My "lawn" no longer consists of grass, only mud (thankfully dry mud at the moment.) Last year, because of a mole problem, I turned most of the garden over to gravel. I left 20 ft  x 40 ft for the dogs as grass but they have so churned it up that I can't stand the look of it now and as soon as it rains, it will be back to towels & filthy feet indoors. It is too small an area to returf it and section it off until it is rooted. The last new turf area lasted about 2 months before it was destroyed.  Artificial grass sounds appealing but not really sure if I want that either. I could leave a small strip of grass so that they could graze if they needed but I am in two minds as to whether it would be fair on the dogs to expect them to use "non grass" for their toilet. I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience of this Astro turf and if, they recommend it, what make & type is best as there are dozens on the market. Thanks, Sandy

My rottie x gsd would only ever go to the toilet on grass, but my lawn got ruined and I ended up with a mud bath, so half the garden I paved and put a fence up with a new lawn on the other side so the dogs could not ruin it.
Over one corner of the paved area I put in a 7'x5' piece of fake grass and my girl immeadietly very happily used it. She was completely fooled and my other dogs have used it quite happily too.

Our back garden is completely paved and we have had no problems with the dogs using it, the big bonus is that it is so easy to pick up and keep clean. They dont seem to miss having grass at all.

we have atrificial grass been down for over a year now with 7 dogs thundering across it ,our part of the garden is flowers etc there part is fenced off and the artificial grass down we love it easier to pick up we use odour kill on it in a large spray bottle to keep it smelling nice and fresh and the other thing is i hoover it whenit gets to dirty eg hairs and leaves etc neighbours think i am bonkers but so whats new we bought ours off ebay and laid it ourselves may not be perfect but it is nice

There is a lady in my dads village who hoovers her lawn, I always thought she was bonkers but now I'm thinking maybe she's got artificial grass!

Artificial grass company every time. Have seen alot at trade fairs and builders merchants and the AGC are the best (they do the greens at crufts) Ask for samples and tyhey will send you them. I have never had the pleasure to lay any  and canot afford it myself but it is easy to lay if you can lay turf. :) :)
http://www.artificiallawn.co.uk/
you can get them that look like grass unlike the poor comptitors in IMHO and the people you talk to are brilliant :)
HTH
Lea :) :)

I have artificial grass from artificiallawn.co.uk,its the stuff that was used in the main ring at Crufts and sold off cheaper after the show.I love it,its fantastic stuff,I've had it for about 6 years now and it still looks very much like new as its so hard wearing and it means my dogs can always have access to the garden even when its raining.There are grasses available that look a lot more realistic though,am thinking of getting my very small front lawn done too but with something a bit more natural looking.

I have had it for about 4 years, dogs are fine with it. The cost is mainly in the laying of it, (thankfully my hubby is very handy),one day prep and one day laying. Looks very realistic. Get lots of samples. In the summer you just have to hose down, super stuff

Thanks for the help. I will try to find some of the realistic looking stuff. Do you have any suggestions, helenmd?

G.Rets, request samples, you will have samples about 4"x4" and will be able to see the difference between the samples :) :) :)
Lea :) :)

Well looking at the articiallawn website the Spring and Summer Lawns are the most realistic,something thats multi-toned and longer pile,the one I have is Premier Curl which is so short it almost looks like carpet.But there are so many more companies out there now than when I was looking and they will all send you samples I think.

Whilst cruising the stand at Crufts this year I heard one lady say to another that "you really have to look at this stuff outdoors, this superficial light makes it look a bit green" !!

Once you remove the malapropism (let's assume she meant artificial light), and the frankly strange idea that grass might not be green, then it kind of makes sense.  Certainly some looked more realistic than others but a decent sized sample, viewed in the exact situation you want it for, is going to make it easier to decide.  I'm tempted to get some for my MIL to put under her bird table as everything there gets trampled by the pigeons.  A good sized sample might just do it...

Having just watched Brian Cox's programme I love the idea of Superficial Light. :-)

What do you do if one or several large dogs have diarrhoea on the artificial grass? That's always been my concern.

> What do you do if one or several large dogs have diarrhoea on the artificial grass? That's always been my concern.

It cleans off really easily Marianne, it's amazing stuff. Pee obviously just drains through but even runny poo stays on top and can be lifted off then hosed. It's really comfy to walk on and looks great, the dogs love playing on it or lying in the sun on it and have no problems using it as a loo.

Mine is from asgoodasgrass.co.uk

I would disagree Lea that it's as easy to lay as turf though, it's really, REALLY heavy. It took 6 adults to lift/drag my roll from the truck round the back of the house and manoeuvring it into place wasn't easy. Once it's down though it's much easier than turf and of course looks good all year round.

i always worry that the edges might curl up? and what if you have diggers like mine are? can it stand it or will it shred?

