The Realization Sinks In

Fred and Ethel, the garden friendly dogs, are now fourteen weeks old and the realization of owning two big dogs is sinking in!!

On their second trip to the vet (which was only three weeks from their first visit), Fred had grown in size from about 9 lbs. to 17 lbs. while Ethel had gone from 8 lbs. to 14lbs.  The vet said he expected them to be 60 - 70 lbs. at their adult weight.  Holy cow!!! That's way bigger than their mama! They have outgrown two collars and three beds.
 

Their sweet puppy antics have turned into bad teenager shenanigans....

like digging up flower beds...

and getting into places they shouldn't be!

 There is a hole around every tree in our yard.

 

As you know, I am reading books by Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, for guidance on raising garden friendly dogs.  He says that puppies get into trouble when they get bored so I have been diligent about changing chew toys on a rotating basis and making them more "jungle gyms" to ward off their boredom.

Since we don't want to break the bank buying chew toys, we use lots of things from around the house and they love them just as well as store bought toys.

Homemade jungle gyms are easy too.

 

The orange thing in the background is our temporary dog fence.  We will install an underground fence soon.

As far as the digging goes, any area they dig up in a flower bed is immediately forgotten by them once I recover it with pine straw.  The holes at the base of the pine trees aren't very deep so I'm just ignoring them, however they recently started on a few random holes out in the middle of the lawn, and well, that just can't be!! 

Ironically the shape of the holes they dug perfectlynmatched my emotion upon seeing them!!

Now Cesar says that you should buy a child's wading pool and fill it with sand.  Then bury a toy in the sand and let the dogs dig for it.  Next, take the same toy and bury it in an "off limits" area.  When the dogs start to dig for it, stop them and walk them back to the wading pool.  Supposedly, they will learn that there is only one place they are allowed to dig and I'm sure they would , but.....

 .......there are a few problems with this method here at Turkey Creek Garden.  First, there are no wading pools in the stores in January and by the time there are, my yard will be as pitted as the surface of the Moon.  Second, I don't really want a wading pool sitting in my yard year round. So I have decided that when the Cesar Milan method doesn't fit our needs, we are going to go with the other dog whisperer I know, my grandmother, Dovie Wiggins.

 I can actually hear Grandma Wig's voice in my mind. After a good laugh she would say, "Shelli Lynn, those are just dogs.  A swimming pool!! I have never heard of such a thing in all my days! What you need is some red pepper!! Just a little in each hole and they won't come back!"

She was right!!  I hated to do it and spent time on the Internet making sure there were no dangers. In the end I tried it out.  After a couple of sneezes and a lot of barking at the betrayal of their former fun places to dig, they haven't returned to digging in the old holes.   Every now and then I see them stick their noses into the holes, but they always walk away and as of yet, (knock on wood), no new holes have been started.

So for now, all is well with the garden friendly dogs and I have to say that I love them with all my heart!!

                                                                                   Love ya'll too, Shelli