help! My girl is digging up the flower beds

[mygioialove]

My boxer love is 4 months old and she is distroying the flower beds! I rent my home and this distructive behavior has to stop. We've told her no, made noises, rattled a can to get her attention...just about everything we can think of. I play with her outside when I get home from work, so it's not like I turn her out and forget about her but as soon as I come in she's in the beds digging up the plants to chew on the roots or she's chewing the leaves down to nubs. I've bought yard toys for her and they're great...as long as were playing with them together. My husband did spot a mole the other day but I can hardly believe she's just chasing a rodent. Short of putting her under house arrest, I'm at my wits end...I can't be out there with her all the time and she can't just go out to do her business and come back in. Please Help!

 

[Jinnytee]

I have a 6 year old Lab and a 5 month old boxer. My Lab was a serious garden bed digger as a puppy, and young adult, so I do sympathise.

We live in Barbados, and our house doors are are always wide open to the garden, all day long, so our dogs come and go into the yard freely, and probably spend as much time outside as they do indoors, so it was impossible to police her.

We had some success by providing her with a sandpit, like you have for kids, so that if we caught her in the act, when she was told no, she could also be shown an alternative that she was allowed to dig in. We would also bury chew sticks, and the like for her to find to make the sand more appealing than the soil. I also used to keep her with me whenever I was gardening/ planting and train her to "Leave it " if she showed an interest in nosing or pawing the plants and soil I was working with ..... I wanted her to consider the garden beds my property, much like you would teach to leave your shoes alone !

All this didn't completely stop the garden bed digging, I have to say, but there was a significant improvement, to the point that it was not a big deal for us. I just accepted that once in a while I may need to replant something, but it wasn't often. Of course it could just be that as she got older she wasn't quite as obsessed with digging . Nowadays she still digs very occasionally, but only ever the same two spots, which are under large shrubs and do no harm, so I let her do it .... not that I think I could stop her ! .... but the flower beds are safe

Now my 5 1/2 month old boxer - Oh dear, when she was between 10 and 14 weeks old, how she LOVED to chew on roots, branches, bite at leaves and pull them off, tug at plants to try to uproot them. Of course, at that age she was constantly supervised when outside, so we could intervene before too much damage was done. Thankfully she did outgrow her fascination with all things green, and hasn't attacked a shrub in weeks and weeks.

Hope your little one does likewise.

Jinny

 

[TwoDogs]

How about some decorative fencing--the kind you just push into the ground? Pair that with a digging pit where she can happily dig to her hearts content and you might have a solution.

Frankly, she's only 4 months old. She really shouldn't be out there for long periods of time unattended. I'd be more worried about her accidentally ingesting twigs, mulch or stones than I would be about the welfare of the flower beds. And if she's out there alone she's learning that she can have all sorts of fun on her own and that you aren't really that important at all. I'm of the mind that a dog should be raised thinking all good things come from their human--that includes access to and fun in the yard.

 

[mygioialove]

Thanks Jinnytee. I have to replant so I'll do that with her by my side. She is also obsessed with leaves, sticks, and any other green/brown item in the yard of mother nature's so its nice to know that will stop eating/chewing those items and TwoDogs, I have thought about the small fence but thought she might just walk over it givin her size but its worth a shot. Im reluctant to give her a dig spot because I would like to deter the behavior. One thing I do want to say is she is never out alone for more than a few minutes-long enough to stir the pot or for mom to bathroom break herself . It is within this small window that the distruction occurs.

 

[Jinnytee]

One thing I do want to say is she is never out alone for more than a few minutes-long enough to stir the pot or for mom to bathroom break herself . It is within this small window that the distruction occurs.

Slightly different, I know, but still an unwanted behaviour that I needed to stop ..... At around your pup's age, my boxer girl had a fascination with biting and pulling my other dog's collars, funnily, only ever in yard time. They were tolerant to the max, but she would be quite literally hanging on for dear life as they tried to walk away - not good. The first days I had to work really hard, with many many repetitions of saying no and distracting with a game or toy. It drove me nuts, I felt like it was all I did all day. LOL. However she quickly stopped the naughtiness .... but if I left her alone with them in the garden even for a minute I would come back to her teeth wrestling a collar. I knew that I didn't want this habit to become ingrained, for her to think that time alone was a free pass to collars. So I took her back inside with me no matter what I was going to do, and even if it was only for a few seconds to go grab something. ( The fact that I now have a girl who thinks it's quite Ok to sit next to Momma watching her while she is going to the bathroom, is all my own fault Lol )

As she got older ... I think maybe about 16 weeks, I started to let her out "alone" but under careful and constant watch from my terrace. There was no more bad behaviour.

So, maybe just keep her with you at all times, where you can quickly stop something before it even starts. It won't be for long, and so worth it.

 

[ELubas]

As she got older ... I think maybe about 16 weeks, I started to let her out "alone" but under careful and constant watch from my terrace. There was no more bad behaviour.

So, maybe just keep her with you at all times, where you can quickly stop something before it even starts. It won't be for long, and so worth it.[/QUOTE]

Yup, this is the only sure fire way. At four months everything is fair game to a boxer pup, but both my girls outgrew it. My girl now is older and loves to lie in the sun while I garden, but when she was four months I never would have believed this day would come! Good luck

 

[Jinnytee]

Another tip !

I also remembered that I did put some deterrants in place when my Lab was at her " busiest" !

Where she was digging the soil, I placed ornamental rocks, between the plants - big and heavy enough that she couldnt move them. At one time my garden looked like one enormous rockery - but it worked !

Also, any prized plantings that I would be upset about if they were killed, I made chicken wire cylinders to put around them, so she couldnt get to them ! Not too pretty, but only temporary, so I didn't care.

I also forgot to say that I tried the low plastic fencing that you push in the ground. She dug it up ..... along with an entire gardens worth of subterraneal irrigation hoses. I think anything " in the ground" was actually more of an enticement to her to dig.

 

[Glasnevin]

My Boxer is now 7 months old and began digging very early. We decided to let her keep a small patch as her own and deter her from digging anywhere else. This worked almost immediately. Her own plot is in her section of the yard and she can make a mess, but I've noticed as she has got a little older she does this less and less. She also buries her bones in this patch, so I know exactly where to go to clean up!

 

[sandy's mom]

Chicken wire or hardware cloth is good, just put it in your beds and put a little dirt over it, they do not enjoy the way it feels on their feet.

Good Luck