My grass has been laid on slabs so is glued down, you nail the edges onto wooden strips if laying on soil. Mine did lift up at one side during a very windy night, I don't think I'd glued it down enough. I haven't actually got round to buying more glue and it's still there, it's so heavy it couldn't possibly blow away.

As to digging my front garden (real grass) is covered in holes and the back fake stuff doesn't have as much as a loose blade so I guess it must be ok :-)

We are having artificial turf laid next Monday, the company we are using is Lazy Lawn - they are nationwide.  The 'turf' I have chosen comes with a 5-year guarantee, can be hosed down, disinfected, hoovered and brushed!

I can't wait!! I wish we'd had it done years ago :):):)

any clue as to how much it costs? and to lay it? my area needs only about 40 x 20 feet

Not sure if it would work for a whole lawn but when the children were young and had a swing in the garden we used to get that big worn-out scoop under the swing seat where their feet used to drag on the grass.

We filled the hole in and then put a piece of that green plastic mesh fencing over the hole and pegged it down. The lawn could grow up through the mesh  which then disappeared from sight but the plastic stopped the ground from being worn into a rut. We could mow the lawn as usual and never had a problem with it after that. I too have the muddy bare patch that used to be a lawn for the dogs but now resembles a battlefield.

We have a clay soil so come winter it is really boggy come summer it cracks , it is also 3 steps up to our grass from the patio. Would it drainok do you think or are we likely to get a waterfall on the patio  ?

I was recommened Artificial grass by a dog trainer.  She said she bought her at a discount as it was the stuff they use at Cruffs Dog show.  I contacted Cruffs and they directed me to the artificial lawn company. 
The people at Artificial lawn Co. were very helpful and I managed to get a discount on the grass used at Cruffs.  Its the middle of the range grass I think it is called premier curl.  The area I wanted covered wasnt very large, about 24sq meters and it cost me £380 with the weed membrane.

I am taking delivery on Wednesday so I will let you know what its like when I get it!

Also, just should mention the lady on the phone said for a domestic use the "grass" should last 15 to 20 years with minimal maintenence. 

Someone mentioned edges curling up.  They recommend spreading sand to weigh the the grass down, it also helps the blades to stand up.  

> We have a clay soil so come winter it is really boggy come summer it cracks , it is also 3 steps up to our grass from the patio. Would it drainok do you think or are we likely to get a waterfall on the patio  ?

Similar to my garden then,yes it will drain fine.Rainwater just soaks straight through.

> any clue as to how much it costs? and to lay it? my area needs only about 40 x 20 feet

I think my grass area is smaller than yours (around 20'x30' if that) and it would cost me around £3k.  Just over half of that was for the cost of the product and the rest was for fitting it.

For a lawn of 40 x 20 ft aprox, it going to cost anywhere between £950 and £2K depending on what option you go for, it will cost about £65 for the weed membrain.  These are calculations I have made using the price guide on the artificial lawn website.

No clue for fitting costs, although it looks easy enough, just labour intensive.

The area I am covering is small so im going to fit myself.

> They recommend spreading sand to weigh the the grass down, it also helps the blades to stand up.  

I specifically chose a heavily backed, good quality grass that didn't need sand filled. I was worried that the dogs would be dragging sand into the house, that's not much better than mud :-)

We are paying £2.5k for the turf and fitting.  Included in the price is also all waste removal and the taking up of what's already there, levelling off and preparing the surface to lay it on...

We too are getting an artificial lawn from [url=]www.lazylawn.co.uk[/url]. We had samples from various companies sent and found theres to look the most realistic too. Its being fitted in a couple of weeks so will post again once its been laid.
Sharon

rach_w - out of interest, what sort of size area are you covering?

I'm yet one of the many people pondering over artificial grass. Small lawn (that's a laugh) area that's now got about 2 blades of grass, many pot holes (created by the 4-legged diggers) and mud. Lots and lots of mud!

Also to anyone else who has used this, does the surface have to be completely level? I have a slight slope mid way ... part of the reason I've not had paved as would be a lot of work to make completely flat for paving slabs.

It's an area that's 44 sq metres :)

Thank you!

Not used it with dogs but my Sister has just had it fitted in her garden this week and it looks very natural and my first thought was that it would be good with dogs to stop mud coming through the house.

Josh

> Also to anyone else who has used this, does the surface have to be completely level? I have a slight slope mid way

The grass is rubber backed and flexible, or at least mine is, so I think it would be fine over uneven ground.