My Dogs Are Ruining My Yard

I started a discussion earlier today about my yard looking for advice and thought I would repost here (I hope I am permitted to do this) Here is the post followed by a link to the other thread showing suggestions. Any more would be GREATLY appreciated.

We have a VERY large fenced in yard but my two dogs tend to stick to one specific area and they have totally and completely trashed that part of the yard. Where there used to be lovely, lush grass, there is nothing but dirt and the loss of grass is not from urine, it is from the two of them walking, running, laying, and playing in that small portion of the yard. Is there anything I can do to get grass back and keep it there? I don't mind laying sod but I don't want that sod to be dead in a matter of weeks once it's down. The other thing is with nothing but dirt, my house is getting dirtier and dirtier much more quickly. I am now sweeping at least once a day to keep the dirt coming in to a minimum.

Any ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.