dogs in the yard!

April 4, 2007 12:55 PM

My house is getting crazy with the dogs, yet I want a backyard I can enjoy. Can you help?

I have three crazy dogs . These guys have got to start staying outside some and running off their crazy energy. I love them, but I like my furniture some too.

We have been in this house a couple of years now and we finally cleared the back yard enough to perhaps use some. We will be putting a 6 foot dog ear fence all the way around the back yard. We have a lovely canopy of old growth trees, but therein lies the problem. It is all really shady. What can we plant and grow well? What will be non-poisionous for the dogs? I would really like an asian inspired modern, quite place. I also like the idea of outdoor rooms. Any ideas? Inspiration? What do you have outside that you love.

Additional Info: Intown Atlanta, historic district, about half an acre. view from front part of the yard. view from the deck.

We have a blank canvas (except for that truck chassis!)

posted by stormygrey to home & garden (13 comments total)

If you're looking at grasses, I've found that my St. Aug thrives in the parital shade on one side of the house. You can sod it in.

And yes, I don't know how you've stood 3 dogs like that in the house for this long -- my Rhodesian Ridgeback / German Shepard cross *LIVES* in the backyard.

That being said, anything that's hardy (heat-resistant) and shade-loving will do well. I like bushes that don't take a lot of maintenance... read: native bushes. But unlike us, you get enough rain that this shouldn't matter too much. Just go to the nursery, they can advise you.

But get that fence up first and get those boys outside. ;)
posted by SpecialK at 1:07 PM on April 4, 2007

Your dogs are gorgeous! We also have Live Dog Wrestling in our living room every night, I need to try to get a picture of it.

Our large back yard came fenced in half, so I have two back yards of respectable size. The front one, where the dogs go, has no grass because of the feet and the stomping (and the drought, so not entirely their fault). I'm gardening in containers this year, and they will go in the back half.

There are definitely things you can plant. I would recommend using raised beds and containers because of the stompy feet (not that they'll stay out of a raised bed unless you're creative with edges). You might spend the summer letting the dogs run their preferred routes around the yard and then start working in your landscape around that - that's my plan when we buy a house, because their will is stronger than mine.

My inspiration at the moment is coming from You Grow Girl (the book, the website, and the forums), Gardenweb, and In My Kitchen Garden.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:21 PM on April 4, 2007

I used to have a lovely garden and two middle-aged dogs who weren't too old for a few daily wrassle sessions. Then the dogs aged, passed away and I got a lab pup who has, all by himself, completely stamped my formerly lush garden into bare dirt in a matter of months.

I tried reseeding half the lawn--the shaded parts were especially laid to waste: fencing it off, digging up, amending, and reseeding it only to have the wonder pup desert-ize the section on the other side of the fence faster than the area under renovation could grow back in. Then there was the incident where I found him out back shredding uprooted hibiscus bushes that I had planted the day before, and the frequent wheelbarrow-sized holes he's dug and all the bushes that turned yellow and died after a steady assault from dog pee or the time he jumped up on the orange tree until he pulled down every fruit.

So, I divided the yard: the mostly shady half is bare dirt covered in tanbark and whatever random grass clumps that are hardy enough to still be there, a wading pool + a fountain and that's the dog park. The sunny parts are fenced off by half-height open design fence and I restrict my gardening to that half.

Thus far, the only plant that is flourishing on the dog side is English ivy (which I can't wholeheartedly recommend because it's an invasive plant).
posted by jamaro at 1:27 PM on April 4, 2007

I second the idea of talking to a local nursery. I'm not sure which neighborhood you're in (nice yard, though! and cute giant puppies!), but you could try the Urban Gardener on Boulevard. They have cool stuff (plants and otherwise), and they should be able to talk to you about native growth, hardiness, non-poisonousness, etc.

I always seem to end up with shady yards and never know what to plant, so I'll be watching this thread with bated breath....

