ANTS!!! Help please!

There's a major problem with ants here.....and they are driving me CRAZY!!

I have nice dog run that Nebo stays in sometimes when I'm going to be gone more than a few hours. He loves it out there, he just sleeps in the shade. The bottom is made from large bricks and sand between the bricks. Apparently ants love sand....as EVERY day (and I kick them off each day) there's at least 10 new ant hills built.

I had heard that cinnamon helps get rid of ants so I tried that...didn't make a difference. On friday I tried taking a hose and spraying them off and soaking the sand really well. Saturday morning they were even worse!

I can't use sprays/chemicals because I don't dare use those things in a place where my dog will be. Does anyone know of any natural remedies or sprays that will not harm pets?

Any ideas (no matter how strange) are appreciated!!

*A pic of the dog run is attached*

Edited to add: They are those little tiny black ants (sugar ants??). We also tried vinegar and it didn't work but maybe we needed to put more on there. I don't think they are in there because of food or anything as they don't touch the food bowl they aren't even in that area...they are more in the middle/front toward the door.

I've heard chalk but I'm not sure if its ok around dogs.

I have also heard the chalk thing, but that would wear away fast, especially if it rained.

Here are some links I found, although I have no personal experience with them.

http://www.enviroman.net/organicant-killer.html

http://www.no-odor.com/pesteze/prodant.htm

http://www.planetnatural.com/ants_control.html

I can't remember the name of it right now but we used a Chinese brand of Chalky stuff. The packaging said it was dog safe. We had a bunch of ants at our old house and it took care of it right away.

I'm no help either. I hope you find something soon though. We are having a problem with ants also. They are in our tree out in the backyard. A huge nest of ants. Great big black ones! Someone called them carpentar ants. A neighbor behind us had started to see a few ants in his house and called an exterminater and it turns out that they are coming from our tree. We had no clue and this neighbor didn't even tell us! We found out from another neighbor. Who the first neighbor had told and the second neighbor actually saw him spraying our tree a few times and was so worried about the dogs that he came over and got us. Thank God!! Alden talked to the first neighbor and was very nice and told him he would take care of the problem and to please not spray the tree anymore. We still think he came in the yard and sprayed one more time after Alden talked to him. He told Alden he didn't think the stuff would hurt the dogs because he says it is ok after it dries for a couple of hours. I don't know when he sprayed though and he doesn't know when I am going to put the dogs out. ARGH!!!! Anyway we finally got him to leave it alone and I think Alden is even going to offer to pay for his exterminator, because we do feel bad about it. Alden is taking care of the tree and has built a small fence around it for now so the dogs can't get near it. We think the ants are dead now, but they pretty much have the tree weak and hollowed out in a lot of places so it looks like we might have to chop it down. It bloomed out so pretty this spring too and it breaks my heart it is one of my favorites. We don't know why the backyard neighbor acted so weird about it. He is always nice and we have never had a problem with him. He is getting older maybe that has something to do with it. All I can say is Thank God for Mr. Anderson! He is the one that let us know and the best neighbor in the whole wide world!!!!!

diatomaceous earth....

Look in the garden area of a store.

How about I send Emily down to you. She loves to eat ants :eek:

Seriously though I hope you find something that works. :)

I just read an article in this weeks Woman's World about ants.

Want to keep ants out of your kitchen? Here's a secret; they hate coffee! simply sprinkle a few coffee grounds into corners to keep them away.

Maybe you could try sprinkling coffee grounds on the ant hills and then around the base of the dog run.