May 31

May 31 Dogs and the Garden

Sharing your garden with a dog can be a challenge but you love your dog and love your garden. It can work out. There will likely be losses but you’ll find a way. This blog post can give you some ideas to make your yard dog-friendly and your dog garden-friendly.

How to Landscape a Dog-Friendly Garden (Sunset Magazine)

20 Tips for Gardening with Dogs (Better Homes & Gardens)

9 Tips for Dog-Friendly Gardening (and Garden-Friendly Dogs) (The Dog People)

Lucy assisting with the garden clean-up.

How to Garden When You Have a Dog (wikiHow)

Relaxing in the shade of the orange tree but bird dog poised for action.

Gardeners in the San Diego Horticultural Society offer advice for gardening with dogs.

Give your dog his/her very own dig site. Like a child’s sand pit use header board to frame in the area and fill with fresh turned soil. Bury some favorite toys or bones and keep the soil slightly moist. A site in partial shade may be best since dogs like to dig down and lay in cool soil on hot summer days. Keep the soil soft and they should choose it over your favorite planting beds.
Construct a dog relief site. This could be a fenced in area you train your dog to use. Using a header board and compact material like stabilized decomposed granite makes for easy clean-up. “Season” the area with dog waste and add a vertical pole to activate the natural instincts. Kennel training your puppy and bringing him/her on leash to the site until they use it regularly is key.
Use bait and switch. “Bait” by creating spots dogs are attracted to that are out of sight—a cool, shady dog wallow. The “switch is to make other areas which they might damage, unattractive to them. When planting or with fragile plants poke clear plastic knives and forks in the ground, handle side up, 3-4 inches apart. The plants grow up to cover the plastic handles but dogs (or cats) quickly learn that walking through the area or lying on it is uncomfortable (without harming the pet).