ï
Well, I have good news and bad news.
First of all, my now 45 pound terror no longer eats
Irises, the bad news is that he ate almost every one in the garden so there's no
more to eat!!!!!
My boys took care of the dog all summer while we
were off at work so, being boys and not knowing the difference between an
Iris and a Maple tree, they allowed him to feast freely at the salad bar
;-(
I do have a few unharmed plants left but I'll have
to come up with a better plan allow them to grow in peace. It's been hell
for the Iris grower here. The borer pretty much destroyed bloom season
with only two plants making it to bloom. Add in a high energy Golden
Retriever and all hell breaks loose in the garden.
It was also a challenging personal year with Pzifer
buying out Wyeth and closing research in Montreal where I worked for 20
years. Gardening has been far from my mind but at least I was lucky to be
able to transfer to another department and now make vitamins. It's
exhausting and dusty work but it's paying the bills so all has ended
well...
I plan on going to war vs the borer and my dog next
Spring and predict a great bloom season for 2012 :-)
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From:
f*@yahoo.com
To: S*@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2010 7:09
PM
Subject: Re: [SpaceAgeRobin]
Help....
Chris,
I think I can relate. I have a 13 month old Catahoula
Leopard Dog (american breed for cows and boars) who simply cannot contain her
Greyhound heritage. In the past I have had a Corgi and Corgi
cross.
With the Corgis I was able to just scold them "Get out of the
beds" and follow with a "good dog" when they happened to land all four feet
back on the paths. Those two dogs were adults before the irises came
along.
The Catahoula is different. Initially, she was just too
unfocused in general to even hear a command, so she was just tied nearby, but
out of reach of the irises. She did grab a freshly planted rhizome out
of the dirt once when she was allowed a little liberty. When that
happened I brought down a hellfire and brimstone of disapproval on her AND
sent her to her crate in the house. Since she is very people oriented
anything that gets her sent to her crate gets her attention. Since then
if I catch her so much as sniffing a rhizome she gets a very harsh
scolding. Now, she's big enough that she's earning the priviledge of
roaming the area around the iris bed at liberty. I've gotten lucky,
she's found a few large bones as she roamed around. Then, near the iris
bed, but not in it, becomes a really nice place to hang out and enjoy the
find.
Over the long run, your disapproval, and very clear
boundries are going to be the best tactics. If the puppy is getting to
the iris beds before you can, then just use a leash when you go that
way. Or if the garden is in his space just use the disturbed rhizomes as
the proverbial "rolled up newspaper", or "rub his nose in it". What are
you doing to keep him from chewing shoes? Apply the same
logic.
Christian
From: Donald Eaves
<donald@eastland.net>
To:
SpaceAgeRobin@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, September 3, 2010 11:08:20
PM
Subject: Re:
[SpaceAgeRobin] Help.... [1 Attachment]
So, Chris. How's it going with the puppy? He's probably is a lot more than
15 pounds now, but I'll bet he's still very much a puppy! Chewing, romping
and playing. Lot's of pleasure to be had. Unfortunately I think you're
going to find that a cat is a lot more congenial in a garden than large
dogs. That's the downside. The photo shows the rocks (and they're larger
than the photo indicates) that were dug out and then got put back to keep
the dogs from digging. I have a lot of iris beds littered with big rocks.
Sadly, the rocks aren't nearly the worst of it. I also have lumber laid
across the beds, lots of clay pots strategically located, a couple of
leftover sections of bull wire fencing, assorted plant cages and metal
stakes stuck around and about, and finally, worst of all, some rusty metal
lawn chairs stuck in the iris beds. All to discourage the dogs from
digging. The location is always remedial on a place they've chosen, either
as a shortcut or a digging spot. Still it's never enough. They haven't
been kind to me this summer. And I had another use intended for those
rocks! Oh well. :)
Donald Eaves
d*@eastland.net
Texas Zone
7b, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "broue2002" <c*@videotron.ca>
To:
<S*@yahoogroups.com>
Sent:
Saturday, June 19, 2010 8:56 PM
Subject: [SpaceAgeRobin]
Help....
> Evening all,
>
> I have a problem. Our new 8
week old Golden Retriever pup is eating all
> of my Irises. He rushes
to the garden the first chance he gets and rips
> off all the fans, he
even pulls the rhizomes out of the ground.
>
> Can anybody offer
any assistance?
>
> Thanks
>
Chris
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------
>
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