant for dogs and small garden pests, not the stronger ones used for cattle.

You may be able to find one at the local feed store or hardware store or at a home center store like Lowe's or Home Depot. I've linked one type of such fencing below to give you an idea of what to look for.

There are some commercial repellents on the market and some people have had success with the products. The downside is that they are not consistently effective and must be reapplied often (after rain or after you water the garden.) For what it is worth, the only repellents that have ever worked for us are the predator urine ones, and they are not 100% effective.

The only other solution is to build a two-tiered fence. Using fence posts that stick up about 5 or 6 feel above ground, attach one 3 or 4 foot tall tier of woven wire fencing. Attach a second tier of a flimsier fencing atop that first tier. Overlap so there is no gap between the two. The flimsier fencing should stick up about 2 feet ABOVE the top of the fenceposts. As the raccoons climb the fence, the flimsier part will buckle and dump them back down onto the ground. They still might dig under or come in through the gate, so the gate has to somehow let you in and keep them out. I think electric fencing is easier.

Once racoons have found something good to eat at your place they will add it to their list of places to visit FOREVER.
And, they know EXACTLY when something will be ripe and harvest it the night before you are going to harvest it the next day. It happens every time.

I plant pumpkins in and around the corn patch to keep the coons out. Last year I failed to plant the pumpkins and the coons got all my corn. This year I have a lot of pumpkin plants! For pumpkins to work, though, they have to be big before the crop ripens, so they aren't ideal for planting around many early crops like strawberries.

Good luck,

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Electric Dog Fencing

Dawn,
They are domesticated swine. Almost time for them to go visit the butcher.
Today I was out inspecting the damage and guess what I found? The tomatoes that were frozen all the way to the ground a couple of weeks ago are coming back! There are about 5-6 hat are coming back. I planted 26-28 new ones now I just have 5 more! I am happy :D I was actually going to till them under in a couple of days and replant my green beans.... but I will work around it!

Carla

Carla,

If you read Countryside Magazine, check out the 'pig on the loose' story in the current issue. It is a hoot.

I bet you were happy to see those tomatoes coming back. Some times when they get frozen, I have some come back, or sometimes none at all. And, since the 'frozen' ones have started to come back, watch them and they may very well catch up with the 'new' plants in about a month.

Dawn

Carla - are you coming to the swap this weekend? I have a pretty big roll - maybe 50 feet - of "used" chicken wire you can have. I used it a few years ago to fence off my flowerbeds, and it worked fine using tall steel gardening stakes to keep it in place. Of course, if your pup jumps on it or leans on it, it will go right over, but along with training him when is acceptable behavior, it could work. Luckily, I never throw anything away, so it is hidden in my "junk pile" between the back shed and wooden fence. I could bring it on Saturday if you want it (Sorry, I don't have any extra poles). Carolyn

I wish I was! I would love to have it! But I have two T ball games on Saturday.

Thank you for the offer Carolyn!

I took her off the run yesterday after I planted more new stuff and she seems ok with not bothering it.
I think that for now if I plant something new I will not let her see me do it.
And continue working on a few commands such as sit.. and stay..

Carla

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes.............those 4-legged kids are great helpers aren't they?

LOL!

The Pooch Patrol not only does they're sniffing duties but also marks territory & digs a hole here and there when Mom's head is turned..........lol

and I wouldn't trade them for the world

We had family from out of state come into town recently, as we had not seen them since they moved, we had a get together at our house for all the family. The out of state family brought their two large dogs which were very energetic, running all over the back yard, through the border. Also did not pick up after their dogs. I enjoy native gardening and my yard is surrounded by natives, some grow very easily but some I am babying until they are more established. My husband and I really enjoy our yard as there are many different butterflies, insects, birds, and other wildlife to see, in the middle of town, but to some people I am sure it does not look manicured and formal and so not very valuable. I felt very bad and discounted. There were planted baskets knocked over, stepped on plants. And our out of town guests did spent time yelling at their dogs, but to no avail. My husband and I did not say anything, because we didn't want them to feel bad as we were really happy to see them. These visitors did have other options. And their not choosing to make use of them made me feel as if they thought our yard was ok to stomp all over. I never said anything, except to point out my snakeroot and say that I really cared for that plant as the dogs were walking through it, and my brother said "really, why?" I am afraid to examine what else they have crushed. Maybe I should not be so sensitive.

Sorry for the lack of respect your brother has for people and their property. Sounds like someone best met at a nuetral site. :-)

I hate to sound rude, but I'm puzzled why you would allow your brothers pets to destroy your yard? I love my brother and I love dogs, but would not hesitate to have him leash his pets if they weren't well behaved.

It's your castle, you set the rules!

randy

I agree with Randy. You have put a LOT of work into creating your landscape and they should have respected that whether you have an intensely manicured landscape or an informal naturalistic one.

I have 7 dogs and they are not allowed to tear up the garden or trample the plants. Dogs are eager to please and generally strive to obey IF they are taught what they can and cannot do.

Your visitor should have checked with you prior to the visit and made sure that the dogs were welcome. As the homeowner you have the right to make the groundrules, and to enforce those groundrules as needed.

Of course there were other options. They could have boarded the dogs at a local kennel either in their hometown or yours. They could have put the dogs in dog crates the way animal trainers do and only let them out of the crates when they could be leashed and controlled. They could have tied or chained the dogs in a location where they could not trample your plantings. You could have put up an electic fence to keep the dogs out of the planting beds.

I do not believe you were being overly sensitive. No one can take advantage of you or abuse you without your consent. Next time stand up for yourself AND your property--you know how hard you have worked on it. Tell them in advance the dogs MUST be controlled and kept out of the planting beds and on the lawn only, or the dogs are not welcome to come.

Dawn