Best Solutions for Yards with Dogs

Dogs can be tough on lawns, Flawns are a better option.

If you are a dog owner; you may be struggling with one, two, or all the following issues when it comes to lawns and dogs. Tired of the dead yellow and brown spots? Sick of the mud being tracked into the house? Is your lawn unusable because of holes and ruts from dog traffic?

Grass lawns are not very resilient to dogs running on them and using them as a bathroom. Thankfully there are several alternatives that can solve your headaches. We will go over them from easiest and least expensive to more involved and pricey options. 

Let’s start with something very important that you don’t even see, the soil.  To prevent wear and tear from a dog it is very important to have happy healthy thick grass and that requires healthy rich soil with nutrients and the ability to hold water. If you’re not sure, test your soil. Usually, the university system in your state will have a soil testing service which you can mail in a sample for a small fee and receive the results via email. The lab will tell you the percentage of organic matter which you want to be about 3-5% as well as a few different nutrient levels and will show you if it is low, okay, or high for a lawn then make recommendations for what to apply to amend the soil if necessary. If you do have poor soil now, it’s best to improve it before seeding. Compost works as a great enhancer naturally balancing the nutrients in the soil and increasing the moisture holding capacity and reducing compaction.

Compaction can be the result of repeated foot traffic in particular areas. Think about golf courses where the cart path ends and there may be a sign that instructs carts to scatter instead of all driving in the same path over the grass. If your dog and or you walk out of your backyard onto the grass in the same place every time it will lead to the ground becoming very compacted in that area. Also, if your dog runs along a fence or along a building it will do the same thing, and the grass will wear down and eventually die in those areas because the soil cannot hold moisture, and the roots cannot survive in them. 

Enter Flawn Seed, the most important variety to have growing amongst your grass is Dutch White Clover or Micro Clover. Dutch White Clover will produce small white flowers from late spring into early fall and attract and provide nectar for bees, butterflies, and moths. Although bees are very docile and not aggressive unless provoked, if you are worried about the potential of bee stinging your dog or young children make sure to plant Micro Clover which does not produce flowers. If you are not worried about bee stings it is best to increase diversity and create a ground cover that is as thick as possible and grows well in most environmental conditions.

Benefits of Clover in Pet Yards:

1. White clovers have above ground roots called stolons or runners that crawl along the surface of the soil and act as an erosion control net does helping to hold the soil in place. The grass and clover work together to prevent wear and tear form foot or paw traffic by combining the unground and above ground roots and increase in vegetation to keep your yard lush and prevent mud from being tracked into the house.
2. Clovers tolerate all the stresses that dogs create for a lawn like nitrogen burn from their urine, compaction, running and digging; all while supporting the grass by proving nutrients and preventing the soil from drying out.
3. Clovers tolerate a wider variety of growing conditions such as acidic soils; sand, silt or clay soils; shady spots with low sunlight; as well as moist, poor draining soils. 

Ready to seed clover and possibly some other Flawn Seed varieties into your lawn? Check out the detailed installation and maintenance instructions before shopping. One very important note for seeding with dogs or is to keep them off the newly seeded area for as long as possible to allow the plants to become mature before being subject to the stresses of the dog. I highly recommend staging your seeding by doing a portion of your yard with it completely blocked off for at least the first few months if not year and then seeding the rest once the other are durable enough for repeated traffic. Some patching may still be necessary in the months and years to come especially if your dog digs large holes or is more than 50 pounds.

Still have concerns or have you tried seeding and not had great results? No worries, there are more solutions to give a try. Unfortunately, they may be more labor intensive and or expensive, but a permanent solution is always the best one rather than dealing with an issue more than once.

If you have a very tough environment to grow any living plant in like full shade on the north side of a multi-story building or under large shade trees or even worse black walnuts which produce a toxin that poisons surrounding plants, you may need an extreme solution like landscape pavers or artificial turf in these spots.

Turfstone™ pavers or plastic grids are a great option for heavy traffic areas like that spot just outside the back door or off the patio. They are unique in that they help to hold the soil in place and allow the plants to grow without their roots being ripped out of the ground or soil becoming too compacted. Different options are available online and at hardware stores and installation can range in difficulty.

If you have a very small urban yard and the grass just can’t hold up to the amount of use, consider artificial turf which is available in eco-friendly recycled options as well as varieties that are specifically designed for pets where a drainage gravel and deodorizer are installed below the actual turf which has holes in it so there are no bad odors.

Well, I hope you don’t have to go the artificial turf route and will at least give some of the Flawn Seed varieties a chance to solve your headaches keeping a usable backyard with a dog. Just remember that your property is unique to you and results will vary based on many of the environmental conditions we discussed as well as how you care for your Flawn. If you take the time and put in the effort to get it growing it will pay dividends for years to come.