I feel for you. Our dog has cost me many plants and I have many holes to fill. He has a skin problem during hot weather and digs to find a cool spot;a lovable dog, but not a good "garden" friend!

I think your digging tool is bigger than mine. lol Ollie is a beautiful dog!
I have very few plants inside my fenced backyard where my dogs stay but they have left the ones I have alone so far. My backyard is where I have the most bermuda grass and it makes it hard to plant perennials there anyway but I do have some shrubs along the back of the house and a couple hostas under my dogwood tree. Mine are females, so they squat in the middle of the yard instead of hiking their legs on a tree/plant like a male dog will. Maybe you can put a fence pole in your back yard and train him to always go in the same spot. Sounds tricky though. Good luck.

Everyone needs a dog to love, but they are trouble. My female, Annie is an angel, but the boys are always up to something. Male dogs have to mark their territory. I have one male that was neutered as a pup; he goes when he needs to. Beau trotted into my yard at estimated age two and was neutered then. Beau goes on everyones tires and on both sides of plants. He chases buzzards and other things has to pee on various things after he chases them. When he gets in trouble, he has to go around and mark things. But what would I do without him.

I have two dogs: Crunch and Shorty that I found in the forest almost starved to death. All you could see was skin and bones. Crunch is an Albino (Spelling ?) lab. He has yellow eyes. He doesn't bother anything. Then there is shorty a dog of all breeds. He digs holes, he pees on all my flowers and dig in my flower garden. He even eats my roses, so no poisons in the backyard. I have filled so many holes I cannot count them. Oh ya, he howls at all sirens, and since I live in town that can be numerous times a week. He chews anything he can get his teeth on. He has chewed numerous food bowl. I switched to stainless steal and he still chews on that. He chewed all the wiring off of my boat. My life would be boring without them. I love them both.

bunny, that is funny about the bowl chew toy.
When Mahala was a puppy she did that too. I started using an old crock pot liner. The removable kind. the base had quit working so I thought can't hurt. Worked like a charm. It's heavy so she didn't want to move it and she tried to chew it a couple of times and that didn't work. Now it just sits there and she never bothers it. If I take her something in a different bowl, I'll be cleaning up the mess later.
Bonnie

So funny and so reassuring to know we all share our lives with "troublemakers." Have to say after only 4 days, I am now officially exhausted from puppyhood...He is definitely keeping me on my toes and in shape. I have vanda orchids in baskets hanging their long roots off of trees and even though Ollie has to jump, he's managing to chomp a few trailing roots off some of them... And here I was just worried about the pee... Learning new things every day!

Hope Ollie is doing ok today. I meant to ask what kind of dog he is. His feet look big but maybe its just the camera angle. : )

Be careful lots of plants are poisonous. That puppy looks like it will be chewing up a lot of stuff before he is grown. It seems like no time since I couldn't leave shoes on my porch and Beau already has grey whiskers around his mouth. I don't think it is camera angle; that dog has big feet.

Hey, I get a big rubber dog bone @--- navy. It's 4/5 dollars. I call it cheep because, Mahala can chew on that thing for 5-6 months. She gets a new one at christmas and when ever they put them on the sale rack because they are the wrong color for the season.
We keep one out in the yard.
I think the "puppy" chewing and potty training are more exhausting that a baby. LOL.
Bonnie.

Bonnie, I sure would like to see a picture of Mahala. When you get a chance, please post..

Ollie does have big feet. He's a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so he has lots of growing to do to fit those feet. I love him already, but because I had one before I now know that the dog I am waiting for is the full grown one ... Mature they are just like a cat ... meaning, a big 100 pounds of sleepy mass curled up on the couch until I'm ready to force him outside to exercise and play... Our first one stood 31 inches at the shoulder, but they should be around 28 inches. We got a monster the first time around ... I'll see if we make another :)

missfourseasons, when I took her to the vet a couple of weeks ago. She weighed 132 lbs.
I did post some old photos of her a couple of weeks ago. she wasn't full grown. She looks much more mature and older now. She still has a bit of spunk in her when she sees a squirrel or some other thing too close to the house or me.
I will look and pull the pic back to the top or you can take a look at her.
You know when I go to hawaii. the most beautiful thing i think I have ever see. Is all of the wonderful plants and trees. I brought home a plumeria but sad to say it developed rot after 2 years during the winter. I was so sad.
I had said earlier that I am going to redo my beds this year.
I have mad up my mind one area of my lawn is going to be tropical. I can't help it I love thos plants so much and it reminds me of hawaii. I can't wait to go back again.

The pictures of Mahala are on page 4.
I was trying to learn how to post photos.
Bonnie

Bonnie:
I found the pictures of Mahala and your dog and mine have a lot of genetics in common, since the Rhodesian Ridgeback was bred with some Mastiff...which I guess is where they get their bulk and size..not to mention the strength in their jaws. My pup has the same black muzzle, too!

I'm sorry your plumeria didn't last...The Hawaiian species are very pretty, but not as fragrant as the white ones that grow wildly here in Guam...I'll post a picture of that tomorrow so you can see the difference, which is really that the Hawaiian kinds come in so many pretty colors and are a bit more delicate looking..

You might want to look into trying to find a North American species that is called "Desert Rose" and grows in the southwest of the US...tolerates more dry climates, but the drawback is that it is not fragrant...Very pretty though..In Guam they are popular to grow as bonzai...
Here's a picture of the bloom on mine...

The leaves of the plant look like plumeria and when they first started showing up in Guam, many people called them "miniature plumeria" for a while...

OH... I just love that. the color is just perfect.
I had brought back a white with pink.
I'll look this one you mentioned from the us.
I just really wanted something w/that fragrance. (you know memories and all).
I think you will be happy w/your puppy,. Even more when she is grown. It's good that you have had a large breed dog before, so many people get them as puppies and them when they grow they decide it's not for them. Sad.
You know every time to talk about the flowers there I get just a wee bit envous. I have got to plan another trip.
Bonnie

I may get another strange link (see my Eureka Springs thread) but I once had a drunk Rhodesian Ridgeback stuck in my car. Some people that I bought a house from had a crock of home brew wine of some sort in their basement and the dog lapped it up. I opened my door it went in my car and got wedged between the seat and the dash.