And on preview, jamaro, the dog park sounds sweet!
posted by paleography at 1:36 PM on April 4, 2007

I'm not sure what you should plant, but include a planting free dog path around the perimeter so they can patrol.
posted by Good Brain at 1:37 PM on April 4, 2007

With five pups running around my house and yard, I sympathize with you. I've fenced off certain tender plant areas in the yard and given up the idea of vegetable gardening. Here is an article on the Walter Reeves gardening page with some tips for your area.
posted by Agamenticus at 1:40 PM on April 4, 2007

Oh, and speaking of invasive: beware bamboo, unless they can tell you how to contain it. That stuff grows like kudzu.
posted by paleography at 1:41 PM on April 4, 2007

Thanks so far!

Yes, they will have a patrol path, they are not so in love with the Australian Shepards next door.

The Urban Gardner has been great in many respects. I am within walking distance of them, but as far as design, furniture, rocks, and such, they are not as helpful.

I am looking for hardscape recommendations that will work as well. The one jumping on the sofa is missing a front leg (yay shelter dogs!), so I am avoiding much water, because I am a little worried that he could get in, but not out.

In the front view picture, you can also see a big drop off behind the air unit. I am afraid they would tumble, so a good thick shrub would be nice. There is currently a barbed wire fence in the back and my big guy ran RIGHT THROUGH it chasing a cat, so physical barriers must be that, physical, more than suggestions of barriers, because they will tear right through.
posted by stormygrey at 1:42 PM on April 4, 2007

The wading pool I'm using is one of these plastic turtles which are intended as kid sandboxes but due to their double-walled, heavy-duty thick plastic construction, hold up really well to dog teeth and claws. It's got a lip that's about 6" in height, with sides that smoothly slope to the outside. If your pup can jump on a sofa, he can easily stroll in and out of one of these.

I'm also experimenting with rounded edge concrete pavers (the interlocking kind) set flush to the surface, a few inches apart from each other and planted in between with Creeping Chamomile as a ground-cover. I'm hoping to make a dirt-free landing between the dog park and the house so I don't have to hose off muddy paws before he comes into the house...I chose chamomile because it's a non-dog-toxic steady grower which smells nice when crushed and anything that helps hold down Lab Stink is a GoodThing.
posted by jamaro at 2:24 PM on April 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

My landlady is a master gardener and she (I think -- you should verify) said the only way to keep bamboo from spreading is to put a physical barrier IN the ground. But I don't know how deep it has to go. Probably not that deep?

She recommended that I instead plant nandina, or heavenly bamboo, which is not actually related to bamboo and is not invasive. But I learned at this handy page listing plants that are toxic to dogs that it is bad. So I have not planted anything, because I am lazy.

At our house, last summer's Live Dog Wrestling created a big bare dirt patch in the lawn, which is now a bare mud patch. Not really sure how I'm going to resolve that. Love the idea of the chamomile!

I think Lyn Never's idea of letting the dogs figure out where they want to run first, and then planning around that, is a sound one.
posted by librarina at 3:22 PM on April 4, 2007

If your dogs are too boisterous in the house it's probably because they're bored, not getting enough stimulation, nor excerise. The back yard will help, but may not provide enought stimulation. If you don't walk them that much you might want to consider taking them on more daily walks, the excerise and stimulation will help.

BTW, handsome dogs! :)
posted by zaphod at 7:00 PM on April 4, 2007

include a planting free dog path around the perimeter so they can patrol.

Or just make sure that whatever is planted near the fenceline is nothing but grass or groundcover, and let them make their own paths. Because believe me, even if there is a path, they will cheerfully ignore it if it doesn't match their preferred traffic patterns! If you don't mind taking a long-term approach, you may want to put up the fence first and then just obsever their regular patrol routes for a while before you start in on the planting.

(Yep, I too have a fenced yard shaded by lots of mature trees, with much impromptu landscaping and trailblazing by these furry bulldozers. Even the English ivy patch that came with the place gets worn down to bare vines along their favorite trampling spots. Let's just say that anything more tender than large spiny rosebushes gets blocked off with a little bit of decorative wire fencing...not that they can't go over or through it when they're determined, but it's a visual deterrent that keeps them out of the way during more casual play.)

You've got a very handsome pack there. Whatever you do wind up planting, make sure to post a followup, with more picture links!
posted by Smilla's Sense of Snark at 7:18 PM on April 4, 2007

Smilla you have pretty puppies. I have to join dogster now, I just have to finish getting this fence permit first.
posted by stormygrey at 5:08 AM on April 5, 2007