I have two medium size dogs and they both have a thing about tearing up the potted plants. They have even gone after the tomatoes which are in 2 ft. heigh planters. What can I do to keep them out of my plants?
I don't think there are any sprays available that would simply discourage your dogs. I also have a medium size dog and a bitch that even dig up and eat potatoes should I plant potatoes in the garden.
This year because of drought condtions in Australia and water restrictions. I planted grafted tomatoes in very large tubs. I nipped off all the lower shoots as they evolved until they were about 3 ft high, then I covered the whole area with chicken wire. That's been sufficient so far.
One obvious thing is to keep the dogs away from the plants. Not knowing anything about your plants, where you grow them or how you keep the dogs it is impossible to guess what may be the best way. If you are looking for a "magic" fix (along the lines of spray the plants with XYZ which is quite harmless but keeps dogs at least 3 feet away) I think you are going to be out of luck.
If physically preventing the dogs from getting to the plants isn't possible or desirable this is becomes more a question about dog behaviour than growing edible plants. Why not try a newsgroup related to that. I suspect you will need to supply quite a bit more detail to allow somebody to work out why your dogs do this and how to stop them.
David
Train them. Get a good dog training book, I like "Good Owners, Great Dogs, by Brain Kilcommons" an excellent book. You can take dog training classes in your neighborhood or ask a trainer and see if he provides free advice. There are sprays for plants that some animals will avoid. Dogs have very sensitive noses and some plant odors will bother them.
One can also get prickly plants with spines on them. Ouch!
Enjoy Life ... Dan
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