Rudducks Get Off My Garden ~ Pleeeeease!!!

A little over a month ago we brought home our “little black dog with no hay on it”, aka Hobbes. Hobbes is just over four months old now, and one of the concerns I had when we brought our little friend home was my garden. I didn’t want my puppy digging in my garden, rolling in my garden, or “relieving” himself in my garden. We kept our eyes on him as much as possible, but we still had a problem with Hobbes wanting to lie down in my garden and knew we had to find something that would help keep him out of there. We purchased a couple of products and had little success. Our last try was Rudducks Get Off My Garden Dog and Cat Repellent in the Gel formulation.

What is this stuff and what is that smell?

Rudducks Get Off My Garden is a highly perfumed repellent, which is supposed to be offensive to cats and dogs. Rudducks claims that it confuses the animal’s sense of smell. It is also supposed to mask the residual odours of any previous cat or dog “waste”. A smell that would normally attract a dog or cat to the area. Using this product repeatedly over a period of three to four weeks should mean that you could train your pet to avoid the treated area. The treated area being my garden, my beautiful lilies and peonies and assorted annuals. I researched a lot of products before purchasing, and found that Rudducks Get Off My Garden is the best selling dog and cat repellent in Europe and Australia. It is available in a spray formulation as well, but we could only find the Gel in the store.

Rudducks Get Off My Garden is a green gucky jello-y like substance, supposedly suspended water crystals which contain the repellent. The crystals don’t melt or stick and it is supposedly effective in most weather conditions, rain or shine. In dry weather the moisture from the crystals is drawn into the soil. Rain can cause the crystals to grow, but the repellent stays effective. The crystals aren’t huge, Rudducks Get Off My Garden squishes out of the bottle in small quarter inch to half inch sized globs. To use it you must first make sure that you’ve removed any remaining droping and hose down the area to remove the urine smells. This wasn’t a problem in our case, there had been no pets living in our house for years prior to our getting Hobbes, but we made sure we hosed down the garden well just in case a stray had been in the neighbourhood. Then you tilt the bottle and scatter the gel lightly at the edge of the garden, at the trunk of trees or the patches of lawns, etc that you want your pet to avoid. But make sure to only lightly sprinkle the gel around, especially on new or soft lawns because it can cause spotting or burning. So you sprinkle this stuff around your garden, keep working on training your pet to stay away from the area, and hold your nose! This stuff is so strong smelling, so offensive to humans that you won’t want to go near your garden! The smell stays strong for a good long while, and it drifts across your yard, into your neighbour’s yard, and you have people asking “What is that smell?” It must work on dogs and cats, right?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

At first Hobbes was sniffing and jumping away from the smell of Rudducks Get Off My Garden. He didn’t like it….at all! That lasted for about half an hour. I guess by then he started getting accustomed to the smell. Whatever the case, we were all having a conversation with some neighbours, and turned to look at our dear sweet Hobbes. There he was, lying on top of one of my big-about-to-bloom lilies, in a nicely dug hole just right for a little black dog to lie down in. I stood there in shock. I just couldn’t believe what he had done. According to the packaging, Rudducks Get Off My Garden will only work if it is used in conjunction with training. Well, our continued training of Hobbes does not include Rudducks Get Off My Garden. We’ve succeeded in keeping him from digging in my garden so far, but we’ve not used this product. I think Hobbes actually liked the smell of it after a while, and it was just horrid smelling to the rest of the family. I'd also caution very strongly against using this product if you have a small child who might be tempted to play with this gunk or put it in their mouth ~ see The Small Print.

The Small Print:
Precautions: Harmful if swallowed. Avoid contact with eyes and skin. Wash contaminated skin promptly with soap and warm water. For eyes, flush with water. Get medical attention if any irritation persists. Avoid contamination of feed or foodstuffs.
Storage and Disposal: Store in original container inaccessible to children and pets. Do not reuse empty container. Rinse thoroughly. Wrap in newspaper and discard in trash.

This is an entry into the Step into Pets write-off hosted by Pets CL Ladysmom. Its been fun!