Dog Friendly Garden

Attempting to minimize the damage a dog can do to a garden is no substitute for training the dog properly, but a garden can incorporate aspects that make it an enjoyable environment for dog and gardener. It is also not necessary to utilize every available idea, but strike a balance suited to particular requirements or constraints.

Dog Behavior in Gardens

Most poor behavior by pet dogs, both in and out of the garden, results from boredom though mischief by individual dogs can be seen as attention-seeking, so that appropriate training is the best prevention. That said, activity in the garden usually interests dogs and is often amusing. Pet dogs can often decide, alongside the gardener’s activity at the time, to help with digging, weeding plus a few plants, picking up tools, and running off with anything that takes their interest just for fun.

Toilet training of the dog is employed by some gardeners, in which the dog is trained to use a designated area. Some use chemical deterrents to try to make some areas off-limits to the dog, but this often has mixed results in practice. Dog urine causes some damage to lawns and the urine of bitches is particularly potent. The normal solution is simply to hose the affected area as quickly as possible, though some gardeners may find themselves replacing pieces of turf from time to time.

Making The Garden More Dog-Friendly

Having a densely-packed garden is not conducive to having a dog within it, and space will often be used in any event to play with and train a pet dog. Having some areas fenced off to protect plants is entirely appropriate and can be incorporated into any design or layout, but raising beds can also be part of a plan to minimize damage.

Keeping a dog kennel in the garden or backyard is also helpful. If frequent digging of beds by the dog is a problem, normally specific training is the best solution, but part of that might include trying to train the dog to dig in a particular part of the garden by providing a suitable area covered with bark or sand in which items are buried for the dog to recover.

Incorporating lawns with tougher turf and plants that are more able to withstand rough treatment by the dog brushing past them, such as geraniums or rubus, are good ideas. Plants that move only gently in the wind, such as miscanthus, can also be used to distract a dog from other areas. This works quite well in practice as, although the dog is intrigued by the movement, it will not normally damage them as they serve as something to watch rather than play with.

Avoiding Risk For The Dog In The Garden

A natural garden will have both sunnier and cooler areas. These will be of interest to dogs at different times so that the dog-keeping gardener will be aware of how to make the best of these, including such little things as having water available for the dog to drink on hot days, etc. If a kennel is kept in the garden, it might be positioned to make use of the most suitable temperature and location in relation to sunlight.

A dog’s sense of smell is one of its major faculties but dogs will not always be aware of potentially dangerous plants to them such as aconite, hydrangeas, foxgloves and their like. Cocoa beans are sometimes used to deter slugs in the garden but are very harmful to dogs. The danger to dogs of cocoa is the reason why, if dogs are given chocolate, it should be the dog type of chocolate and not the types that humans enjoy.