If your dogs are anything like my male than I would say a firm No every time it happens won't be enough to get them to stop. Marking is an instinct and becomes a very strong habit. Do they mark other things when you take them on walks? You could try rabbit & dog repellant but I'm not sure it would work. I read somewhere that hosta stand up very well to waterings from dogs. Maybe you could plant a ring of large growing hosta around it as a sort of barrier. I feel your pain. I have ugly chicken wire around my gardens in the yard and I hate it but it's necessary to keep my dogs out. Even still, my male will sometimes lift his leg on the fencing as I cringe and look the other way.. And the new lilac I planted (after having been watered a few times) has picnic table benches around it as a temporary barrier until I figure out something better.

Labmomma- Did I say anything about court? :-) Let me tell you the nutshell version of a story of how the dog whisper helped probably save our furry little behinds. I told this story on another forum and all the cesar-haters came out and told me how stupid i was so you're getting the short version. After watching the show, I decided I would make more of an effort to keep the dogs to my side instead of in front of me while on walks. I wouldn't say they had a pulling problem but the one would pee on everything in sight and the pup was starting to learn how that looked like fun so I felt like it was time to see if I can walk the dogs how cesar does on tv. And no I didn't contact a professional before using the technique like it says in the disclaimer! I thought I'd take a chance. Well after some time walks became a lot more enjoyable and didn't need someone to reinsert my arm into it's socket if a squirrel ran by and there's no more pee-mail. So there's something to be said for more structured walks and not letting the dogs go first. That's only half of it. Ok so we're on a sidewalk where some rednecks keep their pitbull looking dogs out in their yard and never walk them or probably do anything remotely responsible so the dogs had tunnneled under the fence. I didn't know this until a mean looking growling and barking dog ambushes us. My first instinct: soil trousers. My second instinct: must get out of here.* â note there is a "*" Normally these dogs of mine are very friendly, they think every person and dog is their friend and wants to give them cookies. They are personalities that people would kill for in a dog. The mean dog is circling us and I was trying to act like i didn't notice and wanted the boys to play along like we were all wearing iron clad armour. They stayed with the program, focusing on me and where we were going, not jerking me away to go mess with the mean dog. We managed to evade persuit, not getting bitten. I credit the dog whisper show for making me aware that perfecting the walk was possible and it paid off big. Now for that * I was talking about. On a recent episode Cesar talked about what do do in a situation where if you are face to face with a mad dog, you don't turn around and run away. He didn't give instructions on what to do, it was the post office seminar episode, but whatever we're still alive and the dogs did not engage thank god. He also says to be calm and assertive and not show fear. I would be very surprsied if I was not showing or smelling like fear but I'm sure I probably was pretty calm and assertive.

He is part border collie and not very energetic yet but seems to be very smart. He learns very quickly. When I got him he had a tooth abscess so he's on antibiotics and found out today he has hook worm. Not happy with the shelter from where I got him because they said he was wormed. Never ever had a dog with hookworm or any kind of worm before. He is on medication for that now, too. No wonder he is not energetic. I am sure once he gets well he will be running around. I called the shelter today and told him of his hookworm and they wanted to know if I was bringing him back. No way, he is my dog for better or worse. He is in his forever home.

I just had the carpeting taken up in the master bedroom and replaced with wood floors. Red oak. I have had dark stained , medium stained and no stained with three coats of finish . The no-stained (natural) is by far the easiest to care for. The darker floors show the dust and need to be dusted daily. I have a large dog and I don't see scratches all over the floor. The bedroom looks so much nicer with the wood floors. I have oriental carpeting in all the rooms. If it was practical, I would redo all the bedrooms upstairs with the wood, too. Now, about your dog. We had an Irish Setter that became incontinent at night at the age of 8. She had always been kept in the laundry room at night (it was a large room) Every day I had to scrub that floor and sometimes move the washing machine and dryer. I was very young back then...LOL. After awhile, what I most feared started to happen. The urine permeated under the tiles. I took some of them up, scrubbed them, replaced them and made a bed in the garage for the dog the same day. My husband built an insulated house for her and every night there she went. The bed and make-shift house was against the house wall. Every morning when she came in, her body felt warm. We lived in Pittsburgh and the winters there were very cold at the time. She lived another 6 years.