Hi

My garden has been destroyed by my two 7 month old beagles puppies. They tear around, playing, chasing and churning up the lawn......not to mention digging holes everywhere.

We need to do something fast as in this cold damp weather, there are muddy footprints all over everything in the kitchen...and I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle.

Can anyone suggest a quick and relatively cheap alternative to the lawn at least until they calm down. I've thought about covering the muddy bits with paving slabs or possibly some sort of hard tennis court surface, but this is expensive. Anyone had similar problems?

Thanks,

Allison

Gravel is a wonderful thing!

Join the club. Concreat or slabs will freeze and you will find they slip around, if you have gravel they will eat it! :)

Snap! A large 1 year old GSD galloping down the garden and skidding to a halt is not helping my garden either (plus I too get the bonus of the dug holes). I've decided to put more slabs down close to where the house is, to give the really wet sticky mud something to wear off on. I've also just purchased two dirt trapper mats from Watsons, so hope that with this two pronged approach the floor might stay a bit cleaner.

I am waiting to see how good the mats are (they're not cheap!) as they only arrived today! How sad am I getting all excited about two mats :D They are a black and brown brindle colour, so as not to show the mud so much. They are washable, but I don't want to be washing them every 5 minutes.

My final ace in the hole is a Bissell Electric carpet shampooer - I don't know what I'd do without it, but it doesnt help on the hard floors.

A paddling pool between the garden and the house to wash their feet off might help.  Or put them in a crate full of lots (and lots) of screwed up newspaper when they first come in to help dry and clean them off

Yesterday was wonderful as everywhere was flooded and my floors although having wet footprints did not have mud as the dogs walking though the flooded area between the "lawn" and the paving slabs cleaned their feet of

Short term, try a bale of hay or straw spread over the really muddy patches.

big wellies and a new mop lol

Our lot have killed the garden too (2 dogs, 3 kids) - and we are going to be putting our house up for sale very soon (think I need the house doctor - no I take that back 'cos she ALWAYS tells dog owners that their houses smell) - I think the only hope for my "lawn" if you could call it that is re-turfing!!! 
PS I got some turtle mats one year at Crufts and I'm convinced that they help to trap some of the excess mud off paws on their way inside.

We dispensed with lawn and now have dog friendly bark and 'safe' plants,seems to work quite well.The pathway is decking and the end of the garden leading to the back entry is concrete.Easy to wash down with a hose.

Spice is a mad 10wk old today! border collie and even her digging attempts seem to have been easy to just rake back into place! Can't wait until she can go on proper walkies though,she has so much energy.

I'll let you know how it looks in the spring! :D

Also got  hot and cold plumbed in outside taps,with push-on shower attachment,which we found very good with our previous dog after muddy walks! combined with a huge plastic storage tub with lid which we keep on the decking it makes for a very luxurious doggy bath area,

?spoilt my dogs? never! ;)

I know the feeling with 4 Spanish Water Dogs, one of which is built like a brick you know what, it is no fun.  As soon as possible I'm going to have it all flagged!!   Ooh, I'm dreaming now of what my kitchen will look like with no muddy pawmarks all over the floor, cupboards, tops etc. 

Don't your dogs eat the bark, know mine would, particulaly the young ones.

I`ve got mud coloured tiles so can`t tell if it`s muddy or not :D :D

No seriously, got the front tiled in front of the lawn & concreted at the back :)

Christine, Spain.

First dog Pepper never ate the bark just lazed on the decking!

I have been watching Spice like a hawk and so far she just tears around like mad,sniffing plants occasionally and digging,she has picked up the bit of bark here and there but spits it straight back out! but I will keep a careful eye on her.

We have a tree fern and she seems to think when it's time to come indoors she can just hide under there and I can't see her.
She gets craftier day by day!

We have a largish garden and we paved large areas around the house.  I have beeen spending most of the last week bleaching and scrubbing them down to get rid of the alge and mud.  It is fine where the dogs wee as that kills it (better than neat bleach) but all the mud and and alge on it is making it very treacherous.

Just something else to think about if you are considering paving - that and drainage!

Have said on another post I have one of the old (5) dogs with a neck injury at the moment and I am sure he must have fallen into a hole dug by my puppy in the grass in the back garden as it is in a direct line from the gate to the field and the back door and Saxon, the hurt one, he always comes in from the field at full tit. Still felt that filling it up would be pointless as the pup would undo the work quicker than I fill it, have to laugh at house or garden proud people who decide they want one of our breed, in the absence of snow they use mud and don't stop till they are out of site. We are on clay here that is dirty but more stable, when we lived in Bedfordshire (sand) they were always burying themselves as the holes caved in.

I just got my garden paved, and also used lots of cotswold stone chippings. the chippings are a bit big for dogs to eat. I have to say that my house is much cleaner since!

Toby has wrecked my garden, :(  i give up, over christmas he has dug yet another big hole in the lawn and i barely have any grass left, but i forgive him :rolleyes:
Heidi

Supose it depends on the breed but my lot do not consider house bricks too big to be brought into the house and chewed.

got rid of all our grass about two years back and replaced it with slate (easy to pick up pooh) in he middle then a wood chip path going all around.
Now we have our pup she used to dig and eat the bark like mad but has now worn off eating it but she digs holes occasionly if she is out there for to long, but now the weather is rubish she goes out for a wee or pooh and comes straight back in. I only wish i had a kitchen that was at the rear of my house, god that would be bliss. Mine house is a bit strange sio we have the living room at the back of the house and kitchen at the front, we have no living room carpets only tiles at the moment, i was sick to death of vax or replacing the carpet every year.
My sister in law has a bucket at her back door for her goldie to was off an mud, i myself just use a twoel to dry of any excess.
But i would replace with either gracel or slate both of which are easy to pick up pooh and and put a couple of watering cans of disenfectant over to clean. But you need to put a membrane underneath or else they will keep digging up mud which will then look a mess.

Good luck
Cordelia, two gsd's Ice and Inca

Yes i was wondering the same thing as Jackie H, I've got bark out the front, and everytime Barney (4 month old cocker) walks passed it he grabs a mouthful brings it in with him and chews it on my cream carpet!!  Thankfully I have a Dyson, its in use everyday.  :)

Hi

My garden too is a total mess. My dogs are always waking mud in. Hubby got fed up with the mess of sa garden about 6 months ago and got ME ??? a gardener. This is a retired couple. They have done a wonderful job. All the borders are nicely dug. Just perfect for dogs to go digging in!!!:D

I have decided in spring I will do something. I was going to put flags and gravel - not sure now:D
annieee

Hi,

Newbie here! Our garden is a total mess too, but we have 2 kids so need to keep the grass for them. To make matters worse, we have patio doors in the front room that lead to the garden so our dog comes straight in to the front room!! :)
We have recently laminated so that helps and we do wipe his paws, but still we have paw prints everywhere!! I will be looking at crufts this year for some miracle mats lol!

J

I have 3 big dogs and 2 little ones in the kitchen/garden the tiles have now lifted.we have now fenced across the garden to make an area at the bottom for grass and grandchildren and have paved and concreted the top near the house for the dogs, we have a mobil home in the garden and hubby thinks that the dogs should go in there untill they dry off the should be let in the house but I feel mean not letting them straight in, we are now looking for ideas for reflooring the kitchen