6 month old puppy and spring gardening = $400 in plants destroyed!!! solution?

[Yoschi's_Pet_Human]

We put in new gardening soil and mulch plus about $1000 worth of plants... in a matter of three hours this morning $400 worth of plants were literally dug out and shredded ... I even sprayed them with "Barrier" spray last night.... is there anything that I can apply to the plants and soil to prevent this? We have a very well manicured back yard... lots of plants and intricate gardening ...complete with koi pond, waterfalls, palm trees etc etc... I need something that will REALLY WORK!!
Thanks
Joe

[Cassidy's Mom]

Is there any way to section off a portion of the yard and puppy proof it? We have a separately fenced dog run down the side of our house, so our dogs don't have access to the yard, or they'd be merrily digging up plants when we were gone too!

[Yoschi's_Pet_Human]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

Is there any way to section off a portion of the yard and puppy proof it? We have a separately fenced dog run down the side of our house, so our dogs don't have access to the yard, or they'd be merrily digging up plants when we were gone too!

Unfortunately not... the pond is in the center right off our patio,, all the gardening surrounds it.. we'd have to build an eyesore of a fence,, eyesores and my wife don't mix

[msvette2u]

I don't know what to tell you.
My philosophy is, you can either have a nice, well-manicured lawn, or pets.
Not both

I'd give the dog a separated area if it was me.

[Jax08]

The only solution is to not leave him out unattended until he's older and knows better than to help you garden. I know I shouldn't laugh...but I am. I truly feel your pain! LOL

[Shade]

I agree with the fence, give part of the yard to the dog and the rest to you. That way everyone is happy

Outside of that staying outside and watching him every second and distracting him from the plants. Not foolproof but if you're really against a fence that'd be the best way. You might have to use a long line unless he has a really good recall or "leave it" command

[Cassidy's Mom]

I'm not big on eyesores either, but I'm not talking about putting a fence around the pond, I'm talking about a secure kennel that you could park near the house. This is our dog run - it's accessed from the garage, and when you're in the back yard you can't even see it:

[Sunflowers]

A leash.

[martemchik]

Watch the dog at all times and train him not to mess with the flowers. They're out there alone, no interaction, they get bored, they start digging when something smells good or a bug moves (lots of bugs in flowers usually). I think after a while you could train your dog to not touch the area but it will take a while and a lot of monitoring.

Plants are a weakness...we never had any problems with our boy chewing things. We started letting him out of the kennel and he ended up eating a few of the house plants that were on the floor. Some looked like sticks so its understandable he'd do that when he got bored. Moral of the story...our fault for leaving them where he could get to them. If they were just a bit raised and not on the ground I'm guessing he wouldn't have touched them.

[Sunflowers]

I've heard that some give the dog his own digging spot, because once they start to dig, they always will.