Dog Training - How To Protect Your Plants And Garden

All dogs like to start their own amatuer landscaping business. So this dog training lesson will simply be tips to keep your pet from turning into a lawn mower. Otherwise, he will cause problems for your geraniums or vegetables. Even your houseplants are not safe.

1. Most farm and garden stores have chemicals designed strictly to repel animals. Typically they are granular and will last about 3 months outside. Check to packaging to make sure they won't damage your plants (most won't).

2. Sprinkle alum powder around the bushes that your dog seems to have a fondness for.

3.Sprinkle your outdoor garden with moth crystals. Cover the moth crystals with dirt if you have children.

4. This tip I don't particularly like, but I know others who have used it successfully. You'll need to do it correctly to keep your pet from getting hurt. If he likes to dig a certain spot, try placing upside-down mousetraps. It will startle your dog if he disturbs them.

5. For indoor plants in a container, you can prevent your dog from digging in the pots by inserting pine or other evergreen cones in the dirt. You can also place aluminum foil over the pot.

6. A cotton ball dipped clove oil burried just below the surface of the soil in the flowerpot will also help. You have to make sure the cotton ball is just barely covered with dirt.

7. If you use a chemical lawn treatment, fertilizer, or insecticide, follow the specified instructions on the product by keeping your pet off the lawn for the specified amount of time. In most cases this will be 24 hours.

8. Also be sure to keep your dog off the lawn if you've used a lawn flea treatment. Again the product label will give you directions on how long your pet should stay off the grass.

9. Obviously the best way to keep your dog from digging in your garden or flower bed is to surround the plants with fencing. You can use chicken wire that is high enough to prevent him from jumping over and burried about 1 foot underground to keep him from digging under.

10. This last one is another that we don't particularly like, but again, we give it to you for your consideration. You can try an invisible fencing system. These are customized to your home and property and create an invisible barrier that your dog can't jump over or dig under.

We understand that none of the above methods really constitutes dog training in the strictest sense of the term. However most dog training takes time, and a slow training process just won't do when it comes to your precious plants and garden. In this case, prevention is really the best avenue to take.

And as an aside, these tips will also help if the neighbor's dog also prefer your yard to his own.

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