My Dogs Are Ruining My Yard

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

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.

 

 

Oh, and they love to recycle, too.

[Adina P]

I hear ya!  But my yard destruction is mainly due to Boca.  Boca has single-handedly done more damage to our lawn than all 3 of my other dogs combined.  Right now the ground is wet so my mud room is covered in muddy footprints.  Drives me crazy. 

If you sod, then put some temporary fencing around it till it grows a bit stronger. 

My dream house has a rotating lawn...or rotating fence so no section of my lawn gets overused.  Of course, as far as I know, this doesn't exist :-)

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Rotating lawn, love it! Waiting for the weather to warm up so we can seed here too. Oh the mud!

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

Yea, Stanlee is the big culprit at our house - we didn't have this issue for the eight years Cooper has been with us. 

 

I'm likin'  the rotating lawn idea, I only wish it were that easy.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Adina, Owen is our massive destroyer. We have never had a dog do nearly the damage this darling boy will manage in a day. I have no answers (I also have no raspberries, blueberries, roses, grass or anything else lovely in the back yard.)

[Christine & Camus]

I don't have a lawn, but my friend does.  She has a 60 lb dog, Harley, and Camus has play dates with him, the result was a damaged, patchy lawn.  They recently reseeded and were told to keep the dogs off the lawn for 6 weeks, which turned into 8 weeks.  It is once again beautiful, but only time will tell if it is going to last. 

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

Oh it will last and last and last.......as long as they continue keeping the dogs off of the grass! 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

My lawn is destroyed and resembles a swamp right now lol  I think if I had the money I would get the best synthetic grass with good drainage that money could buy...waiting to win the Lotto : )

[Sheila & Finnley]

Oh Marnie, I hear you! We got Finnley last July, so she was young enough to not care about yard mutilation yet I guess.

As late fall started creeping in, she started digging holes. It has escalated to heights that I couldn't even imagine as winter has gone on. When all the snow melts, it's gonna be holes... mud.... the branches from my raspberry plants (RIP) and rocks everywhere ! Ha ha. Know that you ARE NOT alone in your nice yard gone to HE%% dilemma !

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

One of this issues here is the yard does not get "a winter break", it is grass year round.  The growth rate slows during our cold season but it never stops.  One of the things we use for mulching yards and flower beds is pine straw.  I considered using it to cover this area while I try and breath life back into the area but the bad thing about that is it gets all tangled in Stanlee's coat, he drags it into the house and I end up with pine straw carpeting covering my hardwood floors.  LOL

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

I am constantly yelling at my dogs for doing something or the other in the yard.  Zoe used to chew up ALL the sprinkler heads and hoses.  One time our water bill came out over $1100.  Thank GOD she stopped that habit.  Today she was digging in the back and when I went over to see why I saw that she found another small pile of mysterious sand.  It must be from some kind of animal for random little piles of sand to appear. Sighhhhhhh.  

[Jen and Annie]

Marnie, what if you gravel or mulch that area?  Since it sounds like they are going to tear up the grass... gravel might be a better option than mulch, because if Stan is anything like Annie, he will just bring in mulch hitchikers in his fur.  Then you will be sweeping the mulch up twice a day.  

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

You know it, I was speaking of pine straw earlier and then though......naaaaaaaahhhhhh too much of a mess.  But then again if I gravel it, Stan will most likely eat rocks and break his teeth, the big nerd!  Maybe I'll look into crushed shells.