My 3.5 year old dog is supervised in the garden. It's not hard work these days though, because he keeps his attention on me in the garden but he has never been in the garden unsupervised. When he was a puppy, if I couldn't interact with him in the garden, he was on a mat, at first attached to me with a lead, getting treats for settling down. Now, I just have to have a mat and he'll settle down at the side of me. If I'm moving around, he has his attention on me constantly. This is just a byproduct of me training him to do stuff in the garden. He just defaults to settle or his attention on me. I wish very, very much I had done the same thing in the local park! (I will with my new puppy). My new puppy, after 10 days, is starting to show exactly the same behaviour. Not all the time, she engages in a fair bit of 'gardening' and gets into mischief that I have to manage still, but I'm treating her exactly as I did my first puppy. She is mostly settled or interacting with me. She does a fair bit of scampering round but increasingly after kibble trails that I've laid etc. or we are 'looking' together and she'll find a toy hidden earlier.
Oh I so get this - different problems, but we came/are coming through it. How old is your pup Chris? Keep on with training, use barriers/pens, supervision, swap for toys/treats, train alternative behaviours - but remember, it all takes time, nothing is instant. You are doing great more or less on your own. Keep at it and keep coming back here to vent or seek advice.
Oh so nice to hear I am not alone with this obsession about stones! Our driveway has half big stones and Millie can't let them be. Stones and paper is her big obsession these days, sadly she got a partner in crime with the paper part... This is what happens when you turn your back away for 2 minutes getting stuff out of the fridge...
