Landscape Design Questions About Dog Friendly Backyard Plants

Our new puppy-HELP!?

We have a new puppy 11 weeks old and she is a biting machine. She is actually biting my husband and I on our hands and arms (and drawing blood!!). We are trying to train her with "no bite" command with absolutely 0 success. She also roams thru the front and backyard eating every plant in site despite the "dog friendly" repel product and bitter apple from the pet store. This still does not slow her down.
Is this a "normal" behavior for a puppy to bite their owners? We have MANY chew toys for her which she definitely uses, but when she gets winded up, she is a true shark with us! Can anyone HELP!

There is a friendly unneutered collarless cat hanging around my house, can someone familiar w/cats help me?

It was laying on my front porch this afternoon, and when it saw me it came to the glass and started meowing. My dog is really aggressive toward other animals, so he started growling and barking at it through the glass, the cat was unfazed. It is really thin, so I took it some dog food and water (I read later that you shouldn't give cats dog food, so I gave it some raw tuna fish and it ate an entire can's worth).

I'm going to get it checked for a microchip, but I really don't think someone would have it microchipped and not neutered. It is so friendly I can't imagine its been living on its own for long. When I go outside, it follows me everywhere, I can't take a step without it following, and when I go back inside it tries to squeeze in between my feet to get in the house.

It hung around all day and slept underneath my car, but as it started getting dark I decided to put it in my backyard. It kept walking along the rock waterfall that runs across the back of my pool, and it would lean in over the water. At around 9:30 pm, I was in my backyard with it trying to decide where I should put it and all of a sudden another cat jumped over my fence. They meowed at each other, but the other cat was scared of me and it ran off to the side of my house. I decided to put my stray in the driveway, because it wouldn't stay away from the water. The other cat started meowing from my front yard then ran to my neighbor's yard. I didn't get a very good look at it, but it was the exact same size as my stray (tiny). My neighbors' cats' are all bigger and kept inside, especially at night.

Sorry for the long-winded backstory, these are my questions:

I have never seen unneutered stray animals without collars running around in the area where I live, is it possible someone dumped these cats in my neighborhood? Maybe thinking a family would take them in and take care of them?

They meowed at each other from a distance and just kind of stared at each other, like they were curious. Is it safe to assume they will get along and not fight? I'm worried the other cat is an unspayed female and their meowing was some kind of mating call.

Are they going to be safe outside? I live in a neighborhood in the suburbs, but there is some wooded area about a block from my house. Would a possum or raccoon try and attack the cat? And would the cat be able to get away?

Is it better to leave my driveway light on to keep other animals away? It can still hide under my car or in some plants along the fence that aren't lit up.

I found a no kill shelter in the Houston area called Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary, I'm going to call tomorrow and see if they can take care of it. Thanks in advance for the help, I don't know anything about cats or how to take care of them!

What is the best breed of duck to keep as a pet?

Hey, so I want to get a duck, maybe 2
Right now I am thinking of getting Mallard, I don’t want to get Pekin because they can't fly and will make a mess of the backyard. What do you recommend?
Here are the things I really would like in a duck:
- Not too noisy.
- I would prefer if they can fly (So they don't drop all their faeces in my backyard).
- Beautiful, friendly and smart.
- Can cope with a dog around them.
- Don't make a mess of the backyard.
- As small as possible.
- Very friendly and they actually come near me not just stay on the roof of the house whenever I come out.
The duck does not have to have to be good at all of these things but something close would be nice.
Another question: Would you recommend I keep ducks?
Here are the things I have/don’t have:
- A huge shed that is about 2 square meters.
- A big backyard with lots of beautiful plants in it.
- A huge pergola and decking.
- I don't have a pool.
- There are no neighbours to the left of my house and my shed is also on the left of my house so they can't annoy any neighbours when they are in there, and there is also a park on the empty side, that is full of trees and birds.
- I don’t live on a farm.
- There is a lake about 50 seconds drive from my house, it is massive they can go and swim there if they fly, but I think there are other ducks that live in that lake, if they go there I am scared they will decide to stay with the other ducks and not come back.
Also last time I bought a pigeon my dog (a Labrador) massacred it, but I think he learned his lesson because I did not walk him or talk to him for a week. But I don't want to take that risk so how do you think I should introduce the ducks to my dog?
How often/many eggs do ducks lay?

Need help with a 16 week old Golden Retriever! Any advice will sure be appreciated!?

The main reason we bought a dog is to avoid strangers, and burglars. Our friend had a golden retriever as well and it was pretty friendly, so we bought one. Now it is 16 weeks old and it doesn't bark at any strangers, but it actually is excited to see people walk down the streets along our neighbourhood. He runs up and down and licks and jumps on them, happily wagging its tail. I don't know how to train it so it will not be so friendly with strangers, but so that he will bark at strangers, because that's what we bought him for. Sometimes I think its he nature of this breed of dog.. or can we train it? Another thing...my dog keeps on digging muddy holes everywhere in the backyard. Nearly everytime I look in the garden he is digging huge craters everywhere. Also, he picks out the plants we plant in the vegetable patches. Any advice will be greatly appreciated =D

Pet Cayuga Duck Question?

Hello I have questions about pet ducks. Me and my brother wanted to get a pet duck (a Cayuga) so we've been doing some research. According to a lot of the websites, because they are flock animals, they recommended that they be with other ducks or similar type animals like geese and chickens.

If we got a single pet duck, would he have enough attention from not only family members, but also being able to play with a extremely friendly/small dog (a yorkshire terrier which is smaller than an adult Cayuga) in the back yard?

If one can't be socially satisfied, would only two be okay? For some reasons a lot of sources recommend three or more, but I know my parents wouldn't want like 10 ducks running around the backyard.

Also, about 80% of our backyard is cement. There is still dirt and plants to roam around in, but not as much as a backyard with 100% grass. We intend to put a small kiddie pool for the duck(s) to play in. Will that be suitable?

Also, what type of predators are dangerous to even adult ducks? Our house is fenced and we live in an urban area. Will neighborhood cats be a threat? Would they be less of a threat if there were multiple duckies to help defend each other? We definitely plan on letting them sleep inside during the night. Would owls be a problem during the daytime? I don't think we have hawks or anything in my area, but is there anything to prevent Predator birds?

Also last question: will it harm and adult duck to go swimming occasionally in a chlorinated people-pool?

Thanks for your reponse!