The Backyard World

[Julie and Maggie]

I want to know how much of this is just MY problem or something I need to work on and if so how. We have a rather small back yard (as suburbs in CA go). It is fenced and gated with garden and landscaping. So when Maggie is out doing her thing so far she is generally great about sticking to the grass area, mostly. What she is doing now that I find myself getting after her for is: mouthing random weeds or bushes, digging and chewing at the sprinkler head, staying out of the one corner that is only dirt (or mud), chewing and crunching up small rocks, exploring around areas that I know are prone to spiders (maybe black widows), and exploring under larger bushes that I suspect is prone to having ticks (see other discussion). 

 

That's just what she is doing now. As she is getting older she is branching out into the world. I worry about her going under the raised deck (there is one specific 3 foot spot that I might block off). She could go through my perennial garden but there are so many roses that she might realize that is unwise. 

 

What do you think about each of the things she is already doing? What is no big deal? What should I correct? What is better to alter and prevent?

 

Sure would be nice if she just sat on the grass and posed for pictures, but clearly that is not reality.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Sounds like normal puppy behavior to me. Unfortunately Owen chewed sticks and rocks constantly much to my dismay. I never worried about spiders. Maybe they can't or don't try to bite through the thick fur. I don't know. Our yard is nothing too picturesque but if it once was it would no longer be with two doodles charging through every square inch of it. Oh... has she started digging yet? When they did I put a bit of poop in the hole they dug and that stops them. Maggie is completely adorable!!!

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

Llilly is starting to explore..the days of her being underneath my feet outside is gone. We do not have a fenced yard and I have not been putting her collar /leach on but need to start.. I miss living in CA and having privacy fences.. My husband, an east coast boy just doesn't get the whole fence thing.

 

[Dianne Medaris]

Sounds like you have a puppy!  Mine is four months old and she does all of the above and more.  Cooper was even worse and got into more things than I could imagine.  He is now a wonderful four years old, has not suffered from anything that you are worried about.  The worst that is going to happen is that your "garden" is going to look it has been redone by a herd of horses trampling about.  I had great tall ornamental grasses (six of them) and they now are flattened and have the look of a nice round mattress.  All worth it, I laugh and laugh at my new girl Cassie.

[Angel Schilling-Putnam]

Aaahhhh!!!!
Winston has an obsession with my ornamental grasses!!!!
He is about 20 lbs and the other day I found him perched on top of one like a circus clown on a ball, digging it out of the planter:-)

[Kerri B. & Zoey]

I think it's normal puppy curiosity too.  I just think you need to keep a close eye on her (as I am sure you are) & if there a specific area (like going under the deck) maybe you can block it so she can't get under it.  I have a rather small yard too, which is landscaped with a retaining wall along the back (dreading the day Zoey learns to jump the wall - LOL).  Her potty area is a gravel pit in my side yard which is fenced & even gated from the backyard so I can close it off.  After the first day I realized she was more interested in the rose bushes just on the other side of the gate, I wound up using an ex-pen to block her off from being able to go underneath them (I know there are spiders back there - yuck).  She also loves to dig & eat grass and dirt - LOVELY.  LOL...I think a lot of it is just them exploring their new world.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

When Luna was younger (<6 months) she would:

- Dig anywhere there was loose dirt

- Eat any plants she could find, including my rose bushes (she killed one during the winter)

- Run back and forth in the garden, spraying dirt all over the place

- Chew rocks from under the deck (thankfully not swallow them)

- Stick her face in the mud and blow bubbles

 

Now at almost a year:

- Still digs a bit, although much less frequently and usually only when the dirt is wet

- Still eats plants, but mostly weeds, especially their seed pods (she is a helpful gardening dog now!).  She eats little pieces of stinging nettles sometimes, no idea why she keeps doing it...

- Still blows bubbles in the mud

- Has a tendency to rip up CLUMPS of grass by the roots, then eat the roots.  Our lawn is about 60% weeds, so this makes me sad, because we have precious little grass!

- Can be told to get out of the garden and listens *most* of the time

 

We had to put a big rock at the gate opening because she kept trying to dig her way out to see her best friend 2 doors down. 

 

My advice - teach your puppy that calling them inside is not the end of play, but it means good things are coming (a treat, some play time or dinner time).  If Luna looks like she is about to start some mischief (or is in the middle of some) I just call her to come in, and she comes right away because she knows a treat is coming.

[Julie and Maggie]

Oh that part about the treats to come in makes perfect sense. Thank you. Gosh this awesome advice seems so perfectly obvious once someone has pointed it out. So hard to see it when you are in the middle of it. Thanks again.

[Angel Schilling-Putnam]

Oh my, these responses are making me laugh, because they are SOOOOOOOOO familiar, especially the grass root eating! WTH? :-)

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

lol, Harley loves the roots of grass and plants.

[Julie and Maggie]

Thank you everyone for this perspective. I could sense it was more the part of me getting comfortable with letting a puppy be a puppy. Great pointers from everyone.

[Julie and Maggie]

Thanks! And Gracie is a cutie-patootie!

[Ashley, Ronnie and Ruby]

Our 10 week old chews grass, weeds, and what bothers me the most is the rocks. She digs in the grass and loves finding slugs (to chew and eat of course...eeewww). We have only had her for 5 days and her puppy training begins next week. We hope to have some of these 'issues fixed' but it is nice to hear that these are normal puppy behaviours. Does anyone's puppy perfer to do this rather than do his/her business? Ruby prefers to play, dig and chew rather than do what she needs to do.