Dog Friendly Garden Designs
Willow
garden, or what will be my garden once I move in, is a blank canvas. There's
loads of lawn with few plants scattered around the perimeter. I am thinking
of developing the garden so that there are raised native garden beds
scattered around with perhaps paved pathways inbetween. I am thinking of
putting a tree or perhaps a couple of medium to large shrubs in each bed
surrounded by small shrubs or groundcovers. I am also thinking of leaving
parts for a vegie patch & maybe a chook run at some point in the future...
there will be a stretch of lawn down the side of the house... unless that's
paved also...
Does anyone have any idea of how a dog would go in a garden like this? Are
there any features or plants I could add to increase interest for the dog?
There is already a pond in one part of the garden. Maizie, the 4 year old
Kelpie/Aussie Cattle Dog X, seems to be a water loving dog (stands in her
water bowl while drinking or just walks through it on her way elsewhere,
apparently doesn't like spray from a hose) so I think she might decide that
it's a nice swimming pool for her own personal use :)
--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow
~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
Angela Higginson
paths. My yard is heavily sloped, so we cut terraces into it, so it's
sort of divided into 3. Closest to the house is entertainment area with
BBQ/pizza oven and hammocks etc, next up is gardens, mostly vege, and
chook run, and up the top has two sections - manicured lawn - the
"secret garden" look, and the "wild zone", with overgrown vines covering
old trees. Between each terrace are gardens and rock-walls.
My dogs are big and a bit too enthusiastic, so I have ended up fencing
most of the garden areas off from them. The layout still suits them, as
they can chase each other around like maniacs on the paths, and up and
down the stairs, and in the wild zone, or hang out with me down the
bottom. The paving was essential, or the place ended up covered in
dog-track dirt paths.
The idea of being able to tell that one space is ok and another is out
of bounds never quite sank into their big slobbery heads, so I erected
small, unobtrusive fences. They are small wooden stakes hammered into
the ground, so they are about 18 inches high, with two strands of wire
wrapped around, about a foot apart. It seems to remind them enough to
stay out, and actually looks quite cute in a cottagey way, with vines
growing over them after a while.
So they get their fun, and the veges stay intact.
Now if only the bush turkeys would pay attention...
Angela.
Willow
I like the hidden garden idea too... I might have to see if I can
incorporate one into the plans.
Speaking of plans. Would you happen to have any for a chookpen?
--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow
~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
Angela Higginson <s07...@student.uq.edu.au> wrote in message
news:3BF7A03C...@student.uq.edu.au...
Toni
"Willow" <nospam...@2000cn.com.au> wrote in message
news:i5NJ7.228$li3....@ozemail.com.au...
> Does anyone have any idea of how a dog would go in a garden like this? Are
> there any features or plants I could add to increase interest for the dog?
I maintain a fairly nice spread with perimeter beds and the odd island. You
have to take steps in the beginning to teach the dogs to respect your
borders, though. One days trample can easily dessimate a flower bed.
Strict supervision in the initial days seems to do the trick.
I don't know that I would want to "increase" interest in expensive
landscaping areas...... maybe make a dog zone with a digging area, a wading
pool, etc.
--
Toni
http://www.irish-wolfhounds.com
Angela Higginson
Willow wrote:
>
> That sounds like paradise :)
>
> I like the hidden garden idea too... I might have to see if I can
> incorporate one into the plans.
>
> Speaking of plans. Would you happen to have any for a chookpen?
>
Are you talking chook house or chook run? How many chickens do you plan
on? Large or bantam? Ah, the possibilities are endless...
My chook run consists of tree stakes on the corners, with another stake
hammered in at an angle to support it and stop it from falling in, and
tall tomato stakes about every metre and a half in between. Between
this lot, I stretched 4 foot high dog wire, for obvious reasons :) I
covered the dogwire with chicken wire, because I keep bantams, and some
of them are small enough to escape through 4 inch square holes. To stop
the dogs digging under the wire, I laid treated pine fencing wood on its
side, 3 palings high, and screwed this to the stakes. This really
neatens the whole thing up rather nicely. Occasionally, I needed extra
little wooden pegs when the palings were the wrong length, but since
they were free from the side of the road council collection, I can't
complain!
One side of the run is a 6 foot high wooden fence. I used a framed
lattice panel for a door. One side of the pen is actually all framed
lattice (thank you council cleanup!) which gives the whole thing a
rather charming countrified look, especially as the pen is set under a
huge tree. The whole thing is about 3 metres by 6 metres, which is
plenty of room for my 13 bantams.
Because there's no roof on the run, the chooks need to be locked up at
night when the carpet snakes come to play. The henhouse is more
difficult to describe in text, but is about 1.5 metres wide, 1 metre
deep and 1 metre tall. It's made of treated pine, has a roof that's
angled down towards the back, and is on stilts. The door converts to a
ramp, and it has mesh covered vents on the sides. Looks really cute if
I do say so myself, and it only took me a day to design and make. If
you're interested, I can draw up plans for you.
Cheers,
Angela
Willow
--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow
~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
Angela Higginson <s07...@student.uq.edu.au> wrote in message
news:3BF7ADEB...@student.uq.edu.au...
queenmother
>There is already a pond in one part of the garden. Maizie, the 4 year old
>Kelpie/Aussie Cattle Dog X, seems to be a water loving dog (stands in her
>water bowl while drinking or just walks through it on her way elsewhere,
>apparently doesn't like spray from a hose) so I think she might decide that
>it's a nice swimming pool for her own personal use :)
I think you can count on this being true. Hope you're prepared for the
muddy paws!
~~Judy
You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart
woman with a dumb guy. ~~~Erica Jong
Anki
"Pat Meadows" <p...@meadows.pair.com> wrote in message
news:cmifvtga96vm066ge...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 18 Nov 2001 19:36:01 +0800, "Willow"
> <nospam...@2000cn.com.au> wrote:
>
snip
We have almost 3 acres of gardens, semi formal gardens around the house that
merge into native and rainforest garden along the boundaries. We also have
4 frisky semi stupid dogs, 2 large and 2 small. Everything we have tried
has failed as they seem to have set views of where their paths are no matter
what we put in or put up. At one stage I put hidden wire fencing in the
middle of the (soft planting) hedges the same height as the fence so you
couldn't see them, our biggest dog simply laid on top of it in the middle of
the hedge. I came back to see hedge and fence flattened to the ground.
We've taken the view that they live here too so we now work around their
'chosen' paths and live with the odd thoroughfare in a hedge and know that
the trampled agapanthus will stand up again within a few weeks and so
everyone is less uptight.
In short, the dogs rule.
Ann
> >Is there any such thing as a dog friendly garden design? > >>
> We put a 'symbolic' fence around the vegetable garden to
> keep the dogs out - a 3' fence of chicken wire. Both our
> dogs could very easily jump the 3' fence: they don't. No
> special training: they just never do. I don't know why.
>
> Pat
queenmother
Everything we have tried
>has failed as they seem to have set views of where their paths are no
matter
>what we put in or put up.
This reminds me of the story - I believe it to be true but I can't remember
where it was. A school built a new campus and didn't put in any
sidewalks - except the obvious ones - for the first year. Then they went
back where the students had made their own footpaths and paved those areas
into sidewalks. I've tried to follow that philosophy ever since I heard
that story.
Can't teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.