kimsr wrote:

Hello everyone -

We have two young dogs (7 months), one of which is a real Mr Destructo
in the garden. He digs in the lawn and just killed a large climbing
plant by chewing through the stem. Not good.

The main problem we've got right now is that he damaged a large patch
in the middle of the lawn by chewing the buffalo grass. Apparently, all
of those criss-crossing runners are fascinating to a Jack Russell. He
doesn't seem to be doing it anymore, but I've got this 15 square metre
patch that is basically bare runners. They are still green and trying
to shoot, but not really getting anywhere (plus it is late winter
here).

I have just topdressed the entire area with a good soil mix, thinking
that they may not be coming back very well because they aren't really
in much soil at the moment - more just a tangle on top of the soil.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Does anyone have any
suggestions?

My husband isn't into gardening and I am. Unfortunately, it is HIS dog
doing all the damage!! Please help before I start contemplating
dogicide.

--
kimsr


We have a Bull/Staffy Terrier cross that some thoughtful soul dumped over our
fence one day. She was the ultimate digging/destructo machine until one weekend
we focussed our entire attention on her. She was watched every moment from the
kitchen and as soon as she even *looked* like digging a hole, barking at
passersby through the back fence or leaping up to kill the washing, she got a
face full, full bore, from the garden hose. It was a fair pain, having to be
that vigilant, but I can promise you our dog has remembered her lesson and no
longer does any of those awful things! We use a small squirt bottle to reinforce
the lessons when she gets a bit forgetful - even the sound of the squish is
enough to help her mind her manners! (This techique works very well for
jumping-up dogs too!)

There are a couple of things to keep in mind with adolescent dogs. One is, they
really do need something to occupy them (a bone? a toy? etc) and space to move.
Also, like kids, they will push the envelope exactly as far as you let them and
not a sausage farther. Be extremely strict with your dogs during this formative
period and they'll give you no trouble during their adulthood. (NB. Some dogs
remain 'children' for much longer than others: our Bully was a very late bloomer
and continued to mourn for her mummy and do all those baby things for a very
long time).

I remember while our dog was growing up, we often despaired of her ever becoming
'civilised' - but she did! Try to see life through your dogs' eyes and imagine
what makes them do the things they do. That's usually the best way of
pschoanalyising them and being ready for the next emergency!

HTH :-D

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

PS. It's a *great* investment to buy an ox's legbone (easily obtained from any
butcher - some supermarkets sell them too!) for your dog to chew on. If you want
to be extremely machiavellian, you ask the butcher to cut the bone acrosswise so
that the dog must spend hours licking and sucking to extract the marrow. If
your're nicer than that, ask him to cut it lengthwise with his bandsaw and your
dog can get the marrow easily and will enjoy the treat!

PPS. It can be dangerous to give bones from cooked meat to dogs - the bone can
splinter and cause them all sorts of horrors if it pierces their gums or guts!