Destructive Puppy

[jillybean]

I know all puppies are destructive, but Chloe seems to be getting more and more so! She has plenty of toys and bones to chew on which I change frequently, yet she's recently gotten into the habit of pulling plants out of their pots and putting them in her bed!! She's a beagle so she's still quite small yet she manages to pull entire orchid plants out of BIG pots and then drag parts of it to her bed.

Apart from moving ALL the plants to somewhere high up (which is pretty impossible, there are LOTS of them), what can I do to stop her ripping them up!?

[~JessyBee~]

We are having the same problem with or four month old Golden retriever – he started the day we got him home – now he thinks it is a great game!

We have removed all pots from his reach and restricted access to the ‘sensitive’ areas of the garden. (One of which is now known as the Plant Hospital! LOL)

If we ever see him touching something he shouldn’t we distract him with something fun (or yummy) he seems to be catching on.

I also think that breaking the habit is important – that is why we have stopped our boy going in those areas. He also now has a sandpit where we burry things and he can dig them up – this has solved the problem of little ‘gofer holes’ around the yard!

I love making the boys iceblocks the night before, using a kong, make up the worst mixture you can think (mine love yoghurt water with liver or kibble – and a kong stuffed with peanut butter) put the kong in a Tupperware container and fill half way up with the water-ice mix – by the morning it will be frozen and she will think it is yummy!

It keeps them amused for a while at least!

[Miranda]

You will find that the easiest solution is to move the plants or fence them off, I have never owned a puppy who didn't think that pot plants were fair game. Most puppies grow out of this behaviour, but as a general rule having a puppy and keeping a nice garden can be difficult to say the least

[jillybean]

Hmm might have to move them to within the swimming pool area where it's all fenced off, otherwise my mum won't be too impressed to come home and find all her orchid plants destroyed!

I have been freezing kongs and other iceblocks but she just has such a short attention span that she needs a million and one things to keep her occupied! haha

[Beks]

Sorry to hear about your plants! I've got a few bonsai trees and my beagles are arriving in two weeks! I think I better start planning what I'm going to do with them now! Let me know if you have any luck with making the plants look "less tasty" to the puppy!

Beks

[Tara and Sam]

try some Multicrop Keep Off around the base of the pot plants ( around the top of the soil )

when my 2 were pups , I had the garden area fenced off with chicken wire

and when that came of 12 months later , they stayed off the garden and pots

my male dog , when he was a pup , picked up my potted plants and had great fun takeing the whole pot onto the lawn and then all my plants and pots were scattered around the lawn ;)

[shoemonster]

Molly is 2 1/2 and she still loves nothing more than stealing a pot plant, pulling the plant out and dumping it and destroying the pot ;)

[jillybean]

Caught Chloe in the act of trying to rip yet another plant out of its pot... Distracted her with a bone but now the crazy girl is barking at the plant!!