Hello,

Well the back yard is totally trashed.  The hay worked well until it snowed and then turned 50 degrees the next day and poured.  It all floated away   The mud  isn't just mud since it freezes and thaws so it's all bumpy from the mutts romping in itand you would easily trip and fall out there.  Right now we have to let them out one at a time or else they will wrestle and tear it all up more.  Went to get more hay for now but we really need to do something this Spring and I'm looking for some ideas. It's about 600 square feet of pure mud and muck.  And it's not just the perimeter - it's the whole thing as they play hard.  The other night Lou had to wash the back of the house and the dogs - huge mess.

I was just reading about rubber mulch but it holds moisture which we don't want and it's pretty expensive.  Looked at astroturf for pets and that costs alot and I really think the dogs would end up tearing it up anyway.  Only other idea is round stone with some patio block for walkways.  Anyone else have any other ideas? Was easy with the snow we had but of course it had to melt and only lasted for 2 days. 

How about old carpeting? It might work in selected places. You might be able to get it for free if you know someone who is getting new carpet or if you have curbside trash collection. I've nabbed some on the curb when people were throwing it out. The carpeting in the photo below is under a roof so it stays mostly dry.

I gave up on grass along time ago after sodding the yard 2 times. I have put in crushed granite around the patio and house and river bed gravel in the paths around the trees. Under the trees I use cedar mulch. I tried gravel around the house, but when the dogs ran through it they through it up and it sounded like a machine gun with the rocks hitting the house and windows. I was afraid it would break a window. The crushed granite packs down hard and it nice, but I have had to add some in in the really low areas from time to time. The mulch I usually add to once a year. The gravel is I have to rake back in places from time to time. Crushed granite down here is not too expensive, but we have granite quarries in Central TX too. On the plus side the different ground covers in my backyard have really toughened up the dogs feet.  I have a slopping yard and all the ground covers drain well.

Be careful with carpet, mine love to shred it and they could even eat some. It will also rot on you very fast.

 I used allot of hardy native plants and watched the paths the dogs took and do not plant anything along their routes.  I also have one flower bed with azzaleas and I put a short 3 foot fence around it. It doesn't keep the dogs out, but it does keep them from running break neck through it so they don't damage the bushes or the flowers when they bloom.

This shows the 3 foot fence around my azzaleas:

And another angle:

I also put an area out in the back corner of they yard where the dogs can dig and they do use that area most of the time, but once in a while when they are after a critter like a mouse or rat they will dig up an area trying to get to it.  I also had rain gutters on the back of my house with down drains.  I am moving the down drains outside the fenced area because rats will from time to time get into those down spouts and when they do the dogs go nuts.  They have actually pulled one off the house.  I was lucky it didn't pull the gutter down too. 

OK, I am going to look up what an erosion mat is.  I like the idea of crushed granite too.  I didn't see too many dog friendly yards when looking online.  Too hard to lay all that stone ourselves so we'll have to get a landscaper.  Well we have a few months of crummy weather to go.  I would have been a happy camper if it snowed as much as it did last year!  Normally March is the bad month that is always wet and soggy but it's been this way all year long.  The carpet looks good but my dogs will shred it.  And Bev your yard is gorgeous!  I don't have a green thumb and no time for gardening as I never know when I'll get home from work but it sure is pretty!  I even drove to a school today to check out their soccer field which was totally fenced in.... but they put a lock on the fence   So we cut the backyard up for now - going to be that way until April when we can fix it - they don't have much room back there anymore but it was getting way too damaged.  Lou put up some orange fencing and beyond that in the first pic we will find a hardy grass to grow - if they tear it up, they tear it up and the other pic with the fencing is a total swimming pool when it rains now and Windsor is digging up the insulation by the foundation over there.  They need to be supervised when let out with this orange fence but so far so good.  Feel bad they can't run like they used to cuz they like to romp hard.  But once April hits and hopefully we'll get some dry days, we'll probably stone everything but the grassy area we want to do and get some patio block but I'm still going to check out those erosion mats.  Here's what it looks like now - YUCK.  It's embarrassing!

All of the ideas mentioned are good ones. Heres a few other ideas. Straw erosion matting is good. The straw mats sometimes have biodegradeable plastic woven through . This is used as a blanket over seed . I don't like the plastic . The dogs would have it destroyed . Landscape fabric will cover the mud and you can mulch over it. Down side is the mulch will slip and slide around , The cedar mulch would help with that as well as make it deep. or get a load of single shreaded hardwood. Les expensive and will last two years instead of one .  If you can get pine needle mulch that would be nice. Not easy to get up north.

I like the ground cover winter creeper . Its under used . Here is a Google page about it.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=wintercreeper+ground+cover&gbv=2&oq=wintercreeper&aq=3s&aqi=g2g-s2g4g-m2&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=2200l5679l0l9262l13l12l0l0l0l0l546l2013l2-1.1.2.1l5l0

You want the one that turns purple in the winter . Stay away from the verigated . They take forever to get any coverage . I've seen the wintercreeper grow three feet in a season. Once its established it can be trimmed down to 4 inches high durring the summer with a weed eater. The deer will eat it so it has to be inside a fence . Its fabulous as a perimeter around wire fencing. say about five feet inward. In five years it will fill in the fence and the ground nicely and you can keep the fence  trimed with a hedge trimmer once a season. It makes a green room . You can get fancy and make windows if you want  Usually just putting it on three sides is enough. I'll try to take a picture of mine. The dogs love to go in the ground cover and you never have to pick up after them . So ...you have your perimeter of ground cover . You can make a square area or any shape for that matter in each corner with stone or bluestone slabs. I love the big pieces of tumbled blue stone. Pricey though . Lowes has the plastic forms that you can pour cement into and make Faux stone paths . You can group them in any form you want. Great for low budget .

T belle beautiful garden! and nice combination of ground coverings.  

I had Hanna in a small asparagus garden I was finally cutting back for the winter. She was chewing away at the dead stalks and I let her. I wonder if I can get her to point voles out  and then  get them on command.

Thanks for all the replies!  The winter creeper is so pretty but it would be trampled on and eaten I think.  I just sent the link to the straw blanket to my husband - how long would that last with 2 gsp's - I am noticing they are pushing the hay all over the place tonight.

We have a deer fence.  Cost 1/2 of what a black chain link fence would have cost us and it's not as visible so it's not an eye sore in the back yard.  We got it from www.britainfence.com - he's local but he has pics that shows the deer fencing that he does - 8 feet tall.  We have the hexagon metal core mesh one.

I have a small area of grass in the yard, about 75'x200' and after two years of two GSP's it is trashed. I am going to do something this spring and was looking into Artificial Turf. I don't see a lot of people using it though. It requires a bed of crushed stone so I may start there and add the turf later. Mine are not diggers unless after a creature but one does kick up quite a bit after a good poo.

If anyone is using artificial turf, does it hold up to the dogs?