book(s) about gardening and pets?

[dani]

i'd love to get my hands on a book that helps me determine a.) what garden plants are toxic to my animals (dog and cat) and b.) ideas how to plan a yard working WITH their habits, not against them. my dog likes to dig in the garden beds, and spazes out and tears around in figure 8's. it doesn't really help the lawn or the beds.
anyone?

[Laurie]

A great way to start with the toxic plant topic is just put 'toxic plants for dogs and cats' or something similar into your search engine -- you'll get tons of hits. I have a 1" binder full of info I've printed out. Many sites will list part of plant, symptoms, severity of toxicity, etc. Some will just list names. There is a wealth of info re: this topic on line. Planning around their habits is challenging, definitely, once you decide what to plant. I've had to use wire fencing around certain plants until they get established so the dogs don't keep getting into them; I even used an x-pen in one area to protect the plants! Also, keep in mind that if you use any bone meal or blood meal for soil amendments it may cause them to dig dig dig! (Plus, you don't want them to eat it!)

[dani]

thanks for the tip. i was hoping someone had already compiled it all and put it in a book for me... but now i'll have something else to surf around for. anybody have any tips on how to keep a dog from digging? i have already filled the holes he's made with, um, dog waste. that seems to keep those spots in the clear, but then he just finds a new place to dig. does anyone know if making a sandbox for him actually works?

[Laurie]

when my crazy pups started digging massive holes around my bamboo plants, i panicked because I didn't have any extra soil. so i temporarily filled the spaced up with grass clippings and packed it in really well, then got some extra soil, did the same, then added more clippings on top. so far so good, but it's only been a week. if putting poo in the holes doesn't work, that is a toughie! you might try really putting sand in the holes and see what happens, or mix sand with grass clippings, or . . . ? bon chance!