Our neighbour's dog (a bounding aged boxer) keeps finding new wombat
holes under the back fence and comes over daily the minute his family
heads out to work. They've kept fixing the holes but we all realise
he's very lonely as his friend, their other Boxer, died recently.

He really is a lovely, happy dog even tho' he's typically lively (he
annoys the crap out of our dogs) and we don't want to necessarily
prevent him from coming over; we could, by running chicken/pig wire/mesh
along our fences (they're strand wire farm-type fences) and we're going
to have to do that eventually because of our own little (house) dog but
doing that to small acreage is expensive.

Meanwhile, the bugger's taken a liking to anything like a succulent.
They end up all over the ground like confetti so at least he's not
swallowing them. I have a collection in pots and I was upset when I
caught him one day taking to one of my much-loved Agave Attenuata's.
I've put my other big Agave's up high where he can't get them but I need
to put them down low soon to where I'm building protection from the
looming frosts/snow.

He doesn't seem to 'eat' them - just playfully toss & tear them to
shreds. Is there something I could safely spray on or near them to
deter him? I know I have some nasty tasting stuff I got from the vet
when our little dog had an operation to deter her licking stitches but
that will probably kill my plants I reckon.

Any hints?

L.