K9 pests

chappy56

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These two monsters nearly destroyed one of my trees this morning. I'd be interested to hear how you all prevent your dogs from getting to your trees. These guys, when standing on their hind legs, can look me in the eye so getting them up on a bench is not the answer. Thanks in advance for your ideas.
 

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fore

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How about strapping the pots to the bench..bungie cords? Should at least keep the pots on the stands.
 

GrimLore

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Either they are bored OR there is something in your substrate that they want to eat? Fertilizer perhaps? I have had a few dogs over the years and do not recall them attacking any plants...

Grimmy
 
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These two monsters nearly destroyed one of my trees this morning. I'd be interested to hear how you all prevent your dogs from getting to your trees. These guys, when standing on their hind legs, can look me in the eye so getting them up on a bench is not the answer. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Its part of pet ownership. My dog has chased mice and chipmunks through my greenhouse during winter, stomping on fine specimen trees and smashing them. Its a moment to take a deep breath and count to 30 before doing anything. He once stepped on a mint chuhin trident maple, braking off some main branches. That was about a $3200 tree before the rework.... The good news is it was a trident maple and I made shorter and tighter and liked it a lot once it regrew....
 

Smoke

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Its part of pet ownership. My dog has chased mice and chipmunks through my greenhouse during winter, stomping on fine specimen trees and smashing them. Its a moment to take a deep breath and count to 30 before doing anything. He once stepped on a mint chuhin trident maple, braking off some main branches. That was about a $ouch....OUCH!3200 tree before the rework.... The good news is it was a trident maple and I made shorter and tighter and liked it a lot once it regrew....

ouch....OUCH!
 

flor1

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Pellet gun works great not enough to break skin but a good mark.
 

Dav4

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Pellet gun works great not enough to break skin but a good mark.

I save pellet guns for vermin and not family members.


I came home to this last week...my 6 mo old pointer pup had been using my bench area as a parkour training area. At least some of the uprooted JBP needed repotting:eek:....they are now repotted:D.


...sorry for the sideways pic, stupid iPhone.
 

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JudyB

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My Aussies think that the fert is a delicious treat just for them. I have trained them to leave the trees alone. You need to patiently add that to a training regimen. There's a good safe deterrent that I've found works well with training,nits called the pet convincer. Just a small hand held air gun, it's just a noise deterrent, but really has worked wonders for everything from leash pulling to boundary teaching. I've learned that angry emotions just make training harder, try to be calm, and always consistent. There will always be setbacks, but to live with dogs is worth the price you pay. Lovely borzois.
 

sean f

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Here is my pest problem
At least there is a delicious solution to my problem
 

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Dav4

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My Aussies think that the fert is a delicious treat just for them. I have trained them to leave the trees alone. You need to patiently add that to a training regimen. There's a good safe deterrent that I've found works well with training,nits called the pet convincer. Just a small hand held air gun, it's just a noise deterrent, but really has worked wonders for everything from leash pulling to boundary teaching. I've learned that angry emotions just make training harder, try to be calm, and always consistent. There will always be setbacks, but to live with dogs is worth the price you pay. Lovely borzois.

I wish you and I were neighbors....
 

chappy56

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Here's another picture of them just for fun with my son.
 

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Leo in N E Illinois

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I've always had big dogs, my neighborhood "requires" it. When they are pups they want to chew, and more than once they discovered chewing on plastic pots. Eventually I learned. My success usually involved a couple steps.

1.) when a new dog arrives, I use one of the bitter apple sprays that are labeled as dog repellent. Ones labeled to help prevent chewing on furniture have worked well. They are sprays that taste bad to dogs. I spray all pots on the outside edge of my stands. I try to avoid trunks and foliage, just spray the pots. Over time re-apply as per directions. Especially if we had a lot of rain I would re-apply every week until I was comfortable the dog had learned to ignore the trees and orchids.

2.) make sure you have an abundance of chew toys, rawhide, Nyla bones, what ever your dog likes that is good for them to be chewing on. If the dog has free run to where the trees are - make sure there are chew toys in that area.

3.) until a dog is 2 or so years old, or for an older dog adoptee, until they have been around 6 months or so. Keep an eye on them. If they start to grab, or explore too closely to the trees, tell them NO. And then hand them a chew toy, to give them something to chew on. "No!", alone is not good enough, you need to re-direct them into an appropriate behavior.

4.) Make sure you spend enough time exercising your dogs. A bored dog is a destructive dog. Play with them.

I almost never had any problems with my dogs once they were past the puppy stage. When I adopted a 6 year old husky it did not take much time at all, maybe a week or two and I was able to trust her around the trees and orchids. Plants in pots are generally not something dogs are into.

* caveat - I did loose several hundred dollars worth of orchids in one afternoon, to a lab-st bernard mix, and a number of years later lost a few early in training trees to a rottweiler mix pup, nothing super valuable. Accidents do happen, but it was the first episode with the orchids & lab mix that forced me to think about how to help the dogs be good.
 
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edprocoat

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My Boston Terrier has never been a problem with my plants, unless I leave them on the ground. Then he sees them as a place to urinate. :(
My Maltese is another story, no amount of patience works with her. She chews or knocks over anything we have interest in, they say Maltese are hard headed dogs and this one certainly is. If we get something new she has to attack it almost like she sees it as a threat to her place in the family. She is 15 years old now and I can't wait until the grim reaper pays her a visit...

ed
 

joepa82

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The answer to 50% of all dog problems is exercise, 25% socialization, 24.99% establishment of an authoritative figure, and 0.01% euthanasia. Much like marital problems, but substitute exercise for sex and bump euthanasia up to 0.05%.

Edit...
I realize this post is in no way helpful. My apologies.
 
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Paradox

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Leo makes really great points. It all amounts to being a responsible owner and providing the dogs with what they need to be good members of the pack: excercise, consistency, discipline and leadership.

I currently have 3 big dogs ranging from 65 to 90 lbs. My benches are on my back deck and they have full access to the back yard. They rarely bother my trees. If they do bother the trees, it usually consists of nipping a branch on one of my lower benches. If its within their reach, its my fault if something happens.

In terms of heirarchy, my dogs outrank my trees and I would never give up my dogs for my trees. I realize that as creatures with minds of their own, they have the potential to do some damage. I keep the more valuable trees on the higher benches toward the back away from inquisitive canines. Its up to me to teach them not to play with the trees.
 
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