Five dog breeds to avoid if you want a beautiful garden

Having a garden or yard that your dog can use can really enhance their lives, helping to provide exercise, entertainment and training opportunities and of course, convenient late-night trips out to do their business as well.

Whether your garden is largely utilitarian rather than pretty or if you spend a lot of time and effort on your garden and love to grow plants and flowers and keep everything looking nice, you’ve probably realised already that dogs can be quite hard on gardens, and many can be quite destructive as well.

Whilst any dog that is left outside on their own for too long without company and entertainment is apt to start looking for things to do and this will often mean getting into mischief, some dog breeds in particular are often very hard on gardens in general, and may dig, chew on things, and generally cause mayhem in very short order when let out to play.

If keeping a lovely garden is important to you and you’re trying to make a decision on what type of dog to get, choosing one that isn’t overly destructive is important – but not always easy to achieve!

In this article we will share our views on five dog breeds to avoid if you want a beautiful garden, because such breeds tend to be more destructive in the garden than most others. Read on to learn more.

The Jack Russell

The Jack Russell is a small, confident and plucky terrier dog breed, and one that is very popular in the UK. These little dogs have big personalities and a stubborn streak a mile wide, and they are not overly keen on being told what to do!

Jack Russells were originally bred for pest control, largely to cull populations rats and rabbits, and this provides a clue as to why this dog breed can be so destructive in the average garden. Jack Russells are avid diggers that will often dig up a whole garden in patches over the course of just a few weeks, either to bury resources, dig them back up, or just for fun!

The Siberian husky

The Siberian husky is a large and very energetic dog breed that is very inquisitive, fun loving and mischievous, and their minds need to be kept busy to avoid them becoming destructive and out of control. Siberian huskies are among the most challenging of dog breeds to provide enough exercise for, and mental stimulation is vital for them as well.

A husky that is either not getting enough exercise or that is bored will go to great lengths to entertain themselves, and can and will soon destroy a garden in short order. Digging, ripping up plants, and climbing or jumping out over fences are all things that huskies are renowned for, and so this is a breed best avoided if your flowerbeds are really important to you!

The border terrier

Another terrier breed to make the list, border terriers are lively, energetic and fun loving dogs that always keep their owners on their toes. Like most small terrier breeds, border terriers were originally developed to hunt small prey like rodents and even foxes with hunts, and they have a very high prey drive and bags of confidence.

A border terrier will happily dismantle a garden to get to a rabbit or squirrel, and once again, digging is one of their favourite pastimes, which can mean that keeping a neat garden and a border terrier together is a real challenge.

The Dachshund

The Dachshund is better known to some of us as the sausage dog, and these little dogs have an unusual conformation, with a normal sized body but very short legs. This trait is a type of dwarfism – and actually relates directly back to why this breed makes our list of the most destructive dogs to leave in the garden!

Dachshunds might look rather comical, but their unusual stature actually gave them a huge advantage in the historical working role that the breed is renowned for, which is as badger-hunting dogs to cull populations of badgers. Badgers of course live in setts under the ground, and the average long-legged dog can’t get down into them – but the Dachshund can, and this, combined with their tenacity and bravery, makes them great burrowers and diggers.

Naturally, this is not good news for your garden, and if your Dachshund can’t find a sett or burrow to dig around in, they might well dig a new tunnel of their own!

The beagle

Finally, the beagle – small, entertaining, highly affectionate, not overly blessed with common sense. This is a friendly, cheerful dog breed that has transitioned from working roles to pet life very successfully, but one that still retains a lot of the original traits that made them good pack working dogs – and which can make them somewhat hard work to manage within a domestic home.

Beagles like to dig and they are also quite mischievous, and often go looking for things to do when left alone – which might include digging up plants, eating flowers, and generally ruining all of your hard work in the garden!