Ridding Garden of Pest Creatures

This picture shows our Pharaoh Hounds hard at work in the garden. Keeping the garden free of unwanted creatures is something they do often. Sadly they are not always terribly humane, and it is up to us humans to attempt to assist these pests finding humane ends to their timer in our backyard.

I don't mind the birds in the garden, if fact I love the birds who visit us. Fortunately, most of the birds are able to avoid becoming a meal to our hounds. It's a bit of a trade off - the pharaoh hound is an imported creature to our land, and the reptiles are all native to our land.

The snakes are one species I don't shed tears over, if they lose their life here. When our dogs capture a lizard though, whether it's a bearded dragon, blue tongue lizard or sleepy lizard, that pains me. I don't like it when the dogs find one of these wanderers... I just wish they would wander further, and stay in the places the dogs can't get to.

Our schnauzer is now an older lady, and she's not of the same nature as the pharaoh hounds, so these creatures, and the birds as well, are all safe from her. I just wish the dogs would all focus on the mice who invade our kitchen every now and then ...

Give a book for Christmas!

I'm truly hoping to have more copies of Dig It! available for Christmas - put and order in, and I'll get a reprint done (if I get enough orders).

Money back guaranteed if I can't get a book to you.

Dogs and gardens are eternal friends and an eternal frustration when things don't go right. The thing to do is to keep your sense of humour!

Look at the funny side of life and you'll enjoy yourself so much more!

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