Question:
Is there any way in which plants can be used on a large scale to produce energy, I was thinking about genetically engineering plant (for max yield, mass etc) and then farming energy (using a process with bees (get the bees to think they are collecting honey (behaviour mod??) and the deposited "honeycomb" could be burnt or the chemicals extracted etc?? Could you guys at least tell me how this wouldn’t work!! Thank you
Response:
Search "biomass" I think.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Is there any way in which plants can be used on a large scale to produce > energy, I was thinking about genetically engineering plant (for max yield, > mass etc) and then farming energy (using a process with bees (get the bees > to think they are collecting honey (behaviour mod??) and the deposited > "honeycomb" could be burnt or the chemicals extracted etc?? > Could you guys at least tell me how this wouldn’t work!! > Thank you
Response:
I think I saw somewhere once that the fastest growing Plant is a Seaweed. Cultivated and messed about with, we might find a use for it? — Ashley Clarke
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Is there any way in which plants can be used on a large scale to produce > energy, I was thinking about genetically engineering plant (for max yield, > mass etc) and then farming energy (using a process with bees (get the bees > to think they are collecting honey (behaviour mod??) and the deposited > "honeycomb" could be burnt or the chemicals extracted etc?? > Could you guys at least tell me how this wouldn’t work!! > Thank you
Response:
Diatomaceous salt-water algae grow at an incredible rate and can yeld an oil capable of being converted to diesel oil, burned whole in place of most fuel oils, or thinned. some research also suggests an algae-yeast symbiotic system can be used for direct photosynthesis to ethanol conversion. ethanol can then be used for fuel in slightly modified gasoline engines. Fielding Isaacs
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Is there any way in which plants can be used on a large scale to produce > energy, I was thinking about genetically engineering plant (for max yield, > mass etc) and then farming energy (using a process with bees (get the bees > to think they are collecting honey (behaviour mod??) and the deposited > "honeycomb" could be burnt or the chemicals extracted etc?? > Could you guys at least tell me how this wouldn’t work!! > Thank you
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake 
If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
Response:
Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
Response:
Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
Response:
Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
Response:
I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
Response:
Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
Response:
I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
Response:
Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
Response:
I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
Response:
>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
Response:
Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
Response:
> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
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Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
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My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
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So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
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> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
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Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
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I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
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Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
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> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
Response:
>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
Response:
:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
Response:
Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
Response:
>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
Response:
My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
Response:
My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Response:
So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
Response:
> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
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Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
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I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
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Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
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> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
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>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
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:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
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Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
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My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
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So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
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> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
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Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
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I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
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Bitter Apple makes a spray specifically for plants that,when sprayed on the leaves,makes them taste VERY BAD.I have found this spray at Petsmart. Megan P.S. When you post to newsgroups(with the exception of groups that allow binaries,etc.),make sure that you take all the HTML stuff off your message,so it looks like this one.
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Well, my cat is indoors, and although I always have greens available to her year-round, she’ll still occasionally munch on a few of my plants, especially spider plants. I suppose if I cared that much about that particular plant, (in my case I don’t,) I’d use pepper spray or something like that on them. Bitter apple, or what have you. For dangerous or valuable plants, I’ve made a special shelf in front a window, which helps a lot, and gives me much-needed plant space and looks good to boot. It’s apparently too narrow, crowded, and high up for her to want to risk jumping up on it. Has anyone found a good way to keep your cats away from your houseplants?? I have problems with them chewing off the leaves.. To the best of my knowledge, in many things I have read they are not hamful so please don’t anyone freak out about that part of it…… I just need something to discourage them from chewing…
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Has anyone found a good way to keep your cats away from your houseplants?? I have problems with them chewing off the leaves.. To the best of my knowledge, in many things I have read they are not hamful so please don’t anyone freak out about that part of it…… I just need something to discourage them from chewing…
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Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
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> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
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>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
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:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
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Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
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My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
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So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
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> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
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Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
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I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
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Bitter Apple makes a spray specifically for plants that,when sprayed on the leaves,makes them taste VERY BAD.I have found this spray at Petsmart. Megan P.S. When you post to newsgroups(with the exception of groups that allow binaries,etc.),make sure that you take all the HTML stuff off your message,so it looks like this one.
