Ways to Prevent Your Dog Eating Your Plants
Despite the fact that dogs are said to be man’s best friend, this does not imply that they are without flaws. The food that your kid drops on the floor, the sofa cushions, or even your prized plants – they make their way into everything and everyone!
The fact that we have two huge dogs at home is a source of frustration at times. As much as we like having them around, keeping them away from all of these items may be difficult. Let them have their way sometimes feels like the simpler option.
However, although allowing your dog to go after your child’s food on the floor may seem normal, allowing your dog to devour your plants is not. Furthermore, if you have some plants in your yard, they might do significant harm to your pets as well as to the plants in question.
See the ASPCA’s comprehensive list of plants that are harmful to dogs, as well as a list of plants that are not. For those of you who are like me, the sheer amount of plants that are known to be harmful to our canine companions will astound you.
While many of the plants on that list are not typical plants that you’ll find in and around your house, there are a number of common plants that you should be aware of. For example,
Knowing how to keep your dog away from your plants is essential, whether it’s for the safety of your pet or the preservation of your garden’s beauty.
Listed below is a list of some easy strategies to keep your plants and pets safe throughout the summer months.
Set Boundaries for Your Dog
Establishing clear boundaries between you and your dog is an excellent method for keeping your plants safe. If you begin while they are still puppies, this will be lot simpler than it will be later in their lives (I learned this the hard way).
Establishing boundaries with your dog, such as where they can and cannot go, or which objects they can and cannot go too near to, can make managing your dog’s behavior simpler in the future. What I mean by this is that if you add to your garden or bring in additional houseplants, your dog will already be conditioned to keep away from these new additions.
My dogs have become rather adept at this over the last several months. It doesn’t matter if I bring a fresh plant inside the home; they are well aware that they must remain outside. Another instance involves food delivered by my kid…
Setting limits for your dog offers additional advantages. Consider the following example: by stressing the fact that some locations are off limits, you may be able to get away with without having a fence around your property:
Change the way things are done.
There are always at least a few easy methods to adjust the arrangement of your plants, whether you’re dealing with indoor plants or an outdoor garden, to prevent your dog from getting your crops. Nothing less than making life a bit more difficult for them will suffice.
When it comes to indoor plants, one of the most straightforward methods to keep your plants and pets safe is to raise the height of the plant. Go up is to place your plants out of reach of your dog, which is what I mean by “go up.”
Simple things like placing your plants on window sills or kitchen tops might be enough to keep your smaller pets safe. In order to properly care for bigger canines, you must be more inventive.
To display smaller plants, I like to use hanging planters, such as this one. I like to utilize shelves for bigger plants.
Outdoor gardens need a great deal of imagination on your part. Consider how you may make use of your yard’s perimeter fence if it is fenced in. If you make use of the existing fence, you’ll just have to block off a smaller area of the yard.
Exactly for this reason, my parents have installed elegant garden fence in their yard. A neighbor enjoyed it so much that they ended up performing the exact same thing themselves.
It will be more difficult to maintain your yard if it is not fenced-in. There’s always the option of employing beautiful fencing to completely enclose your yard, but that may become pricey quickly.
As previously said, if you already have limits in place, make advantage of them. For example, if your plants are growing up against the house, you’ve already removed one possible entrance point to them.
Create a border for your dog by getting creative with landscaping stones or even bigger non-toxic plants. Even if you are unable to completely shut off the area, whatever measure you take will make it simpler to keep an eye on your dog while you are outdoors.
It’s possible that you’ll be able to get away with utilizing raised bed planters to entirely keep your plants out of reach if you have a tiny dog.
Deter or repel pests by using repellents or deters.
The use of a repellent or deterrent should be considered as a last resort if training your dog does not work and altering the arrangement of your yard is not a possibility.
Fortunately, there are many other kinds of commercially available repellents and deterrents available, so if one doesn’t work for you, try another. Some people swear by these remedies, but I haven’t had to use any of them myself.
Water
Insect repellents come in two varieties: water and oil. As far as repellents go, I believe water to be the most effective since it is completely safe to your dog and any other animals that may come into touch with it.”
This sort of repellant operates in a similar way to a sprinkler system, except that instead of spraying water when you instruct it to (or on a schedule in the case of automated sprinkler systems), it sprays out tiny bursts of water for a brief period of time when it senses heat or activity.
Water repellents like as the Scarecrow are quite popular and are used by many people to keep their plants and gardens protected from water damage. Upon activation, this Scarecrow senses heat and motion and then sprays a little quantity of water. A sound is also produced at a frequency that is known to prevent animals from approaching the structure.
While there is no repellent that is 100 percent effective, a water-based repellent is a good place to start if you are worried about the health and well-being of your dogs and other animals in your home or yard.
Chemicals
In addition to chemical repellents, they are also often utilized in or around gardens. There are many different methods to apply chemical repellents, including utilizing a liquid or granular chemical, but the final outcome is always the same.
To use chemical repellents in your garden, you normally spray them on the leaves of your plants or on top of the grass around your garden. In addition to outdoor houseplants, several of these pesticides may be used inside on houseplants.
The safety of your children, dogs, and anybody else or anything else who could come into touch with the chemicals is the primary worry when using chemicals as a deterrent.
However, even though many chemical repellents are considered safe by their producers, you should exercise caution whenever you apply anything to your lawn or garden that has the potential to cause unpleasant side effects in individuals who come into contact with it.
Chemical repellents are something I would only use as a last option, but everyone has the right to do what they feel is best for their particular case.
Sound
Besides sound, there is another obstacle that I described briefly before. In comparison to humans, dogs have more sensitive hearing and are capable of detecting frequencies that we are unable to notice.
A sound deterrent, similar to the water deterrent stated above, may be strategically put in close proximity to your garden to dissuade your dog and other animals from approaching it.
Be careful when using a sound deterrent on dogs since they are very sensitive to specific frequencies. In certain cases, these deterrents might induce behavioral problems in the animals.
Ingredients from the kitchen
Using commercially accessible items isn’t always the best solution. There are several common home items that may perform the same functions as chemicals while costing a fraction of the price. Check your kitchen cupboards to see if you have any of these components on hand.
According to this post from Gardening Know How, there are numerous natural elements that you may use, particularly with your indoor plants, to deter your dog from eating your plants, as indicated in this article.
Lemon juice is one of the most often used home items. The fragrance of lemons is known to repel dogs, so spritz some lemon juice around your plants or even lay some little lemon slices around them to keep your dogs at bay while you’re not using them.
vinegar is another common home product that has been shown to be effective in repelling dogs. Vinegar is commonly used with lemon juice to keep your plants secure from your dogs (as mentioned in this article from Cuteness).
You should keep in mind that vinegar might harm your plants (not to mention that it has a strong stench), so you’ll want to apply it in modest quantities to anything around your plants rather than directly to your plants or to the soil around your plants.
Lastly, a word about
So, as you can see, there are several alternatives available to you when it comes to safeguarding your plants from your canine companions. A certain strategy may be more appropriate for you depending on your circumstances. Continue to try other options if your first one doesn’t work.
The fact is that dogs are very clever (albeit not all of them…), and that no two of them respond or behave in the same manner in any particular circumstance or setting. It’s important to remember that although repellents and deterrents may work well for some people, they may not work at all for others. Don’t be disappointed if the first item you try does not work.
Having said that, which of these approaches have you used, and which one has proven to be the most successful for you? Fill in the blanks with your experiences!
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