Outdoors as well as in, dogs need boundaries - you wouldn’t want a neighbor’s dog to go crashing through your prized plantings, would you? Garden appreciation begins at home, so begin by teaching your dog to respect your own turf.
"Dogs shouldn’t be running amok in gardens, your own or other people’s," says dog trainer Sarah Hodgson, author of Dog Perfect. "Gardeners put time and effort into creating those lovely green spaces. But too often the problem is that people run after their dogs and shout at them, and dogs see that as confrontation – yelling basically tells the dog ‘this is my space,’ and dogs can’t resist the urge to mimic us, so they will keep going there to get our attention, and the undesirable behavior will be repeated."
Instead, Hodgson recommends the following fail-safe method for designating alfresco no-paw zones to curb canine gate-crashers.
"You can boundary-train a dog in the garden," she says, and her own impressive garden offers ample proof; Sarah’s Black Lab, Whoopsie Daisy, has never once dug or urinated inappropriately on her many thriving plants, which include hostas, hydrangeas, lilacs, black-eyed susans, Madera, bee balm, and fragrant herbs.
"Get a thick piece of white rope that’s mildew-resistant – they’re easily found in hardware stores – and stretch the rope across the boundary you want to define for your dog," Sarah explains. "Walk the dog up to the boundary on a leash, and when you both approach the area, scream as if you were shot by a bullet. Be sure not to look at the dog when you scream – look only at the rope. Then pet your dog as if something terrible just happened to you both. Do this two or three times, then walk up and down along the boundary and yell "bad rope" at the rope – never yell at the dog. When it’s clear that the dog doesn’t want to go near the rope, pet him, give him a treat, or throw a ball for him."
This ingenious approach has many benefits, Hodgson explains: "The message you send your dog is that this area is unsafe for us and I’m protecting you from it – not that the dog is bad for going there," she says. "You’re motivating the dog to do what you want without yelling at him. This way, you’re never angry at your dog, and he behaves much better, much faster."
When you want to cross the boundary yourself to do some gardening, there’s no need to bring Spot indoors. "If he’s over a year old, simply tell him to wait, carefully step over the rope and do what you need to do, then come out and pet your dog like nothing’s going on," Hodgson says. If your dog is still a pup or hasn’t mastered "Wait," drive a corkscrew hook into the ground, clip Spot’s leash to it, and tell him to wait. "He’ll learn to respect your definition of which outdoor areas are accessible to him, and which ones are not," Sarah adds.
For those areas of the garden where Spot is welcome, it’s important to exercise caution in your choice of landscaping materials. Avoid pea gravel and small rocks (these can cause choking or intestinal blockage if swallowed). "So many dogs think mulch is a chew toy," Sarah cautions, so never use cedar mulch or cocoa mulch; the latter contains theobromine, the same ingredient that makes chocolate deadly to dogs. (Sarah uses pine bark mulch.) Don’t plant lilies; if nibbled by a pet, any part of a lily plant, no matter what species, can cause kidney failure and death. Other toxic flora include tulip and narcissus bulbs, azalea, rhododendron, oleander, castor bean, cyclamen, kalanchoe, and yew.
Also avoid chemical pesticides; they are harmful not only to dogs, but to children as well. According to Beyond Pesticides, an environmental advocacy group in Washington, D.C., many of the most commonly used backyard pesticides have been linked to cancer, birth defects, asthma, and diabetes. Substitute safe, botanical alternatives such as Neem oil, widely used as a soil additive and foliar spray, and diatomaceous earth.
And by all means have fun exterior decorating by carving out an outdoor space for your dog to enjoy. Rebecca Kolls of TV’s "Rebecca’s Garden" created a path for her Black Lab, Winston, that’s decorative, dog-friendly, and durable enough to withstand this active dog’s daily aerobic romps. To make it, Kolls used shredded bark, mulch, and woolly thyme. "It looks pretty, and it’s his very own runway!" Kolls says with a laugh.
