How to Protect Flowers From Dogs
If the neighborhood dogs enjoy sniffing your flower garden as much as you do, you may need to discourage the local canine population from snooping around your flower bed, where their marking and scratching may damage delicate buds and create unpleasant odors. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Cayenne pepper
- Flour
- Rose bush clippings
- Thorns, holly clippings
- Coat hangers
- Pieces of wire
- Ammonia and water
- Spray bottle
- Nylon netting
- Picket fencing
- Fog horn
Instructions
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Powder
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1
Mix 2-1/2 half parts flour with one part dried and freshly ground cayenne pepper and 1-1/2 parts dry mustard powder.
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2
Sprinkle the solution on the ground around your flower beds every day for one week.
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3
Re-apply the mixture after it rains. After the dogs get a whiff of the irritating scent a few times, they will remember that the area is not nose-friendly and will stay away.
Thorns
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4
Prune your rose bushes and holly plants and keep the cuttings.
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5
Chop the prickly cuttings into 4- or 5-inch segments and spread them on the ground around vulnerable flowers.
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6
Bury bits of sticky wire, old chopped up coat hangers, thorns or other sharp objects in the top part of the soil around your flowers. Dogs will be discouraged from hanging out there by the pain they feel in their paws every time they come close to the flowers.
Ammonia
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7
Mix one part ammonia with three parts warm water in a spray bottle.
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8
Shake the solution.
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Spray the ammonia solution around your flower beds to discourage dogs from sniffing. Repeat a few times a week until the dogs give up on the area and move on.
Fencing & Other Tricks
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10
Contain the area of your flower beds with a picket or wire fence.
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Drape nylon netting around the flower beds. The dog's paws may become tangled whenever it goes near the flowers, discouraging visits.
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12
Purchase a small fog-horn and blow it every time you see a dog going near the flower bed. Eventually, it will associate the unpleasant noise with the flower bed and will stay away.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not use thumbtacks or other injury-causing methods to discourage dogs from visiting your flowers. Not only is it inhumane, the dog's owners could sue you for damages if their dog is harmed by your efforts.
