To Garden or not to Garden?

[Nyboy]

I think golden and lab puppies are the worst chewers. I had a client with 2 golden puppies he use to give them logs from wood pile to chew. Maybe @Jared77 will stop by soon and have some good advice for you. Hang in there as adults they are great family dogs. What about hiring a teenager to walk dog several miles every day

 

[Ridgerunner]

Puppies can be a real handful, they are just so destructive and playful. Eventually they grow up but until they do crates and enclosed pens can really help. Until then they are chewing, digging, scratching, and whatever else they can do to destroy things. They can be quite good at destruction. Mine two are 8 years old. I've taken down a lot of the barriers I put up to keep them from killing some plants and destroying other things, but my screen savers are still in place. I could probably remove them now but replacing window screens used to be a regular occupation around here.

Something else that might come in handy is an electric fence. You bury a wire a couple of inches deep around their area and put a collar on the dog. If the dog gets close to the wire the collar starts to beep as a warning. If it gets too close it gets a shock. There is some training involved. I used flags to mark the boundary for a few weeks to help them learn what their limits were. It doesn't take many times of them getting shocked until they learn where their boundaries are. Mine still test those boundaries but as long as they hear the beep they stay inside.

I also have a pen built in back where I can lock he dogs in (or out) when I want to, but you might wan to consider an electric fence. It's not that hard to install and somehow I've managed to not cut that shallow wire yet. Other than the batteries on the collars eventually running out, mine's been very dependable.

 

[Nyboy]

I see used chain link dog pens on CL all the time. Tractor supply and hoe depot and lowes all sell them

 

[Nyboy]

They have soft muzzles now much more comfortable then old cage muzzles.

 

[journey11]

Maybe this would preserve your sanity.
https://www.amazon.com/Molshine-Sil...76803&sr=8-9&keywords=dog+muzzles+for+chewing

Seems now like your friends didn't do such a great favor by gifting you a crazy dog.

Oh, that looks a bit creepy. That would be the surefire way to do it, I'm sure. We knew when we got her she would be hyper. They said they didn't have enough time for her and to exercise her properly. Most days I do and a few hours playing in the yard with the kids usually does the trick. I had been walking her of an evening myself, but we've had too many loose dogs up here lately. I feel like I'd have to put her in the car and take her to the park to avoid problems.

Dogs can still bark when wearing theses they just pronounce differently, they say something like MUF MUF MUF.

LOL, that cracked me up.

I will get onto DH to hurry up and make her backyard run for me. Most of the front yard is chainlink fenced which has been handy, but that is also where the flowers are. She has shocked herself on the chicken fence a couple times now. I don't think I'll ever be able to break her of her fixation on birds, being her breed. She almost got a banty last night when the kids let her out the back gate and the banty had gone out from the chicken fence where she wasn't supposed to be.

We just brought her home from getting spayed. She looks so sad! She must really be hurting because she didn't want to come out of the back of the car. I left her there for a bit to rest. She was already coming into heat, so the vet charged me an extra $20 because the surgery was more complicated/more risk of bleeding with her being swollen. I had no idea or else I would have rescheduled.

 

[seedcorn]

Been there, done that. We had bird dogs and game chickens. NOT A GOOD MIX.

 

[Nyboy]

Vet here willn't do it make you wait 6 weeks

 

[Nyboy]

gave to my sister for coytoes walking dog http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pepper-Spra...276813?hash=item3ceb46168d:g:kc8AAOSwh6xTtboI

 

[journey11]

I think I like these better, lol. I need one that looks like a great white shark!

Poor Marley is really hurting or maybe still out of it from the anesthesia. We had to go back to town, so I took her out of the car. Set her down, she took two steps, whimpered and laid back down. A little later Ava managed to coax her through the gate, but she laid down just inside it. Eventually made her way over to the grass, laid out flat and hadn't moved when we left. I wonder if maybe they should have waited to spay her. They said she is at more risk of post-op bleeding and now I'm worried. I didn't realize she was in heat already when I took her. I don't remember my other 2 hurting so badly.

 

[Nyboy]

Just keep a eye on stitches for swelling or oozing. Dogs are like people all react to pain different mine are such drama queens they cry starching themselves. Those are the muzzles I use but without artwork. I keep hoping @Jared77 chimes in.