Rats eating my geraniums?

I just planted a bunch of geraniums and something is eating the buds off the stems. From what I've been reading, it's probably rats. We have a big field behind our house, plus I have found droppings in my outside laundry room. We have a dog so I need to be careful with poisons. Does anyone know of a deterrent that I can use on the plants themselves??????

Moth balls. But even better is a release trap you can buy at a hardware store. I use the small ones for mice but they make larger ones for rats - wooden bottom and metal mesh upper. You can bate them with food, catch the rats and drive them to a far away location.

Oh and the hardware stores also carry large rat sized glue traps. Just put food in the middle.

Good idea but moth balls won't work because of the dog. She has access to the area. Unfortunately dogs will eat anything!

The can't get into the rat traps unless they are tiny.

simpsca wrote:....... catch the rats and drive them to a far away location.

Why would anyone want to do that? If you love them that much, keep them in your bedroom.

Exactly