While we generally encourage you to include your dogs in your activities as much as possible, spring planting or gardening might not be a good group activity because it can lead to your dog digging.

If you are doing some spring planting, it might seem like a no-brainer to have your dog with you so he can enjoy the outdoors at the same time. However, this particular activity might backfire on you. Let me share a story about a client with a Goldendoodle. This was an adolescent Goldendoodle who loved to be with her family and participate in the family activities. A very nice dog, who was doing well with her training.

One day, this family had several large trees brought in to be planted in their back yard. These were good sized trees, maybe 8-10 feet tall. While they were planting them, of course, they had their dog in the back yard to play and hang out with them.

With the trees planted, they left the dog in the back yard to continue her enjoyment of the fresh air while they left to run a few errands. A couple of hours later, they returned. They discovered, in that time, that their dog had dug up each and every one of those freshly planted trees.

They were not happy, to say the least. When they shared the story with me, I could understand their dismay. However, I was also quite impressed with the dog's ambition!

While their intentions were good – they loved to have their dog participate in as many family activities as possible – the result this time was not so pleasant. The dog had enjoyed being part of the activity. So much, in fact, that she continued with the planting activities while they were gone.

The lesson here, is that if you plan to have your dog participate in the spring gardening, just keep in mind that their idea of helping might not be the same as yours!

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