Keeping the Dog Off!!!

I have recently moved my roses into a border, the trouble is my Border Collie likes to run through the bed and I am worried she is going to kill them! These is our bed of sentimental roses, I have one called Loving Memory for My Mum and my Hubbies Dad and last year we bought Hubbies Mum a rose called Mum in a Million. Unfortunately Hubby lost his Mum on the 1st November last year so this rose has become quite special and our third rose is called Wedding Day which a friend bought us for our Wedding last August.

I would be devestated of anything were to happen to these roses due to the sentimentality of them and wondered if anyone has any ideas on how to keep an over enthusiastic BC off? Does anyone else struggle to keep their pets off their flower beds?

Any ideas would be gratefully received, thank you in advance :-)

 

I've got a border collie, second one I've had and I find them very intelligent.
Mine just roams all over the allotment when its empty during the winter, but as soon as its dug over she very rarely attempts to go on the soil and stays on the paths.
It is strange but both have always been the same.
You need to be persistent in the early years of training.

But this is something they just seem to know.

 

Trouble is our neighbours have 2 very yappy dogs and this makes ours run at the fence to bark back at them - she is incredibly intelligent but sometimes has a mind of her own and 'cocks a defun'!!!

 

In that case perhaps just a low fence around the area concerned for a short while might help.

 

Taking pete's suggestion one stage further, what about a temporary fence of fairly dense twiggy bits? Once the roses are in full leaf and flower the twigs will all but 'disappear'.

 

My Cocker Spaniel is the same, likes to see off the other dogs, if the roses are really special I would definitely fence them off as well, it won't look as nice but at least they will be safe.

Val

 

Sometimes it isn't practical or desirable to fence off a whole area to protect plants from animals, so how about adopting the strategy that would be used in the countryside to protect individual trees.

A sturdy stake in the ground, and maybe a mesh tube around each rose, secured to the stake. The technique wasn't developed for boisterous dogs, but I reckon it would work.

After a year or so, I reckon the roses will be established enough to not care if the dog barges through them. In fact probably not even that long. I'd be a bit worried about them for a few months just in case they get uprooted, but once they've got good roots down I reckon there's nothing that the dog can do to them that will do any lasting damage (short of dig it up, which dogs sometimes do).

 

We have lots of flower gardens. And our sheppards were taught to walk around them. They never ran through them, really, they did not. But our sheppards were very well trained to begin with. Heel command, stay command etc. they both got obediance titles. And they were boundery trained, never left the 2 1/2 acre property. Training to keep out of gardens is a matter of walking them around and correcting them when they walk into the area you don't wish. Its done over and over several times for a few days. And they did get it. Really they did. I miss my boys, both now in heaven. They were so so good.

 

I feel I may have done my little Lucy a diservice really, she is incredibly well trained in almost all areas but trampling of plants. It's something we have been unable to stop her doing and have tried all the humane methods available. She hates a bottle filled with stones in being brought out but even that won't deter her????? She is a very protective dog so I am guessing it has more to do with this than obedience, she hates anyone coming near us or 'seeming' like they are getting to us.

We got her at 20 weeks and were her 4th home (she had been too much for the three previous owners), suggested they choose a different dog as anyone with half a brain will know that Borders are highly intelligent and take more than being shoved out in the garden for stimulation. The last home kept her in the garden and she was never allowed in the house, they said she was distructive and constantly dug holes - now let me ponder why..........? I am guessing this is the last bit of naughtiness we have left to train out of her. I will certainly try your walking around the garden with her technique Redstar, hopefully within a week or so she will have cottened on to what I want her to do!

 

Its walking her around the gardens at heel, praising her the whole time. If she slightly goes off heel into the garden, just give a quick correction and keep going. Always more praise was my method. Also if she still digs holes, you may have to find a place in your yard that she is allowed to dig. But keeping a dog well excerised can decrease the digging and other ill behaviors. Used to walk 1 to 2 miles a night with mine, and 4 miles on weekends. And was skinner then.

 

Thanks for that Redstar - always nice to hear from someone who is experienced with Border Collies, until you have one you don't understand the energy levels they possess! We do walk her every day for a minimum of 3 miles, we also have her trained running alongside our pushbikes and can cover 10 miles a day over the weekend (not so much time during the week though).

We have taught her many things, including finding her own ball when she looses it on a walk - only took me one 3 mile walk for her to understand what I wanted from her. Now if she goes down to the lake and forgets to bring her ball we just ask her to 'go find your ball' and she goes off and gets it so I am sure it won't take long to get her to understand that she isn't allowed on the flower beds :-)

 

Border Collies in general are very smart dogs and their main desire is to please, learn, and have a task. And yes, their energy is something else. I belive you have the understanding that when training its not that she does not get it initially, its the human's job to figure out how she can understand. In no time as you walk around the gardens with her she will get not to walk into them. And make sure no one throws a ball into them. LOL.

Have to tell you a cute story. My boys loved the lawn sprinkler, would play in it for hours, getting soaked. One day I positioned my sprinkler toward one of the gardens and it was sitting inside the garden. Thompson (his name) looked at the sprinkler for a half minute, then put his paws at the very edge of the garden and stretched his neck to the sprinkler picking it up, then backed it out into the lawn area the preceeded to play in the water. And that Chuckles is thought process.
Ours also would go their balls, toy objects etc. and bring them back inside. We would play the "find it" games. Have them sit and wait, hide something and give command.
I would purposely drop a dirty sock in the hallway off my laundry basket and ask them to go get it for me, he would, and much praises after. Had them carry the newspaper up the long drive for me. Its a lot of fun. Remember with any new training to always end the session with something they know. Keep it fun, and lots of praise. By the way, never used treats.

 

Thompson sounds like he was super intelligent! Were your dogs quite anti social with people and other dogs on their walks? We believe Lucy thinks her 'job' is to collect the ball that we throw and she isn't interested in anyone or anything when 'working' and is completely focused on the ball. We do hide her toys and she knows the names for all of them - Giles (a black cow), Matilda (rugby ball), Daisy (an orange ball) and Doris (the duck). We ask her to go and find them and when she brings them back she gets lots of praise and then asked to go and find another one - we did it a couple of weeks ago and after about 5 mins of her running around collecting them all we asked her to find Daisy, she just gave us that look that said 'are you people really that stupid that you can't find them yourself'!! lol

My Daughter is really good with her and has taught her loads, including spin, roll over, paw which also includes alternating them when asked, leave including any food until she is told she can take it, bump which means she has to touch you with her nose only and she will sit and wait to be let off her lead and told 'off you go' before running around like a headless chicken!

Our favourite game when we stop at the pub for some liquid refreshment is to creep towards her and say 'I'm going to get you' - she thinks it's the greatest game ever and runs around all over the place trying to get away from you. She is also very good with our 13 year old Dachshund and is very gentle with him.

I would love to get another one but Hubby thinks 2 Borders may be too much - can you ever have too many BS's? :-)