Competition over!

Well a new month brings many new things. It also calls the end to other things.

One thing that promised to be fun was the competition to find the best true story about dogs in the garden. But, sadly, that competition has closed now, and once the judging is over, the winner will be announced and the prize will be posted.

Don't despair though, if you didn't get your entry in. We may still be offering a prize for good true stories about the subject. Dogs and gardens go together so well, don't they?

Win a book! Free! Dogs and Gardens

Yes, dogs and gardens can add up to perfect happiness; or they can add up to perfect stress and mayhem! I'd love to hear your true stories about your dog and garden!

If you have a dog causing havoc in your garden, perhaps you need to get down to dog level and work out why your dog is going what it's doing. Is your dog bored? Does your dog realise it isn't meant to pull sheets off the clothesline? Is your dog digging after things to eat?

There are many books and websites that deal with each of these problems, I'm not going into them in detail. I know La De digs because it keeps him amused, and I know puppies pull things from the clothesline because they haven't learned not to yet. My dogs love to catch things and eat them, not because they're hungry necessarily, but because they have instincts that tell them to do it. Looking at it from the dog's point of view can certainly help. They seem almost human sometimes, but dogs are dogs, they do dog things.

Yes dogs do dog things, and being out in the garden, sitting around and watching the dogs play and explore is so much fun, it helps us get over the frustration of the mess caused by the dogs. That is, until the breeze kicks up and we're covered in dust because of La De's digging! It's not all his fault. If there weren't water restrictions because of the drought, our back lawn would be growing better and there wouldn't be so much bare earth.

Of course, if La De left it all alone, it would give the grass a better chance, but...

Anyway, do you have any fun or frustration-plus Dog and Garden stories? I'll give a free copy of my book to the best Dogs and Gardens story I receive in April 2009. (residents of Australia only)

If you wish to enter, either leave as a comment here, or email to jeebers@bigpond.com, giving your postal address and name

Good 'Dog in the Garden' stories

I was talking to some people yesterday when I was poet in residence at the Mallala Hotel. We got talking about dogs, because I had showed them a copy of my 'Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs' book.

One of them told me about how he came to get his dog. It was not a nice story, but it had a happy ending. This man, Philip, lives in Singapore, and he had noticed a dog on a wire, so it could run 'loose', but there was no shade at all. This wasn't a once off situation, he saw it for some time. Philip was unhappy about the situation, and offered to buy the dog.

The owners refused, and said they couldn't bear to part with their dog. Philip said, what if I tell the authorities about how you are keeping the dog? The people backed down and sold the dog to Philip. The dog now lives a much happier life, with plenty of shade, and shelter when it rains. This dog is a kind of child substitute, much loved and cared for. Philip and his wife are happy to have saved the dog from distress, and thrilled to have the dog in their lives.

The other person, Scott, had a different story. He has a cairn terrier, which he takes hunting. The dog is a very good hunter, and Scott likes him for his hunting abilities.

Last winter Scott's dog was doing some 'pruning' of the creeper going up Scott's pergola. The dog chewed the plant right down to ground level, and Scott felt like shooting the dog, he was so angry. But he calmed down and the dog was allowed to live. Then, come spring, that creeper crept up and over the pergola, thick and lush and healthier than it had ever been. Scott is a firm believer in letting his dog get involved in the gardening now!

I was happy to hear both of these stories, it shows how beneficial it can be if you get your dog out there in the garden, and how much joy a dog can bring to a person's life.