Does dog pee scare deer away?
Urine is believed to be a much better deterrent than poop, but there’s no clear answer to why this is.
The best research says dog urine can scare deer away. The urine of a coyote or a wolf is said to be highly effective at scaring deer away from an area.
There’s a caveat though. To be effective, it needs to be the pee of a predator. When an animal eats a large amount of meat, it can be detected in their urine.
Deer can smell the difference between an animal with a high meat diet and one that also eats plants. They are hardwired to fear carnivores, because carnivores are their predators.
So, if you want to use your dog’s pee to scare away deer, it might help to feed them a high protein diet.
There are many anecdotal stories of deer being unphased by dog pee. One Quora user named Diane shares her story. She has two dogs. Deer will come to the edge of her yard, and even within 15 feet of the house at times.
The presence of her dog’s doesn’t bother them. However, the dogs are chihuhuas and don’t bark at or chase the deer. The dogs pee in the yard, of course. This doesn’t deter the deer at all.
The ineffectiveness could be related to the dog’s size or diet. It could also be that the deer have grown accustomed to the smell, and realized there’s no danger associated with it.
Are dogs allowed to chase deer?
“We’ve had 58 incidents of dogs chasing deer reported to us since March 2020, and it’s completely unacceptable. … If you witness a dog chasing a deer, please phone the on-call police officers for Richmond and Bushy Parks via 07920 586546.”
NO. Neither will dog pee or predator pee or any other kind of excrement or other waste product from humans or animals. Deer get used to these things after awhile and no longer really fear it…it only takes one time for them to lose their fear and totally wreck your garden and everything you’ve planted.
How do you know if a deer smells you?
If a mature buck circles in somewhere downwind of your stand and smells you, he might just melt away into the brush. But an ornery old doe might stand out there and blow like crazy, alerting every deer within a half-mile that she smells a rat. Either way your hunt is probably ruined.
Can Dogs Get Sick from Eating Deer Poop? | Wag!
Walter patrols his yard during the day and sleeps on the porch at night. If deer enter the yard, regardless of the time, he gives chase with a basset-hound howl.
Walter is a certified hunt hound, and the perfect deer repellent. He never fails to chase away deer, but we wonder what his neighbors think about late-night howling.
You probably don’t have a Walter, though. The rest of us must find other methods to keep Bambi from nibbling on our juicy rose buds.
I interviewed garden specialists at Lake Ridge Nursery, Merrifield Garden Center and Home Depot to inquire works best to repel deer in our area. I also asked some of my gardening friends how they keep deer out of their gardens. Below are some of the most successful, smelly and even noisy methods for deterring deer.
Andrea Garbor, plant specialist at Merrifield Garden Center, said the most popular and effective deer repellents sold in her Fairfax store include Bobbex spray, Liquid Fence and Deer Off repellent stations. Andrea said to shake spray bottles very well before use because the active ingredients settle to the bottom, and then reapply every few weeks.Advertisement
“Deer Off repellent stations by Havahart, unlike sprays, will work the entire season but are more expensive,” Andrea said.
A complaint with many deer spray repellents is they smell really bad, like a combination of rotten eggs and garlic, which are often active ingredients. Andrea showed me repellents from I Must Garden that smell like mint and spice. We did smell tests in the store, and they do smell very nice. And she said, “They work, despite smelling good.”
At the end of our conversation, Andrea smiled and said, “I don’t tell this to customers but if you have little boys, have them pee on your garden. That will also work to keep deer away.”
The garden specialist at Home Depot was very matter-of-fact when he told me only the best selling deer repellents make it into their stores. Home Depot shelf space, he explained, is measured by revenue per square foot. Thus, their best selling deer repellents must correlate to the most effective, I was left to assume.Advertisement
He then pointed out their deer repellents include Liquid Fence (spray, granular, and concentrate), Repels-all and Tomcat.
He followed up by stating Home Depot’s website carries many other types of deer repellents, including motion sensor deterrents, which can be ordered online but don’t appear on store shelves. “Make sure to check out the website,” he said.
The Home Depot garden specialist also stressed consumers should change-up strategies for repelling deer. “Deer learn quickly and will adapt. Changing products and strategies will keep deer off-balance,” he said. Note, I was told by the Home Depot manager I could use the information from the interview in the article but I could not use employee names.
Susan Gray, owner of Lake Ridge Nursery, said Bobbex and Deer Scram work best for her customers. Both products have frightening smells and are very effective to repel deer.Advertisement
You don’t have to purchase commercial deer repellents, you can make them at home. Here’s a recipe for making a garlic and cayenne pepper repellent. A drawback for homemade repellents is they wash off more quickly in rain compared to commercial repellents.
My gardening friends also provided interesting and quite varied information about how they deter deer from eating home gardens:
Do you try to keep deer out of your garden? If so, what products or techniques do you use, and how well do they work? Let us know.
When all else fails, you can photograph and take videos of deer. They’re kind of cute, even when they eat your garden. (Kevin Ambrose)Related: