1st puppy inbound - potentially dangerous garden plants

[HughG]

We have a Sprocker puppy inbound in 4 weeks time when she'll be 11 weeks old. We're regularly a dog hotel for friends and family but it'll be our first dog.

My wife has got it into her head we need to remove 3 small-ish Rhododendron shrubs as these could be dangerous to the puppy if eaten. A couple of family members with dogs have rhododendron in their gardens and aren't remotely concerned by it as their dogs ignore it.

I'm unsure where on the scale of complete removal, remove 2 (1 hasn't looked healthy for a couple of years, and the other would open up the garden a bit) and fence the other initially, or ignore and see the dogs traits before we do anything is the right answer.

Any there any words of wisdom from the PH collective?

[dundarach]

Never bothered our puppy

My son on the other hand ended up in A&E eating sodding seeds!

The dog is still smarter!

Wouldn't give it a second thought, unlike my son, dogs tend to ignore funny things!

[juice]

Only thing we got rid off was Daffodils as they are deffo poisonous but also are perfect munching height for a puppy.

[Zetec-S]

Yep, most bulbs are poisonous so just be aware of that if you have any and the pup starts digging.

We bought one of those modular play pens and have occasionally used bits of it to fence off an area we don't want ours to go near, over time they gradually get the message.

[HughG]

Thank you, I’ve been digging out bulbs from around the patio and the self seeded privet. Will continue the discussion about rhododendron when my wife is back tomorrow. Thanks for the replies.

[Tenacious]

Given the amount of millenia dogs have been around, they pretty much already know not to eat poisonous plants.

[Actual]

Pets at Home Dog Play Pen Black Small
https://www.petsathome.com/product/pets-at-home-do...

Over the many years of owning a series of 4 dogs we have acquired a sizable collection of these barriers which have been either separated or joined together and have been used to block entrances, block garden features and block fallen fences. Good to have available for unforeseen emergency situations.

Don't tell the dogs but they could probably jump over if they tried. But they never tried.