any idears how to keep a pup from destroying my borders in the garden. our garden is over 100 ft long show she has plenty of lawn to play on . but shes flatening all the plants some times she wil come out on command others she has devil in her running from border to border going mad noing shes doing wrong and wont come out unless i pick her up by the scruff off the neck . i dont really want to fence every thing off either.

I'm afraid prevention is the best method. Honestly, your best bet is to fence off the parts you don't want her to go on. It'll probably only be for a year or so.

By the way, she doesn't know she's doing wrong - she's playing a fun game with you joining and and running about too. What happens if you ignore her when she does it?

telling her off wont work then

No, I'm afraid not. You're still giving her attention (albeit negative) for a behaviour. Give her positive attention, by playing with her for instance, when she's on the lawn, and when she goes on the borders stop the game and go indoors.

I stil have my vegetable beds fenced off, but the flower borders have been safe since the pups grew up (though I confess I concentrate 'pretty' in the front garden where the dogs don't go, and 'practical' in the back!).

You'll have to be patient with this try and encourage her to play on the lawn and not on the borders.  They do get the message eventually.

Does remind me of one of the funniest things I ever saw involving dogs, I was at my Mums house and my step dad was in the garden planting flowers, he started at one end of the border and started working his way along, their Springer decided this was a good game so started digging up the flowers he'd planted (one at a time) and dropping them behind my step dad.  She must have been doing this for a good 5 mins before my step dad realised what was happening :)

I thought that's what dogs did.  We were told to expect our garden to be re-landscaped.  Last year when she was still under a year old I tried to stock some patio pots but the plants just got yanked out.  This year she is a bit more grown up and understands that we don't like her digging holes etc and she is much better.  Nevertheless she still 'pruned' a new fushia plant to the roots.  Sorry, I don't have any concrete answers, all I can say is that my back garden is not as pretty as my front garden.  I am looking forward to some of the replies though, I might get some tips myself.

*Sorry, I don't have any concrete answers,*

Theres an answer right there ;)
My back garden is all flagged orconcrete!
I keep the flowers and bushes for the front where the diggy little pooches don't go!
I did have pots on the back garden last year but Raffie brought all the plants out of them inside so they had to go!
I will try again next year when he should be well and truly past the Kevin phase.

make sure you have no poisonuse plants in their .
my pup was sick last year from eating tulips luckily no bulbs were eaten as that could have been fatal.

yes maysea what a good point.  What our dog hasn't ruined in our garden the slugs and snails have this year because I won't put down any pellets or insecticides.  It's surprising what plants can be dangerous, still not much left now.

re the slugs and snails, one way to get rid of them stick a tin can in the ground and fill it with some beer this attracts the slugs / snails and they fall in and (I assume) drown in it.  Might need to keep it away from the dog tho else you'll have a drunk dog to deal with.

lol - already caught dog licking around the top of a wine bottle so might give the beer a miss, she's crazy enough already

hopefully after next summer then she should be ok . shes 11 weeks old now . walking outside next week so hopefully that will tire out

another question upon greeting she mouths alot . the vet said tap her nose websites say OUCH  . the ouch hasnt stopped her yet which is best form ?

someone else was asking about this.  Look at link 'feeling so low' and see if it helps

This is an excellent article about teaching bite inhibition.
:)

Adam

I know its frustrating, but you must remember that she is only 11 weeks old. She is still a baby bless her. Thats not to say that you shouldnt teach her the correct way to behave but I think you have to come to terms with the fact that your home and garden will suffer some detriment over the next few months. If you expect this then you wont be too disappointed when she does chew a little and dig! As Jeangenie said prevention is the answer and it is only for a short time.

Be patient and try to enjoy her mischievious ways, you can have so many laughs and lots of enjoyment when they are this age provided your expectations arent too high. she will grow out of all of this with the right guidance but the most important thing you can do now is to train her and encourange her to be a confident little dog who respects her home as much as you do. When in the garden, why not start early and take the opportunity to teach her some tricks- like Sit, Stay, even start paving the way for recall. Mt Staffie knew sit at 10 weeks. This way shes learning and making your life easier for when the time comes to go out and about and at the same time shes not wrecking your garden!

Try to chill out and enjoy!
Best of luck

She is still a puppy, she will be a lot worse and you will have worse mouthing, digging etc :P
Sounds strange but try to enjoy it and learn about puppies; ignore the vet as tapping will make this worse, but do read and look up on here info re. puppy mouthing.

"The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey is very helpful, a bit of a bible. Also see www.puppyschool.co.uk for socialsing which all pups need, and training too, or www.apdt.co.uk as these will all give help.

By the way, even if a dog looks "hangdog", it is responding to your body language, etc not to knowing it's done wrong; you have a young puppy, expect mayhem, comes with the territory :D

Lindsay
x

Adam
my garden is fenced off and has a gate so that my girls dont go digging around the garden (they have done in the past)they have a large area that is thiers for playing ...pee ..etc and then I let them upto play in the garden with me or supervised they help each other to get upto mischief as soon as I've gone especially while the puppy is so young(10m)
My garden is 150ft long so it is better during the winter months because when it gets dark  I couldnt see where they were.... also no more muddy feet so to me it is a advantage.

~Roni

Adam

My dogs are five and two and still dig when they feel like it, the youngest has a particular fancy for newly planted pots and merrily digs up the whole lot if not supervised.  It's such a fun thing for them to do and although they don't do it nearly as much as they used to I still make sure that they are supervised so that I'm there to distract them if they start. 

Mind there is nothing as funny as a white Bichon covered in soil from head to toe looking at you as if to say, 'oh oh she's cross with me!' with a stangely satisfied look on her face. lol

At 11 weeks your puppy is exploring and looking for mischief and the garden is just one place to find it.  If you really don't want him/her to dig you will need to fence off the area.

Andrea

Without wishing to be discouraging, our 15 year old Lakeland terrier bitch still digs up the lawn!!

At least she's a bit slower now so I can catch her and pick her up to stop her doing it.

Up until 3 years ago I couldn't even do that!!

I think part of the joy with terriers is that they're a bit naughty, so enjoy.