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Well, my cat is indoors, and although I always have greens available to her year-round, she’ll still occasionally munch on a few of my plants, especially spider plants. I suppose if I cared that much about that particular plant, (in my case I don’t,) I’d use pepper spray or something like that on them. Bitter apple, or what have you. For dangerous or valuable plants, I’ve made a special shelf in front a window, which helps a lot, and gives me much-needed plant space and looks good to boot. It’s apparently too narrow, crowded, and high up for her to want to risk jumping up on it. Has anyone found a good way to keep your cats away from your houseplants?? I have problems with them chewing off the leaves.. To the best of my knowledge, in many things I have read they are not hamful so please don’t anyone freak out about that part of it…… I just need something to discourage them from chewing…
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Has anyone found a good way to keep your cats away from your houseplants?? I have problems with them chewing off the leaves.. To the best of my knowledge, in many things I have read they are not hamful so please don’t anyone freak out about that part of it…… I just need something to discourage them from chewing…
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Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? — Ninerfan
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> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot substance and let the puppy go at it? "tim" in "elora"
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>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
First, if you have anything remotely poisonous, throw it out or give it away to somebody without pets. Then just treat it the same way you would if your pup started chewing on the coffee-table…"NO!" give him one of his own toys, "Goooood Puppy!" Make sure your puppy is supervised until he learns what is not his to chew…keep him in the same room as you unless he’s crated. Piece of cake If you have lots of plants, you could put some out of reach temporally to make it easier on you. Gooblet
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:> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? :> — :> Ninerfan : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot : substance and let the puppy go at it? : "tim" in "elora" Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described in the books I’ve listed above. — Diane Blackman To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>>Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves
We’ve had good success in discouraging plant-gnawing (not to mention furniture- and book-gnawing!) by both puppies and cats using the deterrent spray. What we do is to use rags (or cardboard covers for when we were discouraging digging in the pots). Saturate the *rag* with the deterrent and hang it from the plant or wrap it around the pot.. it holds the chemical smell much longer and eliminates the possibility of harming the plant. I would also, however, suggest puppy-proofing! I.e. put whatever you can where the pup can’t get it… just as with a human baby, it’s best to take as much temptation as possible out of the way. Furthermore, I’d suggest investigating which of your plants might be poisonous and making damn sure they’re out of reach until the pup has matured, by which time you should have been able to train it to leave the plants alone, right? <G> Sarah (Alpha Bitch and Mamcat) Brenin, O-NAC, S-NJC, CGC, 1/2 OAC (formerly the book-chewing Puppy From Hell) Gwydion, Wicked Cat Extrordinare (strewing of dirt from plant pots a specialty)
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Hi Diane, Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come to that. A funny story here: Last week as you all might recall I caught him digging in the pot–he left potting soil all over the damn house, and he did this 3 times, twice while we were at home!!! Well I repotted the tree and replaced the rocks on top of the soil to discourage him from digging, and he went right back at it eating the leaves off the short part of the tree. Last night he took *all* of them off except for 2…..well apparently, between the potting soil and the leaves, he gave himself quite a tummy ache; he’s been moping around all last night and most of today, hardly even *moves* and whimpers whenever I try to pick him up. Maybe he’s learned his lesson? Maybe??? — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > :> > :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > :> — > :> Ninerfan > : Why not try soaking a few with tobasco sauce or some similarly hot > : substance and let the puppy go at it? > : "tim" in "elora" > Some dogs (mine for one) LIKE hot sauce. Several of us who post here > regularly have dogs who would really appreciate the nice thing you’ve done > in adding spice. There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > in the books I’ve listed above. > — > Diane Blackman > To reach a goal you must set a destination.
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>He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that.
If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are toxic, ever. Gooblet
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My suggestion was to remove the plants to avoid developing bad habits. Allowing the plant to be destroyed will establish the habit very firmly. That there may be long periods between things to destroy will strengthen, not reduce, the habit. Don’t let him near the tree when you can’t watch him. Surround it with an exercise pen, or simply don’t allow him in that area when you are not also there. You can use baby gates to control his acces to different areas. When you are present you can use your voice "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant – then give him an alternative activity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
: Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come : to that.
:> :> :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? : I’ve :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone?
<snip> :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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My roommate has lots of plants. Most are at a height the puppy can’t get to. The others we just immediatly say NO, Leave It for. One plant in particular he wanted to get whenever he was near it. The NO helped some and as time goes on he stops before he jumps for it and now when he just looks at it he gets a NO. I think this helps him realize that he shouldn’t even be THINKING about biting its leaves. Good Luck Dennis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? I’ve > tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > — > Ninerfan
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So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. — Ninerfan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->He destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it > also >doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this > case >it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like > the >thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come >to that. > If your puppy starts chewing the couch, will you get rid of that and not > replace it? The coffee table? The corner of the wall? Why is he unsupervised > when he does not know the rules of your home? If you were *with* him, you > could correct him when you see him thinking about chewing the plant, and > praise him for chewing one of his own toys. If you leave the room, take him > *with* you. It’s just another part of housetraining…you don’t leave a > puppy unsupervised until you know it won’t piddle in your absence, same goes > for chewing, and it doesn’t make a difference if it is a plant or the dining > room chair legs. If you leave home, confine him to a puppy proof room or to > a crate. *Please* make sure you are certain that none of your plants are > toxic, ever. > Gooblet
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> You can use baby gates to control his > acces to different areas.
