Keep the Garden Beautiful, Keep the Dogs Happy

Dog owners love their dogs and gardeners love their gardens, but sometimes these two passions can mix, and when a gardener has a dog that loves to dig holes in his garden and rip out plants, this immediately becomes a cause for alarm. Because gardens take many years of hard work to grow and dog lovers find it hard to hate their pets, a mischievous dog threatening the state of the garden easily creates a line that can separate and divide a gardener between his passion, the garden, and his love, the dog.

So should a passionate gardener keep his garden in good shape if the dog he loves keeps trying to ruin it? The answer, keep the dog happy.

Cesar Millan has been a very visible figure in the world of dog training for the last eight years with his hugely popular TV show, the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. And while some disagree with some of his methods, a lot of people agree that they do work and that Cesar does in fact have a very intuitive understanding of dog psychology. Keeping this in mind, what does Cesar’s way of training dogs have to offer in making sure that the your dogs don’t destroy your precious garden?

Cesar Millan always offers the same advice to every dog owner he encounters: dogs must be given exercise, discipline, and affection everyday in order to keep them happy. On his television show, Cesar is often shown reminding dog owners that dogs are dogs, not humans, and as dogs they don’t have the same needs that humans do. Sure, dogs need to eat and play in order to grow, but in order for your dogs to live a fulfilling life, their other needs need to be provided for as well.

According to Cesar, dogs are always looking for a job to do, whether it’s protecting someone, sniffing out something, or chasing after something else. If you’re dog is digging holes in your backyard and ruining your garden, then chances are that’s what it perceives as it’s job because it has nothing else to do. Dogs have a lot of energy that they need to expend everyday in a job, and if they aren’t given a job to do, it’s likely they will make one up for themselves.

Your dog’s job fulfills the dog’s two most important needs, exercise and discipline. Exercise is fulfilled by the energy required to perform that task and discipline is fulfilled by needing to stay within the parameters of that job. Conversely, if your dog doesn’t have a job to do, it must expend energy and maintain discipline another way, and this is where we can begin to correct a dog’s habit of ripping up the garden.

Exercise your dog, walk him every day at least twice a day in order to expend the energy he would otherwise use to dig up and destroy your garden. Walk your dog until he begins to pant somewhat heavily. Some dogs will also require more exercise than you can provide by just walking it every day. If that is the case, you can increase the amount of energy it will need to expend by making the exercise more strenuous. Cesar Millan often does this by using inline skates so he can go faster and to allow the dog to pull him along. Another good way is by playing fetch in a large open area so you can throw the ball far enough to allow your dog enough time to build into a fast sprint.

The area of discipline fulfilled by providing that exactly. Make sure that your dog lives within a set of guidelines. Correct your dog every time it doesn’t comply with them in a calm yet assertive manner. Create fixed routines for your dog so that it knows what it needs to do and how it needs to act at certain times of the day.

Keeping your dog happy is the best way of making sure that your garden stays beautiful even with dogs in your care. Provide it with lots of exercise, discipline, and affection and you can be sure that you will never have a problem with it destroying your garden again.