Help, my doggie obliterated my garden!

‘Oh no’ is what I whispered to myself each afternoon as I came home from work and looked at the state of my backyard once when our energetic short-haired border collie ‘Ziggy’ first came to live with us. You can probably guess, but the reason for my overwhelming misery was that our smiley new puppy had spent the day digging holes throughout the garden. Maybe I should have listened to the advice I was getting about border collies and how they will destroy my garden if I get one. Problem is, when he was not mining our backyard, he was a loyal, happy, playful and much-loved new member of my family, and who wouldn’t want that? After many weeks of saying ‘Oh no’ to myself in a defeated tone, I decided that I would have to come up with a solution or the garden would resemble a post-apocalyptic waste land.

I initially had no idea how to tackle this overwhelming problem so I thought I would go on Facebook and ask for advice. My animal loving cousin Lyn suggested purchasing some doggie toys and setting up a little sand pit area where I could hide them so that Ziggy could not only dig all day but discover some doggie treasure at the same time. I loved this idea! It made perfect sense to me, so I quickly went down to Bunnings, purchased one of those cheap clam shell sandpits along with a few bags of sand and set it up for him with his toys hidden in the sand. Now this is where I’d like to tell you that the problem was solved, and my garden is now a beautiful oasis. No chance! Ziggy dug all the sand out of the clam shell, dug some new holes in the garden and placed his toys in them. He even seemed to be smiling at me when I discovered his new game. I’m not suggesting that Lyn’s idea was not good as it was worth a try, but Ziggy just thought this was a cool new digging game that I had kindly set up just for him. I didn’t give up though.

My next solution was to spend a bit more time and think about fencing off areas of the garden. I didn’t want to just whack up some cheap chicken wire fencing around or anything like that, I wanted it to look good as well as being functional. I decided to once again pop down to the local Bunnings and this time purchase some marine grade galvanised high tensile wire and some turnbuckles for strength. I then attached the wire between two brick walls where I had a raised garden bed which Ziggy particularly enjoyed digging in. I spent the afternoon putting up the wire which framed the garden nicely and more importantly, provided a strong barrier and solution to my frustrating dilemma. After I went to work the next day, Ziggy was even more excited about this new game I had devised for him. He scoffed at my attempt to stop him and clamped his strong jaw over the wire and managed to rip it out of the wall. I was beginning to think that maybe having Ziggy and a garden is simply not possible. By this stage I was almost completely defeated and decided to stick my head in one of the holes that Ziggy had done and ignore the problem for a while.

Over time I decided that most problems have solutions and that I needed to get back to the drawing board. Luckily Ziggy was not digging so much, but enough for it to still be an issue. A friend of mine suggested that fencing off areas was still a good idea until Ziggy outgrows digging. I did agree with him, but I didn’t want the fencing to look ugly. When I’m working in other people’s gardens, I often make mental notes of ideas that I could use myself, and in recent years I’ve seen people using rusted steel edging and reo mesh in the garden as rustic features. I thought there’s my answer! I got myself some large reo mesh sheets, some cable ties and some bolt cutters to cut the sheets to fit the shape of the garden edging and erected some fences that framed the garden nicely without blocking out light or ruining the ‘look’ of the garden. Today Ziggy is no longer a puppy and does not dig too much so the problem is less dramatic and if he does dig it is usually to create a small dirt bed for himself to lie in, so at least his digging has a purpose.

This is just a little story of my experience, but I realise that all dogs are different and a solution for one may not work for another.

If you have a similar tale to tell as me then here are some tips to help you out

• Fence over areas where digging is occurring.

• If occurring in lawn areas, mow grass low and fix chicken wire to the ground using irrigation or weed mat pins.

• When planting instant lawn, plant resilient self-repairing varieties such as buffalo or couch grass.

• Place dog poo in the holes and cover up with soil. Your dog will hopefully be disgusted by the smell once it goes to re dig.

• Distract your dog with doggie toys.

• Make sure you regularly walk and play with your dog as a bored dog is more likely to dig.

• Alternate the time your dog spends inside and outside if this is practical.

• Have a designated area for your dog to dig with hidden treats.