How Dogs Garden

Digging is not the only thing dogs do in the garden, of course. It just happens to be the first one most people think of when you mention the subject. We have had puppies who love to do pruning, pull down washing for mulching, getting rid of garden pests.

Recently we had a garden pest, a kitten. I had to step in and do the work on getting rid of that one. Fortunately, the kitten and the dogs were on opposite sides of a fence, so there was no nasty blood.

I'm not a cat person, but it was a cute kitten, so I strolled up the street and found the little cuties' home. I warned to kitten's owner that it might mot work out so well the next time his kitten tried to get in our backyard. I'm glad to say I haven't seen the kitten since.

Our dogs also help with the birds. They yell (bark) at them to scare them off, and sometimes they get rid of the slow ones by catching and eating them. We have also had pest reptiles killed by the dogs. The brown snake bitten in half caused me some stress, but it worked out just fine.

I threw out the snake bits, and the dogs lived to woof another day.

We get a particular type of very large moth come out after a heavy rain following a dry period, and it is hilarious to see baby puppies try to dispose of these pests. The moths are almost bigger than the pups.

It's raining, dogs quiet!

We just had a huge rain shower and I think all of the dogs have lost their collective powers of communication.

All of the Pharaoh Hounds are outside, and not a single one of them is woofing. It's a miracle. Of course they have probably retreated to their sheltered spots outside. I'm not game enough to poke my head out the door in case they start barking again.

If they're lying down somewhere comfy out of the rain, well that's good for all of us.

The Schnauzers are both inside at the moment. One of them is our oldest girl, Rangler (CH Holkschter Ranger Jane), and the other is Nena who I have a very soft spot for. I think Nena feels the same way about me.

That will all change soon enough, Jake will come home from school, dogs will have to woof at him to say "hello, let us inside please". Then it will be dinner time for the dogs, and even Rangler, especially Rangler, will woof at me to make me work faster.

Rangler hasn't figured out yet that I take exactly the same time to make dogs' dinner whether she's barking her had off at me or not. She'd annoying, but at least she's not one who digs holes in the back lawn!

The Winner Is Announced!

Congratulations to Sue Kennedy, also known as Domestic Daze. She has won with her Old English Sheepdogs pissing on the herbs and being afraid of getting their toes wet. Very funny for a breed of dog that herds sheep in the sodden sheep country in their homeland in England.

I'd still love to read about other people's dogs and how they garden. At the moment, our dogs are happy to stay inside until much later in the morning. It used to be 7.00 am they were looking for an outside run, but some of them are still sleeping and it's nearly 11.00am!

I don't blame them, I haven't been outside either this morning.It's cold out there! It's going to be a lovely mild day, but after another clear sky overnight, the morning is rather nippy. I'm hoping it will be getting warmer soon, I have a load of washing nearly ready to be hung out.

Once the washing is hung out, I'll have to keep an eye on things when Missy is outside. She's our youngest dog, a lovely Pharaoh Hound girl, and I'm not entirely convinced she had nothing to do with the washing that has ended up on the ground in the past few weeks. It might have been the wind, but every time it has happened, Missy has been outside.

I can't say she did it, because I haven't seen her pulling at the washing, she's just been in the vicinity. At the moment, she's curled up in a dog crate with her big brother, La De Da. They look very cute.