Dog Friendly Gardens

With a lot of us spending our work hours at home, we are bonding even more with our dogs. We love our pets, and we love our gardens, unfortunately, the two don’t always live in harmony.
There are quite a few animal behaviors that can become a problem with your garden however creating a pet-friendly landscape you will both enjoy is easy with just a few simple steps.
When planning a pet-friendly landscape, think about your garden as having rooms for different purposes. Good design can seamlessly meld them together into a beautiful garden.
You’ll need a “bathroom” a “living room” and if you have space a “playroom” for exercise. Don’t forget both shady and sunny areas for outdoor napping during the different seasons.
If you have a dog that enjoys the water, you might want to create a pool or pond just for him. If your dog spends time outside alone unsupervised you need to create some permanent shelter. If you are changing things up a lot, you’ll have to work with your pet to retrain these creatures of habit.
If your dog digs, barks, or paces, a well-designed yard can help alleviate these behavioral issues. Every pet is different, a physical and visual barrier can help a barking or lunging dog from continuing the behavior, however some dogs need to see what’s out there to stop their barking so an open wrought iron fence is a better solution.
Toxic Plants! Be sure that you know your plant material; there are a lot of plants that are toxic to dogs and even more that are toxic to cats. Educate yourself; there are lots of resources including the ASPCA.
Those are the top tips, if you need a little more information or help, select a designer that can assist you.
Julie Molinare is a Certified Landscape Designer living in the Santa Clarita for over 15 years. Julie taught the Introduction to Landscape Design Class @ CSUN Tseng College of Extended Learning and is Owner/Designer of The Grass Is Always Greener Designs 661-917-3521 www.thegrassisalwaysgreener.net – make sure to visit the blog page to sign up for information and garden reminders.