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
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I have two Old English Sheepdogs. You know the breed that is meant to guard sheep etc in the hills of England in winter etc. Then there is my two, who have to be dragged onto wet or cold grass, which they hate, because then their poor little paws get all wet and cold. Not that they are spoilt or anything. lol
ReplyDeletewho has a dog that likes to 'help' in the garden? Ours like to bury bones under their roots, piss on all the herbs and do burn outs through the rose bushes busting their branches chasing balls!
ReplyDeleteOh Domestic Daze, don't you have any booties for the poor pups? My Pharaoh Hounds aren't real keen on getting wet - the youngest was very confused the other day when se put her out for a wee break and it started to rain! We've been suffering for a bit of a drought and she hadn't seen much rain. She came belting under the veranda at top speed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your story.