Any tips on how to discourage Henry from hole digging? It has chucked it down with rain all day but finally fined off a couple of hours ago and so I thought I would continue with spring and summer planting. Took Henry out into the back garden and for a while all was well - he resumed his war with the cat over the back wall and his ongoing hate campaign with next doors Jack Russell - then all went quiet. Stupidly I continued planting then when I did look up to check on him he had dug three massive holes and two roses and one bay tree are now looking decidedly peaky. I am a very keen gardener and it did take all my resolve to contain my inner Dalek. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I have enclosed the veg plot on the allotment but would quite like not to fence off the garden. Neither Will nor George ever dug holes (although George did get in the pond a lot). Looking on the bright side although he was covered in soil and absolutely filthy he did smell wonderfully of bay leaves!
Eyes in the back of head comes to mind where Lab pups and gardens are concerned Sam wasn't too bad , apart from endless pruning , but maybe have him on a long line , so that he cant reach precious plants or shrubs ? Re the holes , distraction is the only way to stop him , but I do appreciate how hard it is , especially when you have a nice garden which suddenly resembles a war zone Like most other stages, it does get easier and eventually pass , maybe try giving him a stuffed kong to take his mind off the excavations
I put my puppy in my daughters old play pen to keep him out of mischief. Luckily neither of mine are determined diggers so now they're out of puppy hood the garden is reasonably safe. We have fenced some bits off to prevent the squashing of plants during peeing
Coco has dug up and eaten all our remaining artichokes, and scattered the carrot seeds <sigh> Our flimsy chicken-wire fence did not keep him at bay for long. I have no advice to offer.
Harley dug 3 holes in our garden. We filled them all in - 2 have now gone, 1 she digs every now and then so I have given up. Since I gave up filling it in she has not dug!
I second Barbara's advice to keep him contained and out of trouble while you can't have your concentration on him. Eventually, you can teach him to lie on a mat or in a specific place while you're gardening, but that will take time. For now, a bit of training towards that when you have the odd few minutes, but the rest of the time management is key. I've been doing some chopping of branches (read: "deforestation"!) this weekend. The dogs thought it was great fun to "help" dragging the branches to the pile we were making. Although, they often seemed confused as to which direction I wanted them to go....
Tyne has been a great help in the garden!! I'm creating a new garden as we only moved here in sept. I found a large thick plastic plant pot spins around the garden beautifully and keeps her amused for a while. I am being quite strict with her as I would be very sad if she dug up the plants........but I'm realistic and know I may be disappointed!!!
No advice to offer here, either...! Just as I think they've grown out of 'helping' with the gardening, there's a sudden skirmish and chase with something they ought not to have or, worse still, it goes quiet...
