How to Stop Your Dog From Eating Your Houseplants
Everyone loves decorating with some greenery, and adding plants to your home can include many benefits. Natural plants can help improve air quality, and they’ve been linked to releasing stress… until your furry friend thinks your new ficus is a chew toy! Plants can either be helpful or harmful depending on if they’re appropriately placed and away from your pup’s line of sight. Certain dangers are associated with pets eating houseplants; scroll to the bottom for a list of plants that are toxic to pets.
Move Plants Out of Reach
The easiest way to keep your pet’s nose out of your pots is to move the plants to ledges or window sills they cannot reach. If you don’t have high enough sills, look into different types of plant stands or bookshelves to store leafy friends! Spiky or pokey plants, like cactuses, should be kept in plastic containers or as far from your pets as possible to avoid injury. Houseplants that tend to shed leaves also need to be maintained as the leaves can be poisonous to Fido too.
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Training your pet to leave plants alone
Just like teaching your fur baby to sit, you can teach them to stay away from your plants too! Every pet is different regarding training; however, we recommend clicker training or water spritzes. Clickers are little handheld devices that emit a clicking noise to deter pets from whatever behaviors you want to change. Using a basic water spray bottle or water gun isn’t popular for indoor training, but these can be most effective! A little spritz of water can stop your pet in its tracks and teach them to leave the plants alone.
Spray houseplants with doggy-proof spray
If your plant is too big to raise off the ground, another option is to DIY doggy-proof spray with either diluted lemon juice with water or diluted vinegar! These concoctions will not harm your plants or your pet but leave a bitter taste in Fido’s mouth to keep them from returning for another snack.
Toxic Houseplants for Pets
- Castor Bean
- Daffodil
- Elephant Ear
- Azaleas
- Jasmine
- Wisteria
- Yew