[SustainableTompkins] Dogs, deer, fertilizer and body odor.

[George Frantz]

Deer have avoided our yard since we got our dog a little over three years ago.  
   
  What may help is that we 1) she is let out on a cable run, which means she is free to spend as much time as she likes outdoors; 2) she is extremely territorial; and 3) she sheds an enormous amount of fur which we comb out and distribute to areas of the yard that she cannot reach on her cable.
   
  We regularly see deer in the yards surrounding ours, but they now do not venture into our yard.
   
  On the subject of human fertilizer: there are no interior bathrooms with running water, nor outhouses in the rural hamlets in Vietnam where my in-laws live.  There is however plenty of rice paddy nearby.
   
  Despite the free ranging cattle and water buffalo I also never had to worry about stepping in cow plops.  They just seem to appear, then disappear like magic!
   
  I also have not seen any sign of deodorant use there, nor have I ever encountered anybody with any unattractive body odor there, despite temperatures in the triple digits and ultra high humidity during rice-harvest time and no daily shower routine.  
   
  The same applies to the streets of Hanoi and Hoi An, and (sorry Tony) to the cooks and wait staff of our favorite family run down off the tourist track eateries.
   
  Having grown up on a farm and knowing how the nose easily acclimates to smells after certain amount of exposure, that may be what happens outside the hyper-clean United States.  
   
  I still remember how shortly after my arrival back in Ithaca from a trip I was walking down the Commons during a rain shower and was structure at how unnaturally clean and sanitizedy the place smelled in the rain.
   
  North Vietnamese solidiers had a standing joke during the American War. (Yeah, they refer to them as the Japanese War, the French War and the American War)  If you had a good sense of smell you'd never get caught in an American ambush.  Toothpaste on the breath would give the ambush location away everytime. 
   
  George Frantz
   
   
   
    
Jan Quarles <janq at zoom-dsl.com> wrote:
  Yes, our two Border Collies have kept all deer away from our garden for more 
than 7 years. In fact, the deer don't even come within hundreds of feet of 
our garden because they can smell DOG all over our yard.

Last winter, though, the squirrels climbed over the 5-ft high chicken-wire 
fence surrounding our garden, and munched on the garlic we had planted in 
Nov '06. So in Nov '07, we outsmarted them by covering the raised garlic bed 
with black mesh netting. We plan to cover our strawberry beds with the 
netting too, as part of our on-going participation in the ancient 
"Mammal-Rodent Conflict."

- Jan


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Margaret McCasland" 
To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" 

Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] deer repellents: waste stream thread


>I know fox urine is sold commercially as a deterrent. I also know
> that hungry deer get bold and will ignore LOTS of things (like shiny
> pie plates, Irish Spring soap bars, etc), jump high fences, eat what
> they are not supposed to like, etc.
>
> From some research I did in the past, I was told that the only
> consistently good repellent is having dogs in your yard.
> 

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