Who are your garden helpers?

As I am a collector of garden creatures, I really enjoyed seeing the inanimate friends in the fairy/gnome post. It reminded me of a post that was very popular last summer in one of the GW forums I attend, and since I have seen a bunch of adorable furry faces in various spots in this forum, I figured it might be fun here as well.

Anyone want to show off their garden helpers? I have quite a few, and love each and every one of them.

I have to explain that my land is unfenced (we are in a wooded area up a half mile long private dirt road) and I have 5 acres attached to my mother's 10 acres. Because of this set-up, we share dogs. We have six between the two households, and they spend time at whichever house has someone outside at the time. They know when morning treats are doled out at each house, and when evening treats come out as well.

I couldn't believe that my kids actually stayed in place long enough for me to get this picture last summer, but these are MY "official" dogs ...

Lexy to the left, Hunter in the Middle, and Bonnie to the right.

This is one of my Mom's "Thunder Twins", Ginger. She and her sister spend almost the entire day running/hunting the perimiter of the property. With the zealousness of young shorthairs, you can hear them coming well before you see them.

The second "Thunder Twin" Mocha.

And the littlest of our wolf pack, my Mom's baby Gigit.

It is a lot of dogs, and sometimes hard on the garden (you learn to live with collateral damage and un-named plants as the nametags are fun to pull out of the ground and chew on), but when I am working in the gardens furthest from the house, I am really happy to have a doggy guard!

Love to share, Welcome to PNW Rarejem.
We all have and love are fur babies. I have 4 kittys and 2 dogs.
This is my dogs
Black lab 'Ester'
Corgie 'Tyler'
Not the greatiest in helping , but keep the unwanted out.

Now this is Miss Sassy, always lends a hand, LOL

Now Tilly is the is the youngest of the 4, and a little tyrant.

Ratso, Is a layed back kinda guy. ( never new is was a male LOL)
And under him is his mother, 'Corky' She is the oldest, working on 12 now. but still is as spunky as half her age.

All my fur babies. Love them to pieces.
The only ones I forgot to mention was my feather ones. have 2 Cockatiels

My fur faces. Silver-Mindy and Cream-Amber. They are 4 years old.

And my 15 year old cat Shadow.

Tillysrat.. Thanks for the welcome. Very new to the DG forums, but thrilled to have the chance to chat with people in the local forum. Right after I started this post I saw your pic of your greenhouse helper in another...I just love seeing who everyone has keeping them company when they are gardening! Your kids are adorable. I have several cats as well, but we have not encouraged them to be overly tame as our house is too small for indoor pets and I have been afraid that if they got too complacent, the dogs could cause a problem. Chose the dogs over the cats as they can keep the bears and cougar away if necessary!

Willowwind.. your fur faces are beautiful as well. The pic of the poodles is great! That looks like it would be as hard to get as the one of all three of "my" dogs sitting still and looking at me at the same time! They look like furry book ends!

Thanks for sharing them!

Julie

Welcome Julie! Glad to have you aboard. I have 2 little ones Kip a border terrier is in the photo. McKenzie is my Jack Russell to follow.

I love this thread. Great idea Julie. It's great to have you here too. Glad you've found us.

Everyones animals are just adorable!!!

McKenzie know when to rest cause she is going a mile a minute when she is awake.

Soferdig,

Your helpers are adorable as well! I especially like the picture of Kip... I don't think I can recall a picture that looks quite so much like a dog laughing! Looks like he is ever so happy to be playing in the flowers!

You are definitely in the right place with a love for both plants and pets!

Here is my gardening companion. He is about 16 now, and moves kind of slowly with his old creaky bones. This picture was taken 2 years ago. He is resting in the bed (well isn't that why you call it a bed) that I had been digging compost into. Also, the compost made it smell 'good'

Sofer, that last pic. if funny! great pose.

Mauryhill, your dog looks like he's the most comfortable right there in the dirt.

