Help! I have a tomato thief!!

Okay - I know this sounds crazy, but I have found out that my Lab Maggie has been picking my tomatoes and eating them! I thought something was going on because I would have some tomatoes ripening and then the next day or so would be missing, and I thought - well, maybe I just "thought" there were ripe ones.... WELL, I found the culprit! Yesterday evening I was looking out the back door when I saw her sneak over to the middle of my tomato plants, saw the plants shake and here she came with a tomato in her mouth. She picks the ripest ones first, then if there are no ripe ones, she gets the greens ones!!!!

What am I gonna do? I fussed at her, but honestly, I don't think that will last long! She dropped the tomato and slinked to her doghouse. Later she was sniffing around those plants again! Does anyone out there have any suggestions that may save my tomatoes? I don't know what to do!

I'd get a roll of chicken wire and four stakes/sturdy sticks. Then put a make-shift fence up around the tomatoes. Chicken wire is he cheapest option I can think of, and one that can be implemented in a few minutes.

You could also give Maggie something more enticing to chew on. I worked at any animal shelter, and the "power chewers" (like the labs) LOVED those big rubber Kong toys. We would stuff them with peanut butter (they have an inner core) and it would keep the dogs occupied for hours and hours. I'd imagine that would taste much better than a green tomato!!

You could always try the hot pepper spray. But then your tomatos might taste like hot peppers.

Cayenne powder on the tomatoes, perhaps? So that it washes away in the next rain and all, but gives her a bit of a surprise when she sniffs. That and the enticement might work.

I had this hilarious thought though, of the pepper infusing the tomatoes for the ultimate salsa starter....

Hastur, LOL, yes salsa starter!

Our first dog, Althea, was a confirmed huckleberry harvester. She watched us picking up a slope in western MT & did like her people. She actually became really adept at using her tongue to dislodge the berries & leave the leaves. We used to send her over to the other picker - she got that good.
Fast forward 25 years later, this summer I bought three UFL self-pollinating highbush blueberries in 3 gallon buckets. They were covered in blueberries & many were strewn in the buckets - getting shrivelled. One of our current dogs, Roxie, was sniffing around the buckets & we noticed she was delicately picking out the dried fallen berries. We laughed & reminisced over huckberry seasons with Thea. Over the next several days we watched in amazement as Roxie would amble over to the bushes, gently pluck a few berries & then continue on her rounds. Another berry eating dog! Her sister, Reba, will eat a berry if given to her but does not harvest for herself.
Get a picture of Maggie snagging a tomato - you will be glad you did in the future!

I don't have to hunt for ripe muskmelons, my lab goes out to the garden picks them (ripe) and brings them up to the front yard because he can't figure out how to break them open to eat them.

stormygrace - what a great story... I haven't thought of taking a picture - I will have to do that. I can't be mad at her - she can make the saddest faces!

Your story also reminded me of Casper, our white boxer who has been gone a while now... He was the worst to give medicine to. We would try to hide the pills in weiners, peanut butter, anything we thought he would like, but that dog would work his tongue around, get the treat part and literally spit out the pill! How he knew there was a pill in the middle of a weiner(we did it when he didn't see us) I will never know. After a few attempts at that, we would tell him he HAD to take his medicine and he'd take it...no fussing....

I guess the funniest part is that she is so gentle with picking them -

Thanks to all for the ideas!!

If you are giving worm pills to your dog, investigate Diatomaceous Earth as a harmless, inexpensive alternative. Lot of info at this site:
http://www.wolfcreekranch.net/diatomaceous_earth.html