How to Prevent Puppies from Chewing up Drip Systems

[pcooley]

We're lucky in that our back yard is split by a chain link fence, so our vegetable garden is protected from the ravages of dogs. However, we have three fruit trees and couple of vines, (wisteria and honeysuckle), on the "dog's side" of the yard. I put drip in a couple of years ago, and it revived the fruit trees, which never did well with our fitful watering. Last year, we adopted a puppy, who ignored the drip - just like the adult dog - until one day we found it shredded.

I reinstalled it yesterday, burying it in the ground except where it needed to come up for the trees and vines. I've tried to rock in the exposed sections of tubing, but I came home from grocery shopping today to find one of the 1/4" tubes that snaked to a vine pulled up and chewed.

Does anyone have any tips on keeping puppies - she's a year old now - away from irrigation? My nightmare is that she'll dig everything up I buried, though I hope that's just paranoia. I almost hate going to work tomorrow.

While I'm at it, how do you keep puppies from digging holes? Our backyard is a mess of craters. I want a nice yard, and I'm always fighting with the dogs over the definition of "nice."

[mschrisgo2]

Hmm, sounds like a bored puppy... more exercise? Especially before you go to work? a big Kong with frozen peanut better inside for her to chew on? a whole bunch of "brain" toys, like the ones they roll around to get small kibbles or treats out?

I have a friend whose black lab puppy was a terror, even tore siding off the house, every day she came home to a disaster, until he turned two! Exactly on his second birthday he became the most mellow, loveable dog you'd ever want to meet.

[pcooley]

I've piled rock all along the channel where I dug in the drip. So far, so good.