I fertilized the new trees I planted in my yard about a week ago, and afterwards my 7-month old puppy started digging around my trees. I guess something in the fertlizer attracts her. So I covered the base of my trees with pine straw and then a rubber mulch mat. She has started ripping apart my expensive mulch mats and chewing on them. She has never messed with the trees before, only since I fertilized them. I’m afraid to take the mulch mats off because I don’t want her to dig around my trees and kill them. Any tips? I tried spraying the mats with bitter spray and within minutes she had one in her mouth. She is an inside dog, but we let her out for a couple minutes to go to the bathroom and it’s like she goes right to them. Help?
is there anything I can spray or put on the mats to discourage her during the times that my kids let her out and I’m not there quick enough to catch her? My kids are too young to remember not to let her out. She was wonderful outside before the fertilizer so we let her out to play with them whenever.
I would recommend taking her out on a leash for the next few days, even in your back yard. Then when she starts to chew the mats say "no" firmly to her and take her back inside and ignore her for 5 minutes. Ignoring a puppy is the best way to "punish" it for doing a bad behaviour. A puppy would much rather have your attention than chew that mat, so if you have her on the lead you can control her not to do it, and be there to correct her if she does chew it. After you do this "punishment" a few times, she will get the hint.
Adding more of that spray also couldn’t hurt.
Keep her on a leash when she is outside. Go outside with her if you can’t trust her.
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I would recommend taking her out on a leash for the next few days, even in your back yard. Then when she starts to chew the mats say "no" firmly to her and take her back inside and ignore her for 5 minutes. Ignoring a puppy is the best way to "punish" it for doing a bad behaviour. A puppy would much rather have your attention than chew that mat, so if you have her on the lead you can control her not to do it, and be there to correct her if she does chew it. After you do this "punishment" a few times, she will get the hint.
Adding more of that spray also couldn’t hurt.
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Give her a little longer on her walks, just 10 mins and see if that helps but be very strict with her, instead of letting her out, go out too and stand near the trees, correct her the moment she starts this and do it consistently so that she dosnt go back to behaving like that in a week. I would go out everytime until she loses interest or at least until the trees are stronger.
ADD; then lock the doors and keep the keys in your pocket so they cant just let her out.
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dog used to dig out all the bulbs from containers
Keep her on a leash whenever outside, I suggest that you put her on an extenda leash, let her wander around and when she goes towards the mats (other than to sniff) you shake a can of pennies or squirt her with water from a spray bottle, then say "Leave It" in a stern voice, when she turns away from the mats, even just to look at you, praise her really well and reward her with a treat, do this every time she goes outside to potty, eventually you won’t have to use the can or a water bottle simply saying leave it will remove her focus from it, however, no puppy should be outside without supervision, as you can see they get themselves into trouble.
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Hi,
Like many undesirable behavior of dogs, destructive habits usually develop because of dog’s boresome, loneliness, or both. It’s unfair or unrealistic to expect your dog to spend long hours quietly sitting and waiting for your return. Dogs are curious and sentient beings by nature. You have to make sure that she has enough mental and physical stimulation to minimize digging and chewing.
Here are some guidelines on how to treat the problem:
http://dogtime.com/chewing-digging-behavior.html
Hope this helps.
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