a three year old german shepherd works for me. NOTHING/NOBODY gets in my yard except grasshoppers, the little bastards... for those keep your grass and weeds cut down and the soap idea mentioned before. they munched down my lettuce which i won't spray with anything. for my fruit trees i use a deer mesh covering it when the fruit is ripe. wrapping your p-plants in screen would work too. treat them like tomatoes, unlimited info on those.