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If you’re a passionate gardener, and you also love your dog(s), scenes of flower bed mutt invasions, rooted garden plots, and muddy paws are probably a familiar yet unpleasant sight you rather avoid for good.
Unfortunately, most pups will simply LOVE digging up garden soil without realizing the harm caused to carefully tended blooms, and that they are not toys to chew on (barely mentioning flower beds turning to personal toilet area).
So, dog-control questions arise:
How can you keep your flower beds safe from your furry friend’s unwanted attention?
What keeps dogs away?
How to keep dogs from digging in your flower bed?
Keep reading to learn Oak Hill Gardens’ handy hints on how to keep Doggo pooch out of your foliage!
Dog-proof Garden Design
First and foremost, the best you can do is to design your backyard in a way so flowers you cherish are hard for doggies to reach. The ideal puppy-proof raised garden beds are those that dogs can’t reach.
Now that’s part of gardening bliss!
Explore our awesome guide:
Hang Flowers & Plants High Enough
Although an option few could actually implement, taking advantage of container gardening and hanging greenery somewhere high where dogs could not reach is a guarantee for flowers safe and secure.
But… only if you have the right walls, gazebos, trees, or other support to hang our pots. If no other hack works, installing some sort of support for the sole purpose of safeguarding flowers is indeed a viable option.
Explore our helpful guides:
Chemical Pet Deterrents
Dogs have an incredibly keen sense of smell. In fact, your dog’s nose is 100,000 x times more sensitive than that of a human, so it makes sense to use smells as a means to make your flower beds less attractive to your sniffy and charming pup.
Scents to keep dogs away are one of your best options.
Off-the-shelf Products
Stroll down the pest control aisle in your local garden center, and you’ll see a wide range of repellents for flower beds that are designed to keep pets off your garden.
Most repellents rely on strongly scented natural aromatics, such as citrus, pepper, peppermint, and cinnamon. These substances won’t harm your pet, but many dogs will hate and avoid them, thus effectively protecting your garden.
The main downside of using repellents is that the effects don’t last very long, especially when the weather is wet, so you need to reapply the product frequently, which can work as quite expensive in the long term.
Ideally, you want to use a repellent that’s delivered in the form of water-resistant gel crystals. The crystals gradually break down, releasing the scent as they do so.
Ammonia-based Solution
If desperate to keep doggos away from your beautiful flowers, then mix a bit of ammonia with water and spray the area in danger.
DIY Digging-dog Repellents
If you live in an area where the climate is mostly dry, you can make a cheap DIY mixture or spray to keep dogs out of flower beds.
Pungent, bitter scents are not appreciated by the canine noses and can effectively put your dog off sniffing around where you don’t want him to.
Scents are your best weapon again adorable and playful pups who just can’t stay away from your flower bed and garden!
Low-acidity, Horticultural-grade Vinegar
To keep dogs out of gardens, use a solution of low-acidity, horticultural grade vinegar, and water to spray vulnerable areas in your yard every day or so. Vinegar discourages dogs and other furry pests, such as rabbits, as well as killing weeds.
However, you’ll need to protect your precious plants from overspray, as overdosing could damage or kill plant life.
Powdered Mustard, Mustered Oil & Hot Peppers
Doggos simply hate spicy scents!
Use a mixture of flour, powdered mustard, and fine-crushed hot peppers in your quest to deter dogs from digging in your garden flower beds.
Use the following dog-repelling recipe:
2 1/2 parts flour;
1 part hot pepper powder;
1 1/2 parts Dry Mustard Powder/
Any chilly pepper sprinkled around your flowers can help make your dog's eyes water, quickly putting an end to any sniffing that your curious canine might be contemplating.
Be it cayenne peppers, black peppers, everything that’s hot enough and cheap enough for you to use outside the kitchen.
Citrus Peels
Sprucing citrus peels on the edge of your flower garden is more a supplement to more robust dog-repelling tactics, but since you’re here, you have to try it all.
The one thing is that it won’t work with all pups. That’s why you have to first test, test, test.
Call your doggo just after peeling your citrus of choice and let your canine sniff. If it hates it, you’ll know!
Old Coffee Grounds
“It’s best to mix used coffee grounds with bitter orange oil (extracted from orange peels) to maximize the compound effect. Still, building a fine line of coffee grounds on the edge of your garden will still work. As an added bonus, coffee grounds are an excellent garden fertilizer,” Allan adds.
Sound Deterrents
Dogs have a very keen sense of hearing to match their exceptional olfactory qualities.
So, an ultrasonic pest repelling system might work well, especially if you have problems with strays or neighbor’s dogs rampaging through your flower beds. Some ultrasonic sound systems also incorporate LED lights that can be very effective in frightening dogs away.
An added bonus of these systems is that they can also deter vermin and scare off cats that are using your flower garden as a litter tray!
The main downside of ultrasonic devices is that they can also frighten away garden birds and other welcome visitors, including squirrels.
Physical Barriers & Fence Edging
Although fences are an expensive option, a physical barrier can be highly effective at keeping canines off your raised beds, especially for small dogs. Fences don't need to be ugly.
A little dog won’t be able to physically jump over the fence up into the flower bed, although a larger mutt will.
