Will a dog ruin my garden? ?

At first, the above photo is a lovely glimpse of Clover doing what Clover enjoys the most… bathing in the garden. It is literally her favourite activity. As soon as the sun is even half out… BAM, she’s out in the garden basking like a seal. (Well, she cries and scratches at the back door first so that I let her out.) In the summer, it’s great. The back door is left open and Clover lays outside all day if she wants to, coming inside only for a cool down on the wooden floor, a quick drink or a spot of lunch. Summer is her favourite time of year.

But, to the trained (dog owner) eye… the photo is not just a photo of our favourite floppy eared seal like creature basking in the sun, it’s also evidence of what dog p*ss does to your grass. See that yellow patch at the front of the photo? Yeah… virtually our whole garden is that colour now.

You may recall in my previous post that I mentioned that we haven’t always had a garden. In our previous house, we had a small balcony which was adequate whilst Clover was a tiny puppy, but it soon became unsuitable as she got bigger. We moved into a house with a garden last year (NOT, I may add, just so that Clover could have a garden… although it was a big motivator of course.) I don’t know if it’s because Clover spent her first year with only a small balcony to explore, or if she’s just a massive Alan Titchmarsh fan, but Clover just loves being in the garden. I was excited to have a garden too, not just for myself but for Clover too. More room for her to run around and an extra space for us to play together. I literally couldn’t wait to move in. Clover did zoomies round the garden for literally half an hour when I introduced her to the new house, and she still does it now over a year later.

Having had a balcony with one of those awful fake grass puppy pad type of wee areas, I spent half my life out on it with a jug of water, hosing it all down immediately after Clover had gone to the toilet… multiple times a day. So I couldn’t wait to have a garden and not have to stand at the door waiting for Clover to finish, before heading out with my poo bag and jug to clean it all up. The balcony was my only outdoor space too, and I loved sitting out on a deck chair in the evening… it just wasn’t the same vibe when you could smell dog wee constantly… so the jug became a lifestyle. A lifestyle that I was keen to leave behind when we had our lovely new garden.

After a few months of living in our new house, the grass started to go yellow. I googled it. The reason? Dog wee. Basically kills the grass. My lovely, luscious grass that I had been oh so desperate to have, now yellow and dying. So… guess what my new lifestyle is?! We’ve moved on from the jug and now, I have a watering can! How exciting! Obviously, if it’s raining (most the time in this miserable country), then it’s fine. But if it’s sunny and no rain is forecast then there I am again, stood at the bloody door, watering can in hand, waiting for Clover to finish so I can try to revive our grass before I give up and just tarmac the whole effing thing. Should have stayed with the balcony.

Enter your email address below to subscribe to our blog and receive email updates whenever a new post goes live!

But the garden fun doesn’t stop there… why would it?! Clover has also found a new obsession which she didn’t have in the old house… DIGGING! Hooray. I knew dogs liked digging, but it had never been a thing with Clover, until we got the garden. Within weeks, she was digging up the lawn. Perfect. I tell her off, she thinks its a game and runs away and now, because she knows it gets my attention, she does it when she is bored. So that’s good. So now, I cant trust her if i leave the back door open whilst I work.. in case she is out there digging. She’s ruined it for herself. It does only seem to be one area that she digs in, and she’s scared of my trusty watering can. So sometimes, I’ll put the watering can in the area that she digs and that seems to deter her. It’s a temporary fix but I’ve got no other solutions right now.

The other game that I really love to play is called “are there any poisonous plants in my garden.” A serious game, actually. Because, before I got Clover, I didn’t realise there were so many plants that are lethal to dogs. Something I hadn’t given any thought to whatsoever. These are the things that nobody warns you about! Hence, the reason for this post. Nobody tells you about the yellow grass, or the digging or that if you plant the wrong flower in your garden you could kill your dog… it also doesn’t help that Clover enjoys a chow down on a leaf from time to time.

Clover also enjoys a lengthy tour of the shed if the door is left open. The shed is the home of the lawn mower, the strimmer, and many other dangerous garden tools. It also has the treadmill in it. Clover chewed through the treadmill cable when she was a puppy so it doesn’t work anymore, but I leave in in the shed under the false pretence that one day i’ll fix it and be fit again. Anyway, I think we’re past the chewing stage but the shed is a no go area regardless… which is precisely why Clover will find a way to get in if the door is even left slightly ajar… oh the garden fun we have!

So, I’m thinking of downsizing again to a house with no outdoor space at all… not really but honestly it’s relentless. I envisaged summer days sat outside today, fun games of catch or playing with the hose in the summer. Instead I’m walking round the garden in my pjs with a watering can, preventing digging, checking the same plants over and over again online and checking the garden shed is properly shut… it’s like I’ve developed OCD since moving here. I’ve actually now come to terms with the fact that this is my life now. I hadn’t prepared for it, nor anticipated it, but hey… that’s the ruff reality of dog ownership my friends!

Photo of the awful plastic grass balcony area below for old times sake…