New Puppy vs New Flower Beds

I have a 9 week old border collie and I want to train her to stay out of flower beds. I've considered putting in stakes and running string at chest height, increasing the height as she grows. I don't want Misty to start thinking her name is really "NO! Get Out of There"! Since she's pretty smart, I know it won't take long before she'll figure out how to crawl under the string. Oscar, my former border collie, loved to water flowers/vegetables if you know what I mean - even though there was several trees around. Any suggestions?

I should be the last person posting on this thread! My great dane has had a ball with my flower beds. And a tree. (managed to wrap a rope around it, played tug of war, he won! All in about 20 minutes!!) But the 25 ft tree has been replanted! And is doing fine!

Ive tried the pellets... that go in those silly container stakes. Didnt work. Tried the garden spray to repel cats and dogs... didnt work. Nothing I have used has worked. He obeys... until ya dont look. (still a pup at 9 months but 190 lbs of pup can do some damage) I fear Im going to have to resort to invisible fencing, as I cant keep my eyes on him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We even have an area for him when he's outdoors (he is a house dog)... with a water fountain area, and toys, and a nice shaded area (away from my gardens and flower beds) BUT, he prefers to lounge in the sun... in my MULCH or on top of my carpet grass!

Time and consistency is the key with training! Dont give up! But I hope you get other suggestions, to help save your garden in the meantime! Good luck!

Warm wishes, happy gardening!
~Nicole

Nicole - Thanks for the advice about the pellets and the sprays. That was an option that I had considered myself. Misty is also a house dog, but we built her a 6x18 pen last weekend. The vet has estimated her adult weight at 50-60lbs, so it won't be long before we will have to expand. I wonder if there are any flowers that have a scent that dogs dislike? Hopefully our fellow gardeners may have some clues. I'm glad your tree is ok. I must confess I laughed when I visualized your pup playing tug of war with it. Puppies are quite a handful at times, but you can't help but love them.
Carol

Morning folks. What we've done, and it works most of the time, is when we trim rose bushes and briars and such we put the trimmings in the flower beds. The thorns tend to make the dogs stay away. After getting stuck a few times they learn to go dig or lay some other place.

When we had our Boxer puppies, I used hot red pepper flakes sprinkled around heavily and that kept them out.
Trish

LOL... My first loss from my garden was my prized rose bush. Thorns and all. He chewed it down to the ground. I am still mourning my loss. And pray it comes back. I have added some habanero peppers amongst my flower beds!! Cant wait till he gets a bite of those!!

Invisible fencing... I can see it now!

I know what you're talking about. We have two (count 'em - TWO) lab/collie mix "puppies" (now that's using a term loosely - their combined weight is around 140, which is at least DOUBLE their combined IQ.) They are about 6 months old, eat everything in sight, and are dumb as dirt. But we rescued them from the animal shelter, and we love them. Named 'em Duke and Daisy, which seemed appropriate for lazy, southern porch hounds. Which is what they're supposed to be.....

We put in the invisible fence both to protect my garden areas, and to keep them restrained in case they decide to wander off the porch. (Big lot, no fence = HUGE expense to fence it in.)

So far, the grand experiment isn't working quite like we expected. But it's been so cold, no one has had the gumption to train them properly, which (according to many our friends with dogs and invisible fences) is the KEY to success. My hope is that by the time it warms up enough for me to be outside gardening, we'll also be outside and ready to train these loveable mutts.

Because I absolutely draw the line at them swimming in my goldfish pond. And yes, they've tried....fortunately it's mostly iced over right now!!!!

I too have a dumb as dirt collie mix and her beautiful mother. I pushed 12inch sticks into the soil around her favorite sleeping areas in my flower beds, leaving them about 6 - eight inches above the soil line. This makes her sleeping area very uncomfortable. For chewing I use a little vaseline and cayenne pepper. It works wonders!

Goodluck
Jan

Sorry Go_Vol but I had to just laugh at your pups..they sound so mischievious but cute..and I'm sure they'd be great at ice skating. I can just picture them now..lol..!

Oh, they ARE funny. If they weren't so comical we'd probably kill 'em for some of their stunts (Just kidding...my husband once joked about putting them in a sack and taking them to the creek, and our kids just about put HIM in a sack!) But they (the puppies, not the kids) do come in smelling kinda fishy now and then...when that happens we know where they've been. It seems they prefer drinking pond water to city water - we leave huge bowls of fresh water for them and they'll walk past it if they can get to the pond. And it's not that our water's bad - I've lived places that the chlorine in the water was noxious, but this is actually pretty good stuff! Go figure.....we call 'em "porch hounds in training", among other things!!

The pups will need something they can relate to as a boundry to the flowers and no no land. Just a flower bed edging up to the grass is very pretty but isn't going to mean alot to them.

