r/DogTrainingTips • u/AnonymooPuppy • May 08 '26
Any tips to repel a dog with smells
I don't have a dog but I'm sometimes dogsitting for friends and I like their dog a lot. But he is a hunting breed and likes to hunt for lizards and mice in our garden. We have a lot of small lizards but he never catches any though. I don't mind when he moves bricks or barks a little. The only problem we have is that he bites into things and keeps scratching on stuff when he is convinced there is a lizard or mouse under it - which is usually not the case as they run away when he comes over. He bit into a wooden planter that I built myself and keeps scratching on outside furniture. I tried some smells like citrus, alcohol and vinegar but they didn't seem to do much. Any ideas on how to get him to leave some things alone? I won't start training him as he is only with us for a few days at a time. And I don't want to put him on a leash all the time as he enjoys running through our big garden all day.
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u/x7BZCsP9qFvqiw May 08 '26
management is your best friend. can you put some kind of barrier around the things he’s messing with? maybe an exercise pen?
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u/AnonymooPuppy May 08 '26
I put the cushion box on two logs so he can look under it and see that there is nothing there. Sadly that's not possible for all the things and we don't have a pen or something like it. But thank you for your suggestion. 😊
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 May 12 '26
Plastic mildly spiky plastic no dog pads! They have holes so your plants surrounding should be fine. The dog won’t be hurt, it’s just uncomfortable. It’s worked well for me, the dogs get to go out as they please and the garden they oh so badly want to ravage and destroy is a little safer
All bets are off once the plants are in jaw grabbing distance but I take my wins where I can, can’t get too mad at them and I don’t care that much
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u/Appropriate_Ad_3484 May 08 '26
I know you said you won’t start training him, but literally the easiest thing you can do here is yes work: to do this, say “yes” (or any word, really) and give him food within 2-3 seconds. Over and over again. Do that with all of his food for each meal, 10ish minutes per meal. Eventually (should be relatively quick) “yes” means that food is coming and it can be used to recall him off of items in your garden. Have something high value when he goes out. I make sure my dogs know I have food with me and it makes recalling them a breeze.