OT: Help! What do about a tomato loving dog??

[Wendy w]

Hi! Wow, I could pinch myself as I am amazed that I got on the board today!

This is my very first venture with growing tomatoes and it looks like I have a very good chance of succeeding. I have 3 tomato plants (one in a pot on the patio and 2 are behind a small fence)that are blooming like crazy and have some small green tomatoes on them.

However, my roomie's dog has developed an interest in them. I have come home one day to find tooth marks on one and an orange cherry tomato missing on the other. I have also seen telltale signs of digging in the pot. I have been anal and obsessive with my bushes and check on them every day and can tell when they have been messed with http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/mad.gif!

Someone had told me to try sprinkling cayenne pepper. I tried it and she LOVED it! She lapped it right up http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif! I did try sprinkling black pepper around it which she doesn't like and purchased a couple of "ornamental dog repellent" herbs called "dog gone" which have a hint of skunk scent. She didn't like the smell of those but NOTHING has been keeping her away from the plants. This is a dog that will eat just about anything. We have had to put a baby latch on the pantry door to keep her out. I plan on getting cages but I don't think that they will deter her.

Have any of you been able to keep both dogs and grow tomatoes? If any of you have any humane suggestions as to how I can keep her away from them, I will be indebted to you. I want to deal with this now before they ripen. I also don't want to have to commission Jewel to write an obitiary.

Thanks!

[schuh]

Not very attractive, but you may want to wrap chicken wire into a column and put it around the plants. For the ones on the ground, you can use some stakes to keep it in place.

BTW, I have a dog who eats everything but who has no vertical leap. I put a short decorative fence around the garden and that has taken care of things.

Good luck with your tomatoes! They are so rewarding to grow. My two sons order me to grow tomatoes every year -- they both love picking them, although only one eats them.

[suziking]

Wendy-

I don't know much about dogs. That is awesome about the tomatoes! This is the third year I have had a garden and it is so rewarding!

I have a problem with deer. Mr. Deer was chomping on our Aspen trees - right next to our garden this am at 5! He ate our pumkins and melons last summer. I wonder if the same thing would work your roomie's dog as would work with our deer. I don't want to fence the garden - it is SO small and teh fence would be kind of ugly with where the garden is.

Good Luck!!

[RunnerKim]

Wendy I can sympathize! The first year we lived in a house I was very excited to be able to garden. My husband and I went out and bought several tomato, pepper and other veggie plants. Spent the afternoon planting them etc. At the time we didn't have cats so I just left the back screen door loose so my dog could go in and out on her own. She comes in and I smell tomato on her breath. Oh no! I go out and she has pulled up every single tomato plant and crunch them up. they're strewn all over the yard. :mad:

Next day we went back to buy more tomato plants and some garden fencing that just pushes into the ground. Great investment. She has still been known to snag a tomato or zucchini that grows outside the fencing but at least I get most of the produce this way and the plants themselves are protected!

Kim

[Wendy w]

Thank you all for your responses and your blessings about growing tomatoes! I am really surprised that this thread appeared on the board. When I posted this, it was so slow so I gave up.

I already have some garden fencing around the area(about 1 foot tall) but it looks like I may have to get something taller. As for the one in the pot, I will have to get a cage and cover it with chicken wire.

[mandarin2j]

Wendy-

Forgive me for giggling at your misfortune, but this reminds me of a Lake Woebegon segment from "A Prairie Home Companion" where Garrison Keillor told of the tomato sucking dog. I believe it was troubling the fictitious Pastor Inkfest or his wife. The offending pup would crawl under tomato plants on its back and eat all the tomatoes. Anyway... :D

Are you able to put the one in the container higher up on a stand so the dog can't reach it? That might help. Dogs sure have funny tastes for carnivores. Our Kirby can't get enough of green grapes!:rolleyes:

[eDana]

Wendy
I got a boot out of your problem - thought I was the only one with tomatoe loving dogs. I have a golden retriever and he has a cocker spaniel that he has trained to get tomatoes as well. Sam, the golden, goes after the tomatoes higher on the plant, while Teddy, the cocker, takes care of the ones lower down. Nothing is sacred from these two! I have moved my plants - including my herbs - from gardens to containers, but still they seem to find their way to them. So, now I plant some tomatoes and herbs for Sam and Teddy and some for us. Just like I did when we have woodchucks. I cage my tomatoe plants, even though they are in containers, AND add other containers full of flowers and herbs around them so the distance from the dogs to the tomatoes is greater. Has seemed to work a little this year, although I keep a good eye out "just in case." Unfortunately, once these guys got a taste of tomatoes, we even have trouble keeping tomatoes in the house without their finding them. Good luck!

[Anne]

Hi Wendy. I have never had a dog that ate tomatoes but have had several that I could not take berry picking with me. Could you use some type of netting to keep the dog out? It would have to have a mesh size that wouldn't trap its paw but this might be a quick temporary fix.