How to Stop Your Dog from Eating Plants

Many of people love having a beautiful garden and a house full of flowers… However, the relationship between dog and plants is not exactly as we’d hoped. Read this article if you don’t want lots of bite marks to appear, or soil to be scattered around everywhere in your garden. Here are some tips to stop your dog from eating plants.

Why do Dogs Eat Plants?

Dogs in general, especially puppies, seem to really love plants… so much to the point of eating them! Maybe they don’t eat all of them, but at least they lick, bite, and play with them, specifically plants with leaves.

They love exploring hedges and grass, but they also destroying petunias, begonias and margaritas. They’re curious about their smell, color, and appearance. If you have a dog and plants, most likely you’ve gotten angry with your dog for destroying your favorite flowers or sticking their nose into a flower bed at the park.

In order to get a better understanding of this behavior, below are a few reasons why dogs bite plants:

1. Lack of Vitamins

If your dog feels he is lacking nutrients, he may look for them elsewhere. A vitamin deficiency is one of the main reasons dogs eat plants.

2. Stomach Pains

If they aren’t feeling well (maybe because of the flowers they ate the day before), it’s normal for dogs to eat grass as a natural remedy to purge themselves. The grass soothes stomach pains. However, it’s not a good idea to let them eat very colorful plants, instead they are better off consuming bushes and shrubs.

3. Boredom

A bored dog is dangerous… They could destroy your sofa, cushions, carpet, or your potted plants. Spend more time with your dog and give him more toys to stop him from getting bored.

4. Anxiety

Dogs usually only eat household plants when their owners’ are not around, in order to catch their attention, or to deal with stress and separation anxiety.

Tips to Stop Your Dog from Eating Plants

Now you know some reasons that cause dogs to bite plants, so following the tips below can help you control this behavior:

1. Raise Your Flower Pots

If you have several household plants that are within your dog’s reach, the best thing to do would be to place them up high or hang them on the wall. You could also set up a sort of cage around plants to prevent dogs from sniffing them.

2. Train Your Pet

Establish the household rules as soon as your dog starts living at your home. This way you’ll avoid more serious problems. You need to teach them that plants are not a toy or food. Each time you buy a pot for a new flower, let them smell it and have them understand that they need to leave it alone.

3. Spray Your Plants with Lemon or Vinegar

Smell is a dog’s most important sense. If something smells bad or they don’t like it, they’ll probably stay away from it. Try spraying your plants with lemon juice diluted in water (1-part juice to 3-parts water), or apple cider vinegar (the same ratio). It’ll do no harm to your plants or dog.

4. Limit Your Dog’s Space

Another technique to stop your dog from eating plants is not allowing him access to certain areas. If you have flowers in the living room, don’t let him in, especially if you’re not home. You can set up different “barriers” to keep him in just one room.

5. Tell Them What They Did Was Wrong

Each time your dog bites, breaks, or digs up a plant, you must make him understand that he has been bad. Take him to the “scene of the crime” and tell him “NO” with a stern voice. That way he will understand what he shouldn’t do it.

Source of Main Image: Enlazadordecaminos