How to Make Your Garden Pet Friendly
I wish I could show you my pet lab, Sirius, who is about to turn three years old next February, but he’s so active and kind of camera-shy so it’s kind of impossible at the moment. When I first got him, he was this small puppy and it was so hard to imagine that he would grow up any taller than he is now. When he first came home, though, my mom took one look at him and asked, “What about the garden?”
I was like, "What about it?" and she just gave me this look.
Fast forward to a year later, and I know exactly what she meant. When it comes to pet and gardening, it's kind of a hard balancing act to do, since pets (especially dogs) are naturally inquisitive creatures and they love their digging, sniffing and uh, marking their territory. Most dogs I see here in the neighborhood are well-behaved, but very active dogs like the Labrador I have can prove to be quite a challenge.
Cats are a lot less rowdy and cause less damage but back when we had cats (our household either has cats or dogs, never at the same time), our problem with them was they would poop and pee anywhere they wanted. This could be very problematic since they particularly liked pooping in places where people usually passed through.
Do everything you can for your pet-that means, know what plants you have growing in your garden. If you have any unfamiliar plants growing in your garden, it's better find out what they are, if they are toxic or not. It's also probably a good idea to nix the idea of getting plants with thorns or prickly stems and leaves-your pet may end up injuring its eye or chewing on those thorns.
So how do you make a garden pet-friendly? Or rather, how do you make your pets friendly towards your garden? Well, you always have that option of fencing off your precious plants so your pets wouldn't be able to wreak havoc as easily. Of course that can cause some problems because having a fence covering up your flowers kind of ruins the reason why you even planted them there in the first place.
To prevent your pets from making your garden their own personal playground, better set down some rules. If you discover your pet digging holes or thrashing your plants, don't be afraid to scold them just like you would with a child. It's also good to gesture emphatically to the damage they did and even bop them lightly on the nose (it causes them a slight physical discomfort).
You should also designate a specific spot for them in your garden. For cats there are litter boxes while dogs can be fenced in a particular area of your lawn. Let them become comfortable with their spot by making sure they have all their favorite toys and even feeding them there every once in a while.
A reason why your pets are making every tool and plant a toy? Probably because they don't have toys of their own or you're not telling them the difference. Playing with your dog and showing them what items are acceptable to play with will help them differentiate between a chew toy and a garden hose. For cats, having a scratching post will go a long way protecting your precious fruit trees from unsightly cat scratches!
Making sure that your pets channel all their energy correctly is not only healthy for them, but your plants will be thankful to you for it. It's definitely not going to be easy-in fact, Sirius still has to learn how to stop digging so much and carrying garden tools from one place to another-but just be patient and keep at it. Your love of plants and love of pets shouldn't be mutually exclusive. Let's all live harmoniously the way nature made us to be.
Meia Hernandez, Web content writer
Meia is professional web content writer who has an affinity for all things green, shuttling between her mother's garden & her father's farm in the province while growing up. She considers herself a perpetual gardening newbie, learning most of her knowledge of all things green from experiences.
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