Mauryhillfarm... You know, I never thought of that whole "bed" thing! I wondered why my "rott - n - lab or rottenlab, depending on my mood" Bonnie always liked to lay right on top of all of the new little tender plants that I pulled the weeds around. Now I realized that I was just making her "bed" comfortable! Couldn't be one of the smaller ones that weighed less than 150lbs laying on my new daylilies or iris! Oh well, like I said at the beginning of the post, collateral damage.

My Lexy is around 14 or so herself, and I know that I will have to replace her soon, but she still has days that she plays like a puppy, so I know that to her, life is still good!

Nice looking happy dog Mhill.
My dogs don't get into the beds because we have rock separating the grass from the beds so we have trained them to stay out. Now the chickens that is a different story but they only mess with the mulch. They are definatly my best garden helpers. They follow me all around because every place I dig they eat.

There not dumb, you do all the work and they don't have to. LOL

Great pack you have Rarejem.

Cute dogs and chickens Sofer.

Soferdig,

I LOVE the chicken photo! I would love to have chickens. My folks raised them when I was little, and it brings back fond memories. Every year at this time I contemplate picking up a few again (when all of the feed stores are having their "chick spectaculars", but the challenge of keeping them away from the dogs and cats and coyotes always stops me.

I can tell you who are not........

Ginger

This is Toddy. Alas, she's not much help anymore. At 19, she's completely deaf, doesn't see too well and has a pacemaker. She doesn't do steps, either.....but she does like to keep me company.

here is Little Daisy. she is 11 years old, weighs 5 pounds, and is prone to escape under the fence to the neighbors for some freedom and needs more vista than her own 2 acres provides! personally i think when she does that she is just checking out the neighbors yard to make sure we are keeping pace.

that, and laying on the hot driveway pavement in the summer are her two garden sins.

Welcome to the PNW, my clematis mentor!! It's good to see you here. Clematisguru has been helping me to choose a few from among the hundreds of clematis varieties available.

Daisy is darling (and tiny). I must get caught up on this thread tonight and post my little "helpers".

Oooo James, I feel for you, I had to put my Sammy (Nicka) down, was heart wrenching she was 15 blind and deaf and had arthritis so bad she had trouble getting up the stairs on the deck.

Love the goats

This was her in younger days

Daisy looks like she's related to Trixie.

Ginger

I have a new one to add
Tilly is on watch.

Tilly and Tyler enjoying the sun. What little we got. 42* here
They are great buds.

WOW..Tilly.. Now that was a dog in the right environment....LOL

Ginger

That was weird. Both James' dog and Clematis' dog had shaved legs. Poor babies. Daisy is a cutie. Toddy gets a big hug. Goats seem to be playing more than helping.

That was the worst snow that we ever had here 1998. did alot of damage to flat roofed horse barns, I almost lost mine.

I'm afraid poor Toddy has more than one shaved spot. Seems like they no sooner start to fill back in.....and we have some new "event" requiring a rush to the emergency clinic or a visit to the cardiologist......then it's a new spot that needs to be trimmed so that a needle can be inserted or some electronic gizmo attached. It's no fun getting old. Between events, though, she remains a happy little stalwart.

/Bless her heart.

hi katie. first time i have jumped off the clem forum. the last few days i have jumped on a couple seeking rose pruning advice and couldn't resist the pets as garden helpers.
daisy has been with me thru the whole clem obsession and i think she appreciates the whole outside in the garden thing, although her naughty behavior sometimes results in screen room time.

Hey Clem, She is a cutty ^_^
And Welcome, we all love are fur babies. passed or present, they are the love of are lives.

dogs rule. loyal. unwavering. there for you.

here is Little Daisy with a giant Marie Boisselot clematis bloom in 08 that was just about falling apart and had to be picked for posterity.
yes bloom is as large as it looks. and daisy is as small as she looks.

daisy had a shaved place on her leg in that photo as she has just had her teeth cleaned which required some meds. in case anyone was wondering.