Gardening, For Dogs? Expert Advice by Trug & Lettuce
P
et ownership, and specifically dog ownership, has soared during lockdown. While those restrictions are now being eased, recent research tells us that, as people return to their places of work, 22% of those who have spent more time working from home than before the lockdown are now worried about how their pets will cope as they return to their workplace. We’re lucky – every day for us is a take-your-dog-towork day – but not everyone is as lucky as us, so we did some research about dogs and gardening, and found an article on line from the Battersea Dogs Home. It seems that dogs, like humans, get huge benefits from having a garden, and the staff at Battersea have created a dog-friendly sensory garden to make every dog’s stay with them as pleasant as possible.
It seems that dogs love herbs! If your dog is in need of a little pick-meup, they’ll enjoy sniffing and chewing on mint or lemon balm. They say that plain patches of grass aren’t the most exciting places for dogs and that, like us, they benefit greatly from enriching and stimulating natural environments. A bit of dog-friendly landscaping can help decrease boredom and encourage natural behaviours, so here are a few simple planting ideas for making your garden more attractive to your fourlegged friends. It seems that dogs love herbs! If your dog is in need of a little pick-me-up, they’ll enjoy sniffing and chewing on mint or lemon balm. In moderation, these are both said to aid your dog’s digestion too. They will enjoy the herbs more when planted in clumps, so avoiding mixing as you could send your dog into a sensory overload! Easy to grow, these plants will die back in winter, but they are invasive, so you may
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want to plant them in a sunken plant pot to keep them under control (avoid English Pennyroyal as it is toxic to dogs). Would you believe that dogs also like nepeta – or catmint? We used to have a couple of cats that would spend all day lazing around in the sun and nibbling our nepeta, and it seems that this member of the mint family is also popular with dogs.
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