Now *that’s* a great idea! Why didn’t I ever think of that? > When you are present you can use your voice > "ahchT!" to distract him when he *starts* for the plant
Well that’s the biggest part of the problem I guess–he *never* goes after things he’s not supposed to have when we’re present. I *know* that HE KNOWS these things are bad! So he doesn’t go after them when we’re there–only when we’re not around! Very frustrating!!! — Ninerfan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Diane Blackman > – – - - - - - - – > "[It's] impossible to separate body language from the specific situation > and the emotional condition of either the sender or the recipient of the > physical cues. This also holds true in our relationships with dogs." "The > Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM. > : Interesting suggestion, and for the most part I’ve done exactly that! (He > : destroys a plant/it doesn’t get replaced. He destroys another one/it also > : doesn’t get replaced. I’m about out of plants!) Unfortunately in this case > : it’s a very large potted tree which really can’t be moved. I don’t like the > : thought of just letting him destroy it completely, but it might indeed come > : to that. > :> :> > :> :> Any suggestions on how to stop a puppy from chewing on plant leaves? > : I’ve > :> :> tried the spray–it worked on the carpet but seems to evaporate off the > :> :> leaves, so it doesn’t last. Anyone? > <snip> > :> There are a variety of techniques described in "People, > :> Pooches, Problems" by Job Micheal Evans and "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by > :> Brian Kilcommons. Still my preference is to pick my battles. That means > :> I leave the teaching of some things to a bit later in the dogs maturity. > :> Although bad habits don’t cure themselves sometimes removing the > :> opportunity for a while allows establshing good habits and avoids > :> cementing bad ones. Once you have a solid training/ good manners > :> foundation you may find that – combined with maturity – changes the > :> behavior. And if it hasn’t then you can work on that one small problem, > :> instead of trying to deal with many things at once. You might want to > :> consider just removing the plants to allow you to focus on establishing a > :> pattern of good behavior first, then work on the kinds of setups described > :> in the books I’ve listed above.
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: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it : when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. : First of all we’re talking about a 45 pound "puppy" who can’t be crated : realistically, unless we wanted to acquire another rather large piece of : furniture. I suppose we could lock him in the bathroom all day–would that : be better? At what point should be begin to *apply* what he is supposed to : be learning? According to your logic, that time might never come. : — : Ninerfan It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about a year, the other not until about 18 months. I day boarded them two days a week (cut rate from the vet because they shared a kennel and he was so happy to help someone who was trying) and yes, I crated them, and later confined them to one room. The bathroom and the kitchen are frequent choices for the adolescent dog. The place that will make your dog feel the most comfortable is the one most occupied (i.e. most full of your scent). The book "Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence" by Carol Lea Benjamin is full of tips for dealing the period of maturing. You need to lerarn about "set-ups" – I already recommended two books that go over it in detail. Try your local library. When you start to give freedom give it in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the responsiblity. Diane Blackman – – - - - - - - – "If others’ interpretations either bother us or recur, we owe it to ourselves and our dogs to reevaluate our own orientation carefully. If we find ourselves becoming angry and defensive, chances are our own interpretations are the incorrect ones. "The Body Language and Emotion of Dogs" by Myrna M. Milani, DVM.
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Thanks for explaining my "logic" so well Diane, I couldn’t have done it better…except to mention to Niner that a large crate makes a *lovely* piece of furniture. Put an end-table in storage for a year or two, and you won’t loose an inch of space. Gooblet – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >: So, at what point do you leave him by himself to *find out* if he’ll do it >: when you’re not there? Sorry but your logic just does not make sense. >It depends upon the dog. Mental maturity includes impulse control. >Impulse control is missing from children and puppies, teenagers and >adolescent dogs. One of my dogs was essentially mentally mature at about >a year, the other not until about 18 months When you start to give freedom give it >in small pieces. Having the whole house to take care of (from the dog’s >view) can be overwhelming. The dog needs to mature into the >responsiblity.
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I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s usefull. thank you marie
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
Marie, I just want to steer you towards checking with Lilypons Water Gardens, because they will match up to $1,000 in donations for building a pond as a school project. Try this number 1-800-999-5459. HTHs Useful reference for Low-Maintenance Anything concerning ponds, can be found in Helen Nash’s, Low-Maintenance Water Gardens book. ~Keep ‘em Wet!~ jan/3-Cities WA Zone 6.5 Remove Z to e-mail
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>I am helping my high school in research about the pond we are planning to dig. > Does anyone have information or know where I can get information about > low-matience plants?? I can find out how big the pond will be if that’s > usefull.
First off, i’d say algae is your lowest maintenence plant! The Hearty Water Lilies are ok. Water Hyisynth (sp) and water lettuce are good summer producers, and die in colder areas in winter. Some water plants are aggressive growers…you’ll have to repot these, or simply pull them up often. Go visit your local water garden farm, seed & feed, or you can get a great catalog from many mail order houses…like Van Ness Water Gardens. I can dig up their phone number if you want it.
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