If large dogs are an issue, or you don’t want to block your view with fencing, you might find an electric fence either below or above ground is effective.
Electric Fencing
Although electric fencing does sound like a dramatic solution, these fences won’t harm your pet, simply delivering a static shock provided by an electric fence charger. That’s usually all it takes to convince the dog that your flower beds are not a fun place to be.
If you use an underground fence, your dog will need to wear a special receiver collar. When the dog breaches the invisible fence line, he will receive a sharp jolt. By placing flags along the borderline, you’ll quickly teach your dog where the no-go area is.
Picket Fence
A cutesy picket fence can look great, but it’s not always the best of solutions as it affects the overall gardening layout and landscaping design, not to mention potentially reducing sunlight to a certain extent.
While white fences always look smart, building a high-tall fence could be a temporary solution, until you train your pooch what’s right and wrong.
Pinecone Moat
A good pinecone moat can be a brilliant line of defense!
It takes little to build, and it’s somewhat easy to obtain.
It won’t physically stop your dog from roaming a specific part of the garden, but upon some training, it will be an efficient reminder for pups to leave your flower garden alone.
All you need is a walk in the forest.
Rose Thorns
Rose bushes with prickly stems can be highly effective at keeping dogs away.
One way is to have these as part of your garden design, but you could always scatter trimmings n the edge of your flower bed.
It will take only once for your pup to prick and learn not to play there.
Marigold Flowers
It’s a popular myth that marigold flowers repel everything from deers, to cats, dogs, and rabbits.
However, we lack substantial proof, or at least some sort of evidence, that these beautiful blossoms have any effect, besides acting as a physical barrier.
Human Hair
Yes, that’s right!
The scent of you or your family can be a surprisingly efficient reminder for tail-waggers.
However, you will need a bit of pre-training on the flower bed area, so your dog can sum 1 + 1 and learn that human scent + flower beds = a big NONO.
Dog Deterrent Plants
There are species that will deter doggos from your garden, but we’ll someday make a dedicated post on what, how, and why those work.
Still, for the sake of this guide, we mention: chili peppers, citronella, plectranthus canina, rue, citrus trees, curry plant, and lavender. If you know others, do make sure to let us know!
Distraction Techniques
Although training your dog can be time-consuming, it’s also highly effective and the effects tend to be longer lasting than temporary fixes, such as fences or chemical deterrents.
With patience and persistence, you can train your dog to avoid certain areas of your garden, especially if you can combine that training technique with games and toys.
Positive reinforcement training is the best way to go! When your dog gets it right and sticks to areas of the garden that you’ve set aside as designated play areas, reward him with praise and treats. If your pet ventures onto the borders, use a clear command, such as “Off!” When your dog complies, shower him with praise for doing the right thing.
Scare Dogs Away
Using decoys can be a very effective form of hardscaping that also frightens away nighttime visitors to your garden, be it dogs, birds, squirrels, and etc.
Learn:
You can buy simple devices that consist of two red lights that are designed to mimic the hungry, vicious eyes of a dangerous predator.
You can even build your own make-believe creature by using a mini solar panel and a sensor. Simply hide the “monster” among your plants, facing your dog’s usually approach route.
When your dog sneaks out into the garden after dark and approaches the forbidden flower bed, the predator’s eyes immediately flash on, giving your dog a nasty scare.
Of course, some dogs are braver than others, so this deterrent might not be effective with every hound.
Unexpected Showers!
Although some dog breeds enjoy swimming, most do not appreciate an unexpected cold shower!
A sprinkler system can be the ideal way to dissuade your dog from spending his leisure time on your flower beds. You can buy sprinklers with sensors that will activate when a dog (or child!) runs past, giving your dog an impromptu soaking that’s bound to scare him away from your raised beds.
That deterrent has the bonus of watering your flowers, too!
Thorough Exercise & Digging-friendly Playgrounds
Some dogs will destroy your flower garden just for being bored. That’s why it’s your best bet to make sure your pup gets all the walks and exercise it needs, so it doesn’t have the power to dig your garden.
And if you don’t have the time, setting up a dedicated playground area could be an acceptable trade-off: “play here, leave my garden in peace”.
A “Please Keep Pets OFF” Sign
Sometimes it’s not even your dog that will devastate a beautiful flower garden. In case your backyard is open to visitors, a good old sign will guide mindful dog-owners- to stay away.
Dog-proof Garden Beds, Conclusion
When you spend hours working in your garden, cultivating raised beautiful flower beds, and growing vegetables, the last thing you need is for your canine companion to destroy all your hard work.
We hope our dog-proofing tips will help you keep your beloved pup a-way from your raised garden flower beds for good!
Author: Dmitri Kara
Hi, I’m Dmitri!
Started as a jack of all trades back in early 2012, Dmitri Kara is a recognized expert in a wide range of domestic and commercial trades. Dmitri Kara has appeared on reputable outlets such as Today.com, Metro.News, Telegraph.co.uk, ReadersDigest.com, Quote.com, Reviews.com, Plus.net, IkeaHackers.net, and many more. You can get in touch at https://twitter.com/@dmitrikara.