I am pulling up my decking soon - mostly because it gets so slippery when wet. I would like gravel but don't know if it would be ok with our dogs. Failing that it'll have to be paving. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Definitely paving, gravel is a nightmare as the dogs send it scattering everywhere and it ends up in a heap by the house and has to be shovelled away at regular intervals... it's horrendous to pick poo up from (it sticks obviously!) and if I had the choice I'd have none :-(

Have gravel here and unfortunately a couple of my dogs love chomping on it. Had a horrible scene one morning a couple of weeks' ago when our youngest had obviously been copying Uncle Obi and swallowed lots of the stuff - resulting in lots of gravelly poo on the kitchen floor!

We're moving house in the next couple of weeks' and I can safely say there will be absolutley no gravel going anywhere near the back garden!

Paving slabs will always be my preference...

That's what I was afraid of - dogs eating gravel. Ok paving it is

Our back under the deck is all paved- hubby did it he even put up a water shed right up to the house so water all runs away- def love it. Just make sure when
it is hot out not to put heavy stuff on it- chairs can leave holes in the asphalt. You can also get it dusted so it looks more cement like and also helps protect
it some.

I have had gravel for over 12yrs, not a problem, killed off the grass, laid damp proof membrane, edged the borders I wanted to keep with 6 inch high pressure treated boards and stapled the membrane to border side of boards to stop gravel going underneath, pricked all over with garden fork, concentrating on any areas where water collected[ several weeks before I got gravel to allow dips to become obvious] then ordered 6 tons of gravel and got a friends son to come and help me transfer from drive to back garden in buckets, I filled and he carried, took several hours but so rewarding to see when done.

The only area paved is under the pergola I added later for a garden bench to sit on. I rake the gravel over periodically, once or twice a year, where the membrane overlaps the gravel can get between the two layers. My Mums dachsie would find creepy crawlies and dig trying to find them but none of mine or the spaniel did this.

I got lots of advice re size of gravel from firm who supplied it, too small and it will get tramped into the house,too big and painful to walk on for humans and dogs, I went round locally finding what I liked and the size of each option and then went online to find the cheapest including delivery, I could probably have managed with 1 ton less but thought it would be better to have too much than not enough allowing the bright blue membrane to show through, coverage amounts seemed to vary from firm to firm.

I thought about paving but it was going to be more expensive, more preparation and I wouldn't have been able to do it myself, weeds would have grown in the cracks in the sand the slabs were bedded on.

Hmmmmmm.  Food for thought.

Just about to do the same as rhoadach in the dogs area instead of chippings . So far done half and its going well the dogs don't seem to scatter it and clearing poos seems fine so far.

I have mostly gravel too, just relaid it on 3/4 of the garden, so the bottom part (the "Dog" garden) is all gravelled, with a few bits of paving supporting the dog run panels and some decorative Paw PRint slabs in the run.  The part nearest the house is divided by a path which has jsut been relaid with reclaimed stone slabs, and one side relaid wiht gravel, edged by a raised bed against the fence.  It's easy to "scoop" looks much softer on the eye than paving.  YEs the dogs do make it fly a bit, but it only hits the fence or wall then drops down.  Easy to rake back into place.  Northe other part, taht is going ot be another story, much more decorative, but will have ot wait till next year I think!

My old kennel runs were part gravelled and never had any problems wiht the dogs trying to eat it.

I have both.  I have a section which is slabbed and then another section with gravel so I can tell you from both sides!lol.  I much prefer the gravel section.  Looks nicer and smells 100% better than the slabbed area.  I put down the weed membrene which my dogs helpfully dug back out for me! but I can keep the weed/grass down by just yanking out a weed every now and then.  The slabbed area needs re-pointed nearly every summer as in between the slabs breaks up and then starts to stink of urine.
I use potted plants/trees to break up both areas but I always prefer the look of the chips to the clinical look of the slabs.  Also, you can now get the chips in nice colours to match the house or whatever so it can look really nice nowadays.  I don't throw away a lot of chips with the poo either.  I know I toss some out but not as much as you would think.  I have had it for 7 years and through many dogs as when we moved here, I had 7 large breed(loads of poo!!).

I think it greatly depends on what your primary use is, where it is in relation to your main access doors, and what you prefer.  Also, how you are expecting the dogs to use it.

My dogs wouldn't dream of toiletting on the paved section, but it isn't that convenient for them to do so either.  They tend to prefer the grass but will do quick wees on the gravel as it's closer and they sometimes can't be bothered to walk too far!!  I can also enclose that area of the garden so if it's really wet, and sometimes in the Winter, I keep them on the gravel section.  I just have to pick the stones off the poo before I bag it!

If you are considering laying gravel do take some advice about preparation.  We have a neighbour who used a membrane first then laid too much gravel.  Even now, 5 years later, their drive has never 'settled' properly and is difficult to walk or drive over.

BTW don't forget to offer your decking to someone else - either on eBay for £'s or Freecycle - there is huge demand for it.  If you play your cards right the recipient will even take it up for you! :)

> I am pulling up my decking soon - mostly because it gets so slippery when wet

Why not stick a bit of artificial grass onto the decking, it would stop it being slippery, look good and save all the hassle of pulling it up ;-)

I would go for the paving, having inherited a gravel driveway at our last house which had to be walked over to get to the lawn. It moves to the boundaries, tracks mud in when it is wet, messy for less than rock solid poo pick-ups, needs to be topped up every so often (expensive if you are talking about a large area), dogs not all comfortable walking on it etc. 

What I also found since having gravel I don't get folk taking a short cut from the close behind as it is too noisy to walk on and it alerts the dogs and me and I switch the flood lights on at which point the intruders turn tail and go back the way they came before I let the dogs out who are barking loudly by now and don't sound like a small breed.

Definitely gravel, but make sure you get the right size. Too large and it will be painful for the dogs to walk on, and really really fine stuff might track into the house or get muddy when wet. I have a big play area for my boarders like this and they are all happy to play, run and toilet on it. I'm sure they wouldn't play on a paved area ( if they did it could be dangerous) and it would be too hard for them to lie on as well. Lots of dogs don't like toiletting on paving either.

I have gravel in my back garden and love it. Only had it put down last winter and wish I'd done it years before. I don't have a problem with poo sticking to it :-O They poo (they have very nicely formed poos ;-) ) and it's a doddle to pick up. If anyone has a runny poo then I just wash it away with a watering can. It's clean, they can go out in the pouring rain straight into my living room and just wet footprints (those are good!), no mud ... there's no where left for mud to come from, reason I got shot of the lawn, or what was left of it. However, I do not have stone eating doggies! Gravel worked out a ton cheaper than paving on the quotes I had.

As someone else has pointed out, size of gravel is important, plus the 'cut' of it. You can get 'chippings' which are really sharp edges, slate is incredibly sharp when run on. I think mine is a mix of 10-20mm and partly angular partly rounded ... I took me shoes and socks off at the place where it was coming round. If it was ok for me to walk on I deemed it to be ok for the dogs to walk on :-D

I had all my gravel removed and had the garden tiled.  Before I not only got dog poo on the gravel but also cats (and not just my cats!).  It often stuck to the gravel/stones.  The tiles are great.  I just sweep and hose.  The dog and cats don´t even try to poo on it.

Ah but what if it's for the dogs.