As promised, today I’m going to share some gardening tips for creating a safe and edible environment for your pet. The first thing I will tell you….PLANT SOME GRASS! I know you humans don’t always like the extra work, but we love grass. We love to roll in it, use it for our bathroom, and yes…we also sometimes like to eat it. If you are going to take on the role of a pet parent, please commit to at least a small patch of the green stuff.
Plants We Can Safely Eat
- Lavender
- Pansy
- Marigold
- Rose Hips
- Young Dandelion Buds
- Roses
- Milk Thistle
- Snap Dragons
- Garlic Grass- just plant a garlic bulb and it will grow shoots that are safe for us to eat.
- Catnip – they love it!
- Rosemary – smells great. We can eat it and your parents can use it to cook us delicious treats
- Lemon Balm
- Thyme
- Basil
- Sage
Of course these are just some of the things that are safe for us. Just check with Google or your vet before you plant to check it’s toxicity to pets. The safest route, if you have a dog who digs and destroys, is to create a yard within a yard. Use decorative fencing to fence off a shady part of your yard where you can create your pet’s own outside environment. This will keep us from tearing up your newly planted gardens as well as keep us safe from eating something poison. Plant 
pet-friendly edible plants in our area and this will keep everyone happy and healthy!
Some of us also love to swim. Arizona is one of the few places dogs can play in water at least nine months out of the year. You can build a dog pond, let us use your pool, or put out a plastic baby pool. If you have a human pool at home, please make sure we know how to get out if we fall in or don’t allow us access to the pool area when you aren’t watching us. I just learned to swim two summers ago. I was very afraid of the water, but Lynn and John took me in the pool where John held until I felt safe. They then let me swim back and forth to them. I still won’t jump in on my own, but who knows? Maybe I’ll get brave this summer!