Rocco destroys anything left outside, Help!

[kiavila]

Rocco is 1 yr 4 mo old now. He is very well behaved inside the house, but when it comes to the backyard, he destroys everything he can reach. When we bought our home, the yard was a disaster. My husband has fixed the lawn and we are now ready to plan flowers and evergreens along the fence. The problem is that I'm afraid that we would put a lot of money and time into it and Rocco would just destroy it. I've tried putting potted plants on the back patio and other patio decorations but they don't last. We like to leave Rocco outside if we are going out for a couple of hours or if we will be away for a most of the day. He is crated everyday when we are at work, so we try not to crate him if we are going out on week nights or on the weekends. We want to be able to leave him out back to run and play, but we also want a yard that looks decent enough for us to enjoy and entertain in. At this point, anything that we leave outside gets destroyed (pots, buckets, welcome mats, candles, etc.)

Any suggestions on how to keep him out of the plants and keep him from getting into everything that is left outside?

 

[Lola's mum]

I'm afraid the only suggestion I have is not to leave him out there unattended.
My lot ruined my garden by doing some hard pruning, I was not best pleased. They are now not allowed out there unless someones out there or I'm in the kitchen and can see them to stop them.

 

[Cami]

It's NEVER a good idea to leave them outside without supervision. Aside from destroying property... a mile long list of things that could go wrong have to be considered. A simple bee sting with a terrible reaction can lead to a serious allergic reaction. Some even leading to death (my friends Boxer died of a bee sting within 10 minutes of being stung).
Injuries, being stolen, etc....

You know he is capable of being trained since he is so good in the home. If you do plan on leaving him outside you will have to train him in that area as well. It will take longer since he will have freedom without redirection/correction when you are not there to supervise.

My girl use to pull out tomato plants. I would replant them. Out they would come again. We put up fencing around the garden to try and keep her out but she decided that she could jump over the barrier to get to them. She loves tomatoes. My fault for allowing her to have them and in her mind if she was allowed to eat them she couldn't find any problem with being allowed to serve herself. I finally gave up. This was with supervision! In the blink of an eye she could be in one area of the yard and visible to me and in another out of sight eating a tomato.

 

[Sreed]

How long and often do you walk him?

 

[Lola's mum]

I stupidly left them out there while I was in the kitchen doing something, I kept checking on them and the next minute Casper's pulled one of my plants out of the tub! Earth everywhere all over the decking :(
My fault entirely, i knew it was Casper as he had the plant in his mouth when I went out there.