Mmmmmmm.... plants.

BagelDog

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#1
Bagel and Buster are 6 month old neutered mutt brothers with long, long legs. They love to go outside and chew all the plants, which my mom find very annoying. Its probably because they lived outside for the first 11 weeks of there lives, and thats all they had, but now it has to stop! I cant go around the entire backyard spraying bitter apple spray or pouring tabbasco sause on plants, so what do I do? They like to play out there, so we can't spend time outside the entire time they are to catch them in the act, so what do we do? My mom suggested filling the yard with big, juicy sticks (Mmmmm, juicy sticks) from them to chew on, but I think plants would be more fun to eat than sticks. What should we do?
 

Barb04

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#2
Oh, when I first moved into my new home, I had plants and bushes in my backyard. Max decided they were great chew toys and destroyed them all. I managed to transplant a few bushes to the front yard after he dug them up so I could save them. I now have NO bushes, flowers, plants in the fenced-in backyard.
 

Doberluv

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#4
If you leave them unattended at all, you won't be able to train them to not chew on plants. You'll have to actively teach them by supervision. I taught Lyric the "leave it" command and I tell you....that is about my most used command. It works for all kinds of things. LOL. So, take your dogs, one at a time outside on a leash. Put some tempting toys, food, plant leaves in different spots in your yard and walk around close to them. When the dog shows interest and starts to go for one of these things, say, "leave it" (firmly) and keep walking. When the dog walks along without further attempts at grabbing anything, praise lavishly and give a super tasty treat. Do this a few times a day. Change the places where you put things the next day. Then walk around the yard without these things and try it out when the dog goes for a plant. "Leave it." If he does leave it on his own, without your pulling on his leash, throw him the biggest party ever.....fantastic treats and lots and lots of attention and praise. He should get the idea that you just plain don't want him getting into the plants and soon you won't have to tell him all the time.
 
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#5
Also, don't immediately push off the idea of giving them something else to concentrate their chewing on. Give it a shot; it can't hurt, right? Sticks are good, and so are bones, rope toys, balls, and bully sticks. If you give them something to chew that's acceptable, they'll be a lot more likely to leave the plants alone once you show them to "leave it".
 

smkie

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#6
isn't leave it the best command ever? it covers soooooo much ground
make sure there are no lily of the valley or similar type poisonous plants anywhere your dog plays unattended. My parrot ate a quarter inch of the leaf of lily of the valley and it changed the electricity of his brain causing him to have grand mal seizures that tho the zoo vet tried everything ended in his death.
 
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#7
LOL! I'm pretty sure Jake's part beaver by the way he goes after small trees, hedges, bushes and anything else that's got wood in it. However, those plants get off pretty easy. Jake has mastered the art of aiming his arse so he can #2 smack dab in the middle of little plants - however, he's pretty good about watering the lawn :cool:
 

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