to grass or not to grass - Page 1

Though some of us are burried in the snow, while others are dealing with rain, mud and twisters my mind has turned to spring.  Any one have any special formular for grass that will withstand a pack of adult german shepherds? Am I expecting too much. Failry nice size yard.

No FEMALES. They squat and kill. We had four one summer and resodded twice, then pea gravelled the yard with white gravel. Next step would have been pavement. Of couse the males kill your trees. Choose your poison.

I have a beautiful "Front" yard, and a "dog" "back" yard!!   Although, right now they are matching with 2 feet of snow!   I'm not much help!    I've never really tried to keep up the dogs area.

Good Luck!

You could only plant grass if you could keep the dogs off of it long enough for it to take hold.

Rye grass is a quick fix, if you plant thick .

Once the ground gets wet here nothing holds up.

I say dig up the grass, put down cement and paint it green. I have a nice front lawn and side lawn, and then there is the dog yard. For May and June, the dog yard looks pretty good. By Mid Aug it looks awful. I have learned not to care.

These are my German Shepherd Dog bushes, they need lots of water in the summer heat!!

My advice is plant alot of crab grass, and you'll see plenty of green!

I too have sections of yards, like a garden part, no dogs ever, a front yard, sometimes a dog or two,

and they also have their own dog yard, with their own houses, which sometimes they actually use!

Sarah:

This past summer I finally broke down and had the back yard regraded, new soil and seeded.  I had a coral fence area filled with stone which is where I trained the dogs to go to the bathroom.  I only let them on the grass when it is not wet because as soon as I let them start galloping like a herd of ponies, they tear up a new section.  The only casualty suffered this winter is a trail from the pavers to the back corner because two of them bolt from the sliders and run past the entrance to the coral, then run back into the coral.  3 dogs in a .35 acre property does not make it easy to grow a nice lawn, but this is the best my property has ever looked.  Before putting this lawn there was not a blade of grass to be found, just rocks and weeds.

Here is a pic taken after the lawn started growing in.  Never thought some grass would make me so happy.  Goodluck with your yard.

Cheryl

During the past year, Ive had my front and back yards sodded with dwarf fescue--dark green (does not go dormant during the winter), good for heavy traffic areas, requires less water and mowing.  I recommend not too much shade and some direct sunlight for several hours each day. My dwarf fescue sod grew much better after I had some large shade trees pruned. Along the fencelines in the back yard, there are wide paths of ginger (the color) decomposed granite.

While it is becoming established, I've pretty much kept the dogs off the sod--especially during the winter. They have their own places to "potty"--on cedar chips (Muck Buster brand), on cement, or on the pavers in the front courtyard.

If I could afford (I understand that the initial cost is pricey) it and had many dogs I would consider something synthetic. Try doing a Google search for "synthetic grass for kennels". You will find such sites as these:

http://www.foreverlawn.com/k9grass2.html

http://www.k9grass.com/

http://heavenlygreens.rtrk.com/coupon/?scid=490166&cid=146505&tc=08020913342394556&kw=3958829&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=heavenlygreens-px.rtrk.com&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fsearch%253Fsourceid%253Dnavclient%2526ie%253DUTF-8%2526rls%253DGGLJ%252CGGLJ%253A2006-35%252CGGLJ%253Aen%2526q%253Dsynthetic%252Bgrass%252Bfor%252Bkennels

I think my that my dogs would chew or dig through that artificial stuff, don't you think so too.........