I have a tomato obsessed golden retriever named Tess. Tess has been going into the garden and pillaging from my few tomato plants. She plucks the fruit off the plant and eats them with a great big slurp. She doesn't care if they are ripe or not.
I've been guarding the plants as much as possible but so far this summer she has had more tomatoes than I have. I tried surrounding them with chicken wire but she was obsessed and managed to jump the wire to get the tomatoes.
On the weekend I thought I got very crafty...I took my x-pen (collapsable dog cage with no tops or bottoms and very tall sides) and carefully surrounded the tomatoes with the dog cage. I thought I'd been successful in stopping her but I was wrong. I was so proud of myself that I even posted a facebook status about how I'd outsmarted the dog.
Later that same night I found three green tomatoes in the middle of the yard. They had been picked and partially eaten. I readjusted the x-pen and tried again. We managed two entire days with Tess standing on the opposite side of the fence staring longingly at the tomatoes that were taunting her from their protected haven.
HA! Success! I outsmarted the dog!
WRONG!
Tonight I let the dogs out in the yard. A few minutes later I called them in but Tess didn't come. I put my shoes on and went out to investigate. Lo and behold what do I find??? Why Tess of course, trapped inside my tomato barracade and having a feast....I couldn't resist, I left her in there for a sec and ran for the camera. Here she is in her "busted" shot!
What can I say but she outsmarted me again! I have no idea how she got in there - there were no gaps or spaces for her to slip through. Guess she deserves to eat the darn things, I give up, she can have them all! Sigh....
