Keeping dogs and wildlife out of hops

MBasile · Sep 27, 2009

I'm planning on planting some hops this coming spring for the first time. While watching my dog watch for the squirrel that was taunting him yesterday I thought about whether hops are poisonous to squirrels as it has been mentioned that they are for dogs.

Then I thought, how am I going to keep the dog (and cats) out of the hops? So how do you guys do it? I was thinking chicken wire around them.

david_42 · Sep 27, 2009

whether hops are poisonous to squirrels as it has been mentioned that they are for dogs.

No
No, really no.
Not a problem.

eriktlupus · Sep 27, 2009

the little bastige will however dig your rhizome up in the winter if its a tough one. i lost a fuggle and a willamette to them last yr.

as for my dogs they've never done anything to them except an occasional leg lift.

MBasile · Sep 27, 2009

david_42 said:
No
No, really no.
Not a problem.

http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/poisonous_foods.html

Hops: May cause panting, elevated temperature, increased heart rate, seizures and possibly death.

http://www.cocothebloggingdog.com/2008/11/hops-poisonous-to-dogs.html

Brewing kits are popular, and allow you to combine different malt extracts with different blends of hops, to make a wide variety of beers from home. One thing to keep in mind though, is that hops are a deadly poison to dogs. Many people are unaware, as hops can even be mixed with cattle food. However, in dogs it causes malignant hyperthermia, and potentially death.

Home brewers will sometimes save the used hops, also referred to as spent hops, and place it in a compost pile or as a lawn fertilizer outside. If your dog eats even a small amount of the hops, it can cause an uncontrollable fever, severe panting, restlessness, and rapid heartbeat. In all documented cases, only one dog managed to survive hop toxicity.

http://www.bme.ogi.edu/~ericwan/DOG/hops.html

This is a warning that the ingestion of used hops from home brewing can be fatal to dogs. Some breeds have a toxic reaction that triggers the onset of Malignant Hyperthermia (MH), a life threatening condition in which the body uncontrollably overheats. Do not mulch your used hops - seal them in a container and dispose of in the trash!

There have only been a handful of confirmed cases reported - around 9 dogs. Seven of the dogs were Greyhounds, one Labrador Retriever, an unknown breed, and most recently a Golden Retriever. 7 out of the 9 dogs died.

Even if it is a "rumor" it is not a risk I am willing to take with the dog. The squirrel is a different story though

eriktlupus said:
the little bastige will however dig your rhizome up in the winter if its a tough one. i lost a fuggle and a willamette to them last yr.

as for my dogs they've never done anything to them except an occasional leg lift.

Luckily my guy isn't a digger, and they'll be in wine barrels the first couple of years anyways. He's a basset though, so I really only need to protect a foot or two above the top of the barrel.

cuinrearview · Sep 27, 2009

If you are a reasonable person(read: not paranoid, bi-polar, or otherwise mentally challenged) there is no reason to worry about your dogs around your hops until you learn differently with your animals in your yard. I guess you could add to the nine dog owners that have had a problem, but it really isn't worth worrying about. I've had problem with deer if they're growing in an area where they graze, and a random rabbit "dig up" of a rhizome but it came back fine this late summer. If you're not sure some chicken wire will put all worries to rest.

xcap · Sep 27, 2009

My dogs don't care exscept for the previously mentioned leg lift--luckily the hops all grew several feet higher than the taller one (Lab) can reach when he does lift it. He is also a great deterrent to the deer & other assorted critters that were a problem before getting him.

HoppyDaze · Sep 28, 2009

david_42 said:
No
No, really no.
Not a problem.

why do you continue to have this stance on hops and dogs when there are people on this board who have actually lost their dogs do to ingestion on hops??

It is completely disrespectful and irresponsible...

southern brewer · Sep 29, 2009

and if your a dog owner, why would you want to risk it? i don't want my dogs to die to anything i may plant. I wouldn't chance it so I fenced mine in. better to fence them in then to run the possibility that they may eat them and die
and my lab, she will eat ANYTHING! So I definitely don't want to chance it. as BobcatBrew stated, why be irresponsible if you know that it is even a chance of it happening?

mitch171 · Sep 29, 2009

Not to say you shouldn't fence your plants in, but I am assuming the more common problem is with the spent hops that have the sweet malt on them. I know my dog doesn't tend to eat vegetation growing on vines only grass. Again better safe than sorry, but I bet dogs are attracted to the sugar not the bitter.

johnnyc · Sep 29, 2009

mitch171 said:
Not to say you shouldn't fence your plants in, but I am assuming the more common problem is with the spent hops that have the sweet malt on them. I know my dog doesn't tend to eat vegetation growing on vines only grass. Again better safe than sorry, but I bet dogs are attracted to the sugar not the bitter.

Exactly. My dog couldn't care less about my hop plants but if I have a boil over or when I dump my cold break and spent grains in the compost pile he gets interested. From what I can tell he's after the sweet malt and the hops are unfortunately there too. I have dropped pellet hops on the ground as I'm adding them to the boil and he just sniffs them, not interested at all.

Keeping dogs and wildlife out of hops

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