I use a strand of cold electrical wire around all my beds. I know it takes away from the beauty of the flowers but I can have my flowers and dogs too this way.

Another tip: if your dog has a favorite path or sleeping spot - don't make that your new bed this spring. I guess you might say I garden around my dogs. (you can tell I'm from the farm forum - luv the animals)

I have Bouvier des Flanders, very large dogs, 90 - 120 lbs, and have no problem with any of them damaging the flower beds. When they were pups, I used 4 ft bamboo stakes around the flower beds with plastic netting threaded on the stakes. A weak barrier, true, but its purpose was simply to provide a visual barrier for the dogs. After the first year, they were used to avoiding the flower beds and so I was able to remove it with no subsequent problems.

Now, of course, Bouviers are very smart dogs, so this may not work for all breeds and you may have to leave the fencing up. But, like Mamakane, I have learned to garden around my dogs, a most happy compromise.

Best of luck, I think you're on the right track!

So interesting to read all the dog ideas since I need the help also. We have two young dogs that still need some help and now a new rotti puppy. You are mainly discussing getting into the garden, but I did hear a great idea for digging problems on the Animal Planet. The first is not to dig in front of them...which is way easier said than done. The other is to make them their own digging box with treats etc. You would use the negative command if they dig anywhere else and then show them their own area. I lnow it may sound nutty but I am going to try. My last two dogs before these were Airedales and they loved to dig. I got them to stay in one area and they made tunnels. The first time I noticed I thought they had gotten out of the yard and they were relaxing and cool in their tunnels.

cajensen, I have bouvier des flanders, too. We have a male and a female. "Max" is 3 yrs. and "Nyah" is 4 mos. "Max" knows to stay out of the garden but "Nyah" is still in training. I hate to see what she does to the asparagus when they poke their heads out of the ground. (sigh)

Pete2

Hey, guys,

There is nothing wrong with the word "no." That's all it should take.

Actually, I use "uh-uh" because no sounds too much like whoa---which is an important command for a field dog.

Depending on the age of the pup, and the breed, and the individual smartness, this might take a longer or shorter time.

My Lewellin setter took exactly twice to learn she was not supposed to be in the gardens.

"No" is all it should take? OMG, I'm still laughing! Can I send my 4 children and my puppy to your house for obedience training??? Now let's see, where did I put those cruise brochures?

Pete2

Pete2, I'm with you - I WISH I could have been lucky/blessed enough to have a dog OR a kid that would learn on the second "no"....

But there is a lot to be said for consistent training and positive rewards - my mutt puppies LOVE to hear us praise them, and I've found that as long as I maintain the same routine with them, they're pretty good at staying where they should be - so I guess I've learned SOMETHING over the years.....now I'm looking forward to grandparenthood, where I get to spoil the grandkids rotten and send them home to their parents/my kids!!! Oh, yes, payback - with interest. (Of course, my oldest is only 15, so hopefully I still have several years before anybody calls me "Memaw", but it never hurts to start mentally preparing for such a big event!!!!)

Oh yeah! I'm looking forward to being a grandparent, too! Won't it be fun to load the grandkids up on caffeine and candy and then send them home to their parents? (evil grin)

Pete2

hee hee....yes it will. Even better would be to take/send them to GREAT grandparent's house, if they're still able to care for young'uns at that point! (Some days I'm pretty sure my evil thoughts will keep me out of heaven....)

I read in one of my garden mags. that you can use plastic forks to keep pets out of beds! Stick the handles in the ground and leave the points sticking up. This makes it not so much fun to dig/lie in...never needed to try it, but it does sound like it would work.
Govals, I did hear a preacher talking on the radio last week about evil thoughts...he said that it was the worst of sins, went on and on about it!...(grin)...just thought I'd past that on!!hee, hee, Bye, Lisa

Um, that might have been a live broadcast from my church!!!!

Actually I joke about this stuff, but I probably shouldn't. Not to brag, but my my kids are pretty great (knock on wood!!!!) I've rarely had to "set them straight" after a visit to Nana's or Memaw's house. And I'm very fortunate to have good relationships with my parents and in-laws. But we do tease our oldest son about how "there will come a day when YOU have kids!" (especially when he does something boneheaded, as 15 year olds will do. But he's a good sport, and usually just grins sheepishly at us when we pick at him. Now how can you stay mad at a kid who good naturedly takes grief from his parents????)

GoVols, I can only hope & pray my little one turns out like my DH. He was soooo good growing up! Me, on the other hand, I gave mom every gray hair on her head. Dad said if I would have been first there would have been NO MORE! It took me about 30 years to get some sense! I like to learn the hard way... LOL! Lisa