The Garden Destroyer!

Edwardjames · May 7, 2023

Hi all,

I’m sure many to all of you with grassy gardens can attest to the difficulty in maintaining a good looking garden when you have a dog, particularly a lab. To be honest, I wasn’t any good at maintaining it before we got Milo, so I’m not precious about it. Wouldn’t have got him otherwise!

However, I wondered if anyone’s got any tips for how you’ve managed this other than just cutting it regularly. I guess I’m not really asking how to keep a presentable garden with a dog (there’s another forum for that, I’m sure), but more about how you should allow your dog to treat the space.

So I’ve split it into three questions:

1. Digging up mud, running back into the house caked in the stuff! Any habits or training tips you’ve used to help with this?

2. Eating copious amounts of grass and mud - it’s all he wants to do! Is there any danger to a dog doing this? If so, how do you discourage this?

3. Bringing in large dollops of mud, trying to play chase with us when we say “leave it!”, sometimes shaking it so it goes across the floor/walls!

If this is just something he’ll grow out of I’m happy with that. I just wondered if anyone’s had any experience with these antics and want to share their solutions.

I’m not having a moan. Dogs will be dogs and I’m completely on board with the fact that digging and the like are natural behaviours. Just keen to hear other people’s experiences 😊

Thanks, Ed

P.s. If you want to share garden care tips, by all means go ahead! Here’s my patchy bit of land after a cut this afternoon featuring Milo😂

JohnW · May 7, 2023

A lot of it is in training, but there are things which you can do to help.

Firstly, set your mower up a little, slightly longer grass wears better and helps protect the mud.

Secondly, dogs tend to follow the same path, effectively making a racetrack, not bad in summer when the grass is growing, but in the winter when I find my dogs are wearing the grass away I put a barrier across the force them to change path, to even wear out.

With flower gardens I like a kerb around. It's easier for the dog, with training, to understand where the boundary is. Plants I prefer are strong, hardy plants which dont take much work. At the top of the garden, behind the seat is my wildflower corner. Apart from cutting it down every autumn it's exactly as it was when I planted it going on 10 years ago. There is even a fish pond in front of the summer house. Almost a work free garden.

Snacking on grass is quite normal, I try to discourage it, but you'll never stop it.

I'm not a keen gardener, which rather shows, preferring to take a good book up the garden and sit in the sun with a larger. But when you consider, this garden has had going on 70 years of dogs, usually more than one at a time, I dont think it looks bad. These photos were taken this evening, hence the long shadows.

Edwardjames · May 7, 2023

JohnW said:
A lot of it is in training, but there are things which you can do to help.

Firstly, set your mower up a little, slightly longer grass wears better and helps protect the mud.

Secondly, dogs tend to follow the same path, effectively making a racetrack, not bad in summer when the grass is growing, but in the winter when I find my dogs are wearing the grass away I put a barrier across the force them to change path, to even wear out.

With flower gardens I like a kerb around. It's easier for the dog, with training, to understand where the boundary is. Plants I prefer are strong, hardy plants which dont take much work. At the top of the garden, behind the seat is my wildflower corner. Apart from cutting it down every autumn it's exactly as it was when I planted it going on 10 years ago. There is even a fish pond in front of the summer house. Almost a work free garden.

Snacking on grass is quite normal, I try to discourage it, but you'll never stop it.

I'm not a keen gardener, which rather shows, preferring to take a good book up the garden and sit in the sun with a larger. But when you consider, this garden has had going on 70 years of dogs, usually more than one at a time, I dont think it looks bad. These photos were taken this evening, hence the long shadows.

View attachment 27914

View attachment 27915

A garden to be envious of there, John! If you’re not much of a gardener then what am I?😂 Thank you for the advice.

JohnW · May 7, 2023

Here is the pond with a guest.

Badger - YouTube

JohnW · May 7, 2023

I'm a lazy gardener Edward. I have organised everything to make my life easy. The lawnmower in one hand and a tin of larger in the other. The heathers around the pond have been there since I dug the pond over 40 years ago, and interestingly I have never had a dog go swimming in it! When Chloe was younger I fenced the top bit off to train jumping. Most of my basic training is in the garden.

Chloe Jumping 2 - YouTube

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