I have written this book in response to all of my canine friends who are constantly telling me just how attractive my garden is. I want to encourage everyone, canine and human, out into the garden, and I want them all to learn to love the feel of dirt under their toe and/or fingernails.
Everyone knows that dogs love being out in the garden, especially if us dogs can have the company of our humans as well. Not everyone realizes though that many dogs derive great enjoyment from doing more than just chasing a tennis ball around the lawn.
For those humans who aren't aware of this aspect of canine recreation, and for those dogs who've never enjoyed to its fullest a well made compost heap, I hope reading this tome will help you discover, as I have, the joys of gardening, for dogs.
Compost Heaps
As I mentioned earlier, these can be a source of great satisfaction for a dog.
There are a couple of interesting angles on compost heaps. Firstly, for the serious gardener, it does take some hard work. You have to collect together lots of prunings, grass and any other bits and pieces of organic matter, dead creatures or whatever, you can find. Cotton and woolen things from the clothes line work very well too if you shred them properly.
Then you have to leave everything in a heap and turn the heap over regularly. Leaving it alone is the hardest part. I must admit I've rarely seen this one done properly in a household with dogs in it-who wants to leave all those interesting things in one little heap! Personally, I prefer to spread them around.
It is much more fun helping humans with their own compost heap. They put the most interesting things in a compost heap-bones, dead birds, veggie scraps, left overs from dinner.
Unfortunately after you've investigated the compost heap a few times, humans tend to move the heap where a dog cant get to it-behind a fence or something like that….I can't think why!
Anyway a compost heap can be “heaps” of fun, but you could well end up getting a bath (yuk!) or get banned from the house for a while after you've played in it.
The Art of Pruning
This can present a real dilemma as far as a dog is concerned. On the one hand, as every good gardener knows, pruning makes plants healthier by promoting new growth, removing diseased branches, letting the sun get in etc. etc. On the other hand though, as we dogs all know, those great bushy shrubs make terrific hiding places. You can hide from the humans in there or you can hide any treasures you've found such as teddy bears or shoes.
Also some birds like to nest in bushy shrubs, so there's lots of hunting fun and if you're lucky, you may find eggs for a snack. So the dilemma is that you can't really hide effectively in a well pruned shrub, but it is fun to try your teeth out on the prunings isn't it? Just about every dog I know loves chewing up those branches, twigs and so on.
I know of one dog who claims the most delicate flavors as far as branches are concerned come from bonsai trees. She loved to nibble on her human's carefully trained trees and she says you could actually tell the difference between on of those cute little pine trees in their fancy pots and as ordinary garden shrub!
A word of warning though, if you have access to bonsai trees. Watch out for the copper wire they use to train the branches... not good for your teeth if you try to chew through it!
A further word of warning-humans get very attached to those little old trees and may get violent if they catch you chewing, so only try it if your human is one of the sadly rare laid-back types.
Sometimes you'd swear humans think those trees are dogs the way they talk to them and spend hours grooming them!
Mulching: The Great Cover Up
The topic of pruning leads naturally to mulching. Just what do you do with all these bits of branches you've accumulated? You mulch them of course, that's what! You chew the big branches up, spread the bits all around, as thickly as you can.
Mulching involves the spreading of organic matter in thick layers over the ground to retain moisture and stop the weeds coming up. This is dog heaven! And it isn't just branch bits you can use. Who can resist those neat piles of lawn clippings and raked autumn leaves?
Naturally any normal dog does what is best for the garden and spreads it around. Pulling down the odd cotton sheet occasionally and leaving it over the garden bed can act as a very effective mulch too, if only the humans will leave the sheet where you put it.
