Ultra Outdoors
Flower beds are a beautiful way to make the outside of your home more aesthetically pleasing. However, considering how delicate flower beds are, they have a lot of enemies, including active and overly excited dogs.
The colorful nature of flower beds easily attracts dogs, who can cause mass destruction on your flower bed. Luckily, there are ways that you can minimize the destruction of your flower beds and keep dogs away.
Whether you want to avoid dogs passing by on their walks from jumping into your flower bed or want to train your dog to stay away from your perennials, rest assured that it’s possible to repel dogs from your garden.
In this article, you’ll learn how to keep dogs out of flower beds with just a few easy tips. As a result, your plants will grow uninterrupted.
Why It’s Important to Keep Dogs Out of Your Flower Bed
Before talking about how to keep dogs out of flower beds, it’s first important to know why you should deter dogs from your flower beds.
You should keep dogs out of your flower bed for several reasons. The most evident reason is to maintain the beauty of your flower bed and keep it intact. A dog can cause a lot of damage to plants in very little time, whether digging in the flower bed, chasing birds and insects, urinating or defecating, or simply eating the plants.
However, another reason to keep dogs out of your flower bed is for their safety. There are a variety of plants that, when ingested, can cause harm to dogs. Some plants are poisonous to dogs but not poisonous to humans, so you might not know which ones could cause some serious harm to dogs.
Now that you know why you need to keep dogs out of your flower bed, let’s talk about how to go about it.
8 Tips on How To Keep Dogs Out of Flower Beds
Knowing how to keep dogs out of flower beds will make a world of difference for your garden and your dog.
To guide you, here are 8 tips on how to keep dogs out of flower beds and protect your plants.
1. Create a Barrier
The simplest way to keep your dog out of your flower beds is to create a barrier between them. A plant barrier can work double duty by keeping your dogs out and creating a beautiful enclosure for your flower bed.
Your barrier can be plants your dog would have no interest in, such as a bush. This is an especially effective option if you create a barrier with prickly plants that won’t harm your dog but that feel unpleasant to the touch.
Although a plant garden is a visually pleasing way to keep dogs out of your flower bed, it is a difficult option to execute. Instead, consider building a regular fence.
2. Build a Fence
Our next option for how to keep dogs out of flower beds is to build a fence or physical barrier around your flower bed.
This is one of the simplest ways to protect your flower beds from dogs as they won’t be able to see the flower bed, let alone reach it. The only downside to this option is that if your flower bed is behind a physical barrier, you and others won’t be able to see it either. This may not be the best option for flowers that are aesthetic additions to your home.
If the garden bed you want to protect is in your backyard and you own a curious dog, another option is to build a backyard dog fence to keep your dog within a limited section of your backyard away from your flower bed.
3. Keep Your Dog Entertained
When dogs are bored is when they end up wreaking the most havoc. If you distract your dogs, they’ll forget that your flower bed even exists. That’s why distractions are one of the best ways to keep your dog out of your flower beds.
When you go outside with your dog, make sure that you always have an activity to do with them. Whether playing catch, swimming in a doggy pool, or playing with dog toys around the garden, giving your dog another task will help them forget that your flower bed even exists.
4. Take Advantage of Smells
Sometimes you need a little extra help to train your dog to know not to approach your flower bed. There are several ways to do that using your dog’s senses, one of the most effective being their sense of smell.
You can use an off-limits spray to train your dog not to approach your flower bed. This is also a great deterrent for dogs that pass by your unfenced flower bed. Just make sure whatever spray you choose is plant-friendly and won’t have adverse effects by harming your flowers in other ways. You can also make homemade dog repellent by adding cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, chili pepper, or powdered mustard to a spray bottle of water or vinegar.
5. Always Supervise
Our next tip on keeping dogs out of flower beds is to supervise them in your yard.
This is a good option if you don’t have the time right now for any additional training for your dog or to install additional deter tactics. Simply allow your dog to roam free and explore the backyard. However, whenever you see them approaching your flower bed, intervene and let them know that they aren’t allowed to go near it.
6. Install a Sprinkler System
A sprinkler system is a great way to keep many animals and pests away from your plants — dogs included.
Turn on your sprinkler system whenever you see a dog approaching your flower bed, or have it activate automatically in intervals to discourage dogs.
What’s more, you can use this technique to train your dog not to approach your flower garden. Whenever you see them running towards it when playing outside, turn on the sprinkler to deter them. As a bonus, your flowers will always remain well-watered!
7. Make Sure They’re Trained
For your dog, the most effective way to keep them out of your flower bed is to simply train them.
This is the most effective way because once your dog has learned that they have no right to your flower garden, they will never approach it again and your job is done.
Even better, training helps your dogs develop their cognition, and so there’s a chance they’ll continue to be more cautious in other areas of their life.
If you need help training your dog not to approach your flower bed, it’s a good idea to ask a professional for help.
8. Find the Root of the Problem
Our last tip on keeping dogs out of flower beds is to dig deep and find the root of the problem.
If you find that your dog is constantly approaching your flower bed, there may be a reason. Some of these reasons may be:
- They smell you, their owner, working in the garden, which is comforting to your dog.
- Digging in the loose soil is appealing and fun.
- It’s hot, and it’s easy to create a cool place to lie in your garden.
- There’s a specific plant that attracts them to it.
- They see other creatures in your flower bed that they want to catch.
Observe your dog the next time you see them in your flower bed and, before stopping them, pay attention to what they’re doing. This gives you a hint as to what the problem is and how you can potentially mend it to discourage your dog from approaching your flowers.
Recap: How to Keep Dogs Out of Flower Beds
To recap, the best ways to keep dogs out of flower beds are:
- Create a Barrier
- Build a Fence
- Keep Your Dog Entertained
- Take Advantage of Smells
- Always Supervise
- Install a Sprinkler System
- Make Sure They’re Trained
- Find the Root of the Problem
If you’re tired of dogs ruining the plants you spend hours on, hopefully, this article has provided you with the hope that there are tactics that could help you overcome this problem.
