The new gardener is in town....

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

When we bought our house in 2009, we did not have a dog on our minds. We live in the north suburbs of Denver so all the city houses have really small backyards, which was not an issue for us. We picked a house with a landscaped, low maintenance yard. Some rocks, some grass, some bushes. It even had a couple of garden areas for me.

Several months later we've decided to get Monty. There was an occasional digging, but nothing major. Our yard looked green and lush even with Monty's frolicking. Life was good:

I used one of my garden spots to create a designated digging place for Monty. The original idea was to get the dirt out and bring in sand, but that never materialized.

If you look at some of my older videos, you will see how green and jungle-like my backyard was.

Then came Auggie, the new self-appointed gardener...and nothing was safe from his inspection.

Bushes and trees? They need to be trimmed:

Shortly after Auggie's arrival, we put in bigger steps for the dogs to launch on and a "sidewalk" to the pee-pee side of the house:

The gardener Auggie never cared about the designated pee and poo side... his ideology was that every part of the backyard needs to be fertilized...

So after Auggie's care and just a blunt force trauma of 160 lbs+ of running speed, out backyard looks like this in the spring:

The grass is gone and so are probably the bushes:

The weed barrier has been ripped out, so the only thing that will grow in our backyard IS the weed:

And the digging spot is caving in because the dogs were digging too deep:

Other than that, we have a marry household. Once I win the lottery, I will buy a house with a lot of acreage for the dogs to run and dig. In the meantime, I'm happy my dogs are happy and healthy. Screw the backyard.

 

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

Amen to that last sentence!
Love it!

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

I think you've got the right attitude because you are probably fighting a losing battle.  The doodles look like they are enjoying themselves though. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yeah, don't worry about it until you get ready to sell the house.  Grass goes in pretty quickly and you can have it in shape in no time.  In the meantime, enjoy!  Obviously the dogs are enjoying themselves.

[Donna K & Quincy]

You have doodles growing in your yard, perfect!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Oh Jarka, it was lovely. My yard suffers from the dogs too but I have a much bigger space so the damage is less severe in any one spot. Grass seeding begins this weekend : )

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I did have some thoughts about ripping the whole backyard out and putting in artificial grass. The problem is, I'm not a doggone Rockefeller.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Your back yard still looks better than ours!  With the three, the small grass area is just weeds - good for pee and poo only.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Love the ending!  I also love your pictures.  The doodles look so happy together!  The part about Auggie trimming and fertilizing everything made me laugh!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Love the post and the last part especially. :-) Luckily for us we don't have a yard so we don't have to worry about it right now. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. he he

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Love, love, love this and totally agree!  Been there and definitely done that with Libby!  We had beatiful plants everywhere in the backyard and one year later, only a minimal amount and not so pretty any more!  Your dogs are so beautiful and like you said, well maybe a little different, the yard can be replaced (someday), the Doodles cannot and yes, screw the backyard:o)

[DJ & Chance]

Love this.  Great photos!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I love this post! I know what you mean. My yard is not going to be pretty with these two doodles around (neighter are my hardwood floors). Oh well, we must pick our battles and I'll take my doodles any day over green grass and gleaming hardwood.