Thursday, December 1, 2011

DoggyStyle: Dogs, Plants, & Flowers

Since Miss M and I have our summer ritual of going to the Farmer's Market each weekend, we have a habit of picking up fresh flowers for the house, which we also do all year round. These are my incentive to keep the house cleaner, and mysteriously, Miss M loves to sit on her floor pillow and stare at them:
We had taken for granted that we could have flowers at dog-level, because when we had SuperLevi, we realized how much he liked to eat them. And they were promptly removed.
Now that it is officially winter, we had to move our urban garden and mini-trees inside. Which we know can be confusing, because our pooches love chewing on stringy, leafy things when we're in the park or on our walks. It's often too much temptation for Miss M:
So we've removed everything from the pooches view and we actually created a mini-garden with all of our herbs behind our sofa:
We also have 2 trees we bring in for the winter--I know they look dead, but they bloom and flower again when we bring them back outside in the spring--and these are much harder to remove from the pooches' clutches. We have heard of some dogs getting confused and trying to pee on indoor trees; at least that hasn't happened. Though Miss M is getting a bit curious:
We also know some plants can be poisonous to dogs, so we do make sure to keep things out of reach that can be harmful, or if our dogs are really try to eat them.
Do other dogs live harmoniously with indoor plants? Or is it always a temptation?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! Off topic question: what color paint is on your living room walls? It's lovely!

goosie mama said...

It's funny, G could not be less interested in plants (although - full disclosure - none are necessarily at her eye level), but for the cats - plants are a regular salad bar!! I have to be very careful about what plants I bring into the home, as well, because as you mention some are poisonous our furry friends. That being said, no holiday poinsettias for us!

HoundDogMom said...

No plants in our house. I do not have a green thumb. Sniffs, The HoundDogs

Tucker The Crestie said...

When I just had dogs (pre-Olivia, who joined the family seven years ago), the plant thing was no problem. Now, however, I can't keep anything green and growing in the house as the cats are just relentless about digging around in the soil and munching on the leaves.

Kristine said...

Your living room looks so pretty! I really admire your gardening skills. It's a bit sad but I am terrible at keeping plants alive, even though I love having them around. I keep trying and failing, trying and failing. Do you have any secrets to share?

Luckily, our dog is not interested in plants. It's the cat we have to worry about! Keeping him away from growing things is pretty impossible considering he can jump pretty much anywhere he likes. When we're home, we can call him off, but when we're not all bets are off. Perhaps his teeth are part of my curse?

Anonymous said...

Luckily none of our dogs have ever been interested in the plants in and around our house...although the introduction of the Christmas tree last week resulted in Turk "marking" it and Ginger nearly knocking it over when her Kong Wobbler wobbled underneath it. Sigh.

Kate said...

I have exactly one plant in my house. It's actually the only plant I've ever been able to keep alive, lol. It's a small plant too so we don't have a plant eating problem ;) I love your plants though. They look really really great that way. Maybe someday I'll give it a shot and a few more plants to the house!

Jaime said...

We had to get our car serviced 2 weeks ago when we were heading out of town with Izzy, so we brought her with. She promptly parked herself in front of the waiting rooms greenery and started to go to town. Not sure what it is about plants, but all dogs seem to be into them!

PS...can't believe you have a white couch! Good for you!

Two Grad Students and a Pittie said...

We came home once to our bamboo plant upside down on our coffee table. Oops! But we had pumpkins and pinecones all over the house for the season, and Havi just sniffed a little!

Two Pitties in the City said...

iheartsnark: To be honest, we don't know the wall color either. It came with our place, though we'd love to know because we do have a bit of touching up to do.
E is actually the greenthumb and he has done such a great job with our outdoor garden. I know the winter will be hard with the lack of light, but knowing how bad Chicago winters are, I love having something live and green around our place.

Trissi_V said...

Besides having two dogs, we have two cats...so indoor plants area a no go in our house. Also, I can't have cut roses in the house because my little Saki (youngest cat) thinks they are the tastiest thing ever and knocks them down when she goes after the petals (I hate cleaning up flower water).

Two French Bulldogs said...

Ms M forget the leaves, the dirt is tastier
Benny & Lily

How Sam Sees It said...

We've got a jungle in our house, including one poisonous defenbachia plant and a couple of pothos that we keep a close eye - thankfully our boys seem to leave those plants alone!

Sam

Corbin said...

I once knocked over a poinsettia and dragged it all thoughout the house... after that, mom doesn't keep any plants in the house. She is, however, jealous of your beautiful fresh flowers all the time!
-Corbin

Crystal K. said...

Oooh! This post excited me! We have a ton of potted plants, including lots of herbs we pulled out of the garden and a potted fig and lemon tree. I was thrilled when my cat moved in with a family member this past summer because he always wanted to nibble the plants. The dogs don't much mind, luckily.

Brutus, Ellie, Pippa and Otto said...

Mom has several plants that we love to try and chew on. She sprays them with Bitter Apple spray and that tends to keep us away for awhile. That stuff is nasty!

Pugs & Kisses,

Yoda, Brutus & Ellie

kasia077 said...

I keep a bunch of fresh parsley by Max's bowl for him. He likes to snack on the green leaves and they're good for his breath and belly.

Vicki said...

Makai cannot be trusted with houseplants. He loooooves to eat the dirt out of the pots. Fertilizer = poop = my dog's favorite nasty snack. I should invest in some good plant hangers.

Anonymous said...

Your herb garden behind the sofa is wonderful! :D Such fun photos of Miss M too :D

Waggin at ya,
Roo

Poodles to Pit Bulls Clicker Training said...

Well at least you don't have a cat to turn the plant into a litter box.

Kari in Alaska said...

This weekend Tori decided to start chewing on one of our trees. Never before have any of the pups touched any of our plants or flowers

Stop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

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