Sharing your garden with your dog

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I love dogs. And I love gardens. Getting the two of them to mix is a challenge, but it can be done.

I recommend against getting a dachshund, unless you are really serious about training. Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, is a wonderful part of the tropical paradise. She loves roaming around and chasing the little lizards, and she is just the right scale for my tiny garden. But she is a dachshund, and keep in mind that dachshunds have been bred to dig and to bark.

I got Macintosh, my best friend, when she was a puppy and we started coming to an understanding about living in The Tropical Paradise right away. When she started digging, which is purely natural for a dachshund, I promptly stopped her. The key is to spend time with your dog, and if you see her do anything you don't want, correct it immediately. No, you don't have to "freak out" and scream - and I would appreciate it if you didn't - but you do have to gently correct immediately. And the key here is "immediately". Going out into the garden hours after the damage is done is too late to correct. Dogs don't think that way.

If you have ever heard a dachshund bark, you know that it is just about the loudest thing in the world. The occasional bark is OK, but a "yapping dog" is no pleasure in the garden. For training purposes, again, you must catch her "in the act". And the best idea for this type of training is a small squirt bottle. The squirt bottle works much better than shouting at your dog to "shut up". In fact, shouting at your dog while she is barking usually encourages more barking. Your dog just thinks that you are joining in! I used the squirt bottle, gently, when she was a puppy and now I just have to show it to her and the barking stops.

The cycad at far right is a Zamia furfuracea, commonly called a "Cardboard Palm".

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