 |
|||
See the Events Calendar for our monthly Meet and Greet events and for more details on the special events below. 4/20-22 America's Family Pet Expo 4/21 GreySave Spa Day in Pasadena 5/19 GreySave Race to the Park! Picnic Search GreySave Navigating this site from a touch-screen device
Check out GreySave Greyhound Adoptions on Facebook
Support GreySave when you shop at Amazon by clicking below. How this works. (866) Grey-Save 866-473-9728 |
 |
||
     |
|||
 |
|||
|
Gardens and Greyhounds by Sandy Hightower, GreySave board member
After experimenting over the course of a year with various plants, designs and surfaces, I have finally come up with a garden that my dogs love and in which I enjoy being. I replaced tender plants and grasses with heavy duty, vigorous-growing ones. These seem to co-exist well with my dogs, since the constant abuse by my greyhounds keeps these plants’ invasive nature in check. I also added some pea gravel to areas that contain lots of flowering shrubs and fruit trees, in order to entice the dogs to do their business in that area. Cantel loves to participate in the gardening activities,
so I keep her in the house while I’m Perennials that seem to bounce back quickly include daylilies, geraniums, bearded irises, society garlic, lavender, Mexican bush sage, star jasmine, cannas, Mexican evening primrose, and jupiter’s beard (centranthus ruber). Shrubs with attractive flowers that thrive in my yard include cape mallow, cape plumbago, and hibiscus. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if it grows well on the side of a street or on the edges of parking lots, it can probably live with your greyhounds.
Grass and Greyhounds My greyhounds love to chase each other around the yard. They especially love to chase each other around large bushes or trees, digging into the grass as they go. To make for more interest than a large expanse of grass that will never look like a well-manicured golf course, add beds containing flowering shrubs or specimen trees, right in the middle of the yard. Leave a pathway along the perimeter of the yard to allow for running and games of chase around various areas. The pathway will provide interest for the dogs as well as the gardener.
My solution is to have mostly male dogs, since they tend to urinate on the bushes or trees. I hand water my female’s spots if I’m around to see her go. If you have given up in the battle for a perfect lawn, don’t underestimate how beautiful a garden with winding pea gravel, bark mulch or decomposed granite pathways can be. As long as there are plenty of lush mounds of bushes and perennials, it will still be a garden, even without the grass.
Things to avoid in a garden with greyhounds:
Poisonous plants Here is a short list of common western landscaping plants that are poisonous to dogs. For a comprehensive list, a quick internet search will yield many detailed listings. Chances are your garden contains at least one of these plants. Mine contains four of them. The key is to be aware of what your dog eats, which parts of the plant are toxic, and the level of toxicity in the plant.
|
|||
 |
 |
||
As
an avid gardener, I was a little disappointed at the look of my
backyard after a few months of having my two active greyhounds,
Reggie and Cantel (and usually one or two fosters). My dainty annual
flowers had been used as a dog bed, bushes were munched on, and
the lawn had large yellow spots and was thinning. 
adding
new plants. If I don’t, she will unearth the whole lot in
less than ten seconds. Sometimes I can distract her by giving her
one of the extra kneeling pads, which is a good dog toy bargain
at 99 cents. (Photo at right: Josie conducting excavation operations.)
Grasses
that seem to do best with dogs are those that regenerate and spread
through runners, such as bermuda or St. Augustine. Some products
on the market promise to reduce grass burn by lowering the alkalinity
of the dog’s urine. I have not tried them, because I’ve
read articles online that say it is not the alkalinity, but mostly
nitrogen overload, that causes burn in a lawn. The solution most
commonly mentioned is watering the lawn twice a day, but this goes
against general water conservation and healthy lawn recommendations
(i.e., water less frequently to encourage root growth).