I have large dogs, but the issue is the same with ants and bird feeders, areas near BBQs, and trash cans. But, once I saw how my dogs would get into the little liquid bait stations, I started burying them - placing the bait holder in a large metal can with a lid, and with lots of holes punched in it. Then I put a very large, flat rock on a paving stone over that, in an area where I pass through a lot and would see if it were disturbed.
Then I didn't feel that this was taking care of the ant problem. After a little reading, I discovered that some ants like sweet sugary items, and some like grease or meaty foods. (I found a trail of ants in my kitchen attacking a bottle of prescription cough syrup, of all things.) So I went with a commercial mix of diatomaceous earth - a white chalkish substance, not toxic, and available in lots of places by itself - which had powdered borax in it. This can be a little toxic, and I was going to make my own bait, so I dug the same kind of hole, placed a three-inch length of plastic pipe in it with the openings at top and bottom, filled in enough dirt around its outer shell to keep it upright, and put bait food into this pipe, with the powdered borax/diatomaceous earth squirted in a circle around it. Then I capped the whole thing with my paver and rock. My dogs never bother it.
This mix of borax and DE is only good for three or four days, and then must be reapplied. Rainy weather makes it weaken faster, dry weather makes it last a little longer. If the ants seem to be gone - this worked pretty well for me - then I need to remember to clean out the old bait, lest I feed any survivors.
Inside a house, the DE can be applied by itself. It's inert, but is a light dust that will get spread around, so don't use so much that the floor feels slippery. If your doggie gets a sniff, she will decide that it's boring and tastes funny. If she sniffed up a bunch, it could get to her lungs and give her a cough, but so could powdered cinnamon or lots of other nontoxic things. It doesn't irritate paws or nose. Let her know you want it left alone.
The baits I use most often in my station: old tortilla chips that were fried in lard, or the aforementioned cough syrup. I guess other sweets would work, but I resent giving them anything nice. Anyway, putting the syrup on a paper towel makes for easy cleanout later.
I absolutely agree about the Simple Green. If you have the unfortunate experience of waking and finding several hundred ants when you walk into your kitchen, spray the usual diluted spray all over them - it stops them in their tracks, and then they can be wiped up without stings. It seems to deter them from coming back to that part of the room, a little - at the very least, it must be good at breaking up the molecules of their pheromone trails. But it can be a little corrosive on aluminum and maybe more, I think, so don't think of it as a pesticide that can be sprayed and left in puddles on surfaces (as my hubby tried to do). Wonderful stuff, though.
If you have room for an inconspicuous, outdoor buried bait station, it really works. They carry the poison back to the queen, who dies, and they lose their source of egg laying. They can hatch or adopt another queen, but it takes time, and keeping the numbers down improves the odds against kitchen invasions. And in the meantime, the bait and borax powder are away from the house. Give this a try if you keep having ants despite the premade bait stations. The borax/DE mix comes in a white plastic bottle, about a quart size, with a squirt-type cone nozzle. It didn't cost too much.
