I need some help, we just moved to a new house and my wife wants to plant some flowers. But our dog has ripped them out of the little plastic housings they come in from the store and drags them all over the yard. We haven't planted them yet but fear she will do the same thing. She also tore up a 50lb bag of potting soil and spread the plastic all over the yard. She is great in the house but outside she thinks it's all hers. What should I do? Just let her out less and keep a good eye on her?

thanks for all of your help,

w00t

Both my girls went through the everything is fair game in the backyard routine too.  I have one flower bed with flowers that I put a barracade around and they still managed to get into it and pull out flowers.  Probably because it was the only good place to dig.  We made another area for them to dig and worked to re-enforce that that flowerbed was off limits.  It helped a little, but they would still get in it.  My girls are now 3 and 4 years old and this is the first year they haven't messed with my flowers.  I also noticed that if there are any critters (mice, squirrels, lizards, etc) that they see in the flower bed they are into it in a heart beat.  So, I just continue to work and am hoping this year my flowers don't get trounced.  Of course, we are getting a puppy in 2 months, so all bets are off at that point.

By the way my youngest loved pulling plants out of pot sand tearing up bags.  If she gets bored she will do that even today.  So, you might also want to make sure you have lots of toys available for entertainment.  I also put squirrel food down in the yard away from flowerbeds and the girls spend allot of time pointing and chasing squirrels.  They are actually pretty good babysitters.

Hope this helps