Puppies Are Cute Until They Dig Your Garden

Who doesn't love a puppy? Certainly not us, and on that note, please meet the newest addition to the Coastal family... Boof.

Boof is just 6 weeks old, and joined our family last weekend. Suffice it to say, we are completely smitten. However, we know that very soon, he will become a digging machine (and not in a helpful way).

We have done a little research on how to stop dogs from digging in the garden, and thought we would share what we found with our fellow dog loving gardeners.

Dogs dig and forage for several reasons, including that it releases interesting earth odours, provides exercise, consoles or preoccupies a dog or even creates a cooler area for a dog to rest on a hot day, or for protection from cold winds. Some dogs are even bred to dig and forage. This can be a major pain if you happen to love your garden!

Although there are several products on the market to deter dogs from gardens, you can plant natural remedies that repel dogs such as herbs, shrubs or flowers, as well as incorporate items such as citrus or pine cones into mulch (dogs hate citrus). Pairing certain deterrents can keep dogs out of a garden.

Plants such as aloe and agave or other succulents can be planted as a border to keep dogs out of a garden, as well as hedges to physically block the animal. Capsicum, garlic and onion provide an odour dogs hate and are also a handy addition to your cooking.

A variety of citrus trees, particularly grapefruit and lemon trees, deter dogs but take a long time to mature and produce fruit. Plus you will need to plant several for the odour to influence dogs.

Dogs don't like to walk on irritating items so incorporating chunks of pine cones (or whole pine cones), thorny plant clippings like rose, bulky wood chips and ground rubber tires will deter dogs from walking into any surface covered with the mulch.

Do not incorporate too much sand into the mulch or soil, as dogs like digging in sandy areas. Blend citrus peels into the mulch in large amounts, or spray the mulch with citrus juice or oil generously and evenly.

Make sure to use only nontoxic plants in your garden. Check with your nursery when choosing plants to deter dogs. Dogs may get hurt playing around thorny plants so make sure that anything you plant in your garden doesn't have thorns longer than 2 inches.

Keep a grassy playing area somewhere for your dog to spend time in so the animal doesn't feel inclined to go in the garden area.