I was recently in the home of a dog training client and we were working on a couple of behaviors that their dogs were exhibiting.  Their dogs had a dog door that let them in and out of the house.  When they were in the house they were fine.  When they were outside, though, they were prone to dig and destroy young trees by chewing on them.

One thing I always tell people is that the hardest behaviors to fix are the ones that happen while you are gone.  Often the best medicine is prevention using a crate and gradually allowing a dog freedom from the crate in brief intervals while you are gone.

Well, these clients weren’t too thrilled with the idea of using the crate.  Their dogs were great inside the house and they didn’t want to use a crate for help in fixing backyard destruction.  So we started brainstorming about how to fix these destruction issues.

For those of you who have read my training article about how to fix a digging problem, you will remember that I recommend using your dog’s own stool to fix the problem.  After explaining this method to my client they came up with the idea, “Hey, what if we used our dog’s poop to stop them from chewing on the trees?”

I love ideas that are ‘out of the box’ so I said, sure, let’s try it.  Sure enough they gave it a shot.  They took their dogs stool and rubbed it on their young trees in the areas where the dogs were chewing.  This wasn’t damaging to the trees at all but so far has worked to help the dogs stay completely away from the trees.  The dogs are repelled by their own poop and as such leave the trees alone.

What are the drawbacks?  Well, my client reported that she nearly threw up, which is understandable.  But for five minutes of gross out she now has trees that are protected from her dogs.  Think this idea is crazy?  Maybe it is.  But if your dog is chewing up your trees, shrubs, or bushes you may want to give it a try.