Im so fed up with our garden, im fed up trying to pick up poo from the grass, im fed up with it smearing over the grass when its been raining when i can't pick it up cleanly. I have complained to my OH for years about it but all he says is, the dogs need all our garden to run in and he doesn't want to fence part of it off. So im trying to compromise and have part of the garden fenced off. So im wondering what other people do in their garden, all replies welcome.

Our back garden is aprox 60ft long x 40ft wide

btw the dogs are 13yrs & 9yrs and the 9 year old is still lively.

Our back garden is part gravel, part flagstones, part concrete -we removed all grass. Our front garden is partly fenced off so the grass half cannot be reached unless it is DRY outside and we open the gate, the rest we gravelled. It was the only way to save some grass.

Oh DONT!
Im at my wits end with mud and filthy dogs :-(

Same here, although luckily our grass growth has been hindered by dog wee! And luckily our garden's small in comparison to yours, so theres not much room for playing Hunt The Poo! We have a third grass and two thirds gravel. Of course the dogs have always favoured the grass.

A friend of mine had her grass replaced with astro turf stuff. It was expensive, but she says worth every penny. We're getting it if ever we do our extension and garden.

I walk my dogs regularly enough so they do not poo in the garden. If you take them out regularly enough they won't want to toilet in the garden. The only time mine do is when they are poorly.

My two go straight after meals, and i never walk my dogs after they have been fed.

We decided to take the turf off ours last summer, level out the moguls and reseed. However, it never stopped blinking raining and I am now surrounded by a sea of mud! People keep telling me that it will all be lovely one day, but I'm not sure I believe them anymore, lol!

mine poo at variable intervals so even with long walks we still get poo and wees in the garden I am with you peeps on the mud and fith. Unfortunately I cant separate our gras away from the dogs the garden is a funny shape for that. The best I have done is trained 2 out of 3 to use one area except in winter one gets naughty and can't be bothered to go the dog patch unless I am there to watch all the time. Playing on the grass doesn't help either

Aw {{hug}}

Tricolours, one of my sayings is if you can get through your first winter with a dog you are going to be ok. :-)

I know you are not a novice at all but one section I go through with puppy owners is how to cope with a dog in the winter, your dog running through fields and grass goes from being a pleasure to being a hassle, here comes the mud, the dirt, the filthy feet, underbelly, tail and for long eared dogs the ears too, here comes the wet poos and the mess and the destroyed grass.

Of course you section off your garden, of course you pave, gravel, deck different parts, owning a dog stays a pleasure if you look after yourself too and don't make it such hard work, containment makes puppyhood easy and sectioning off your garden makes the Autumn and Winter just as easy as the Spring and Summer. I have lots of different sections and it works fantastic.

Your dogs will be fine, they do not need the whole garden to run around in, walks are for that. Give hubby poo,pee and grass/muddy feet wipe duty for a week and he'll be running to the garden centre himself to section it off and do something. :-D

Don't make dog ownership hard, the dogs won't care that the garden is halved for the wet season, or forever, be kind to yourself.

I would prefer with walking 6 dogs for them to always go at home, as sometimes I will have one hand festooned with poo bags until a bin can be found.

In reality it is about half and half, and it would be awful if they could not go whenever they needed to, just because it wasn't walk time yet.

I learnt the section the garden thing with my first dog when I had a toddler then two pre schoolers.  No poos trodden into the house by children, or more likely their friends, and no silliness when playing as the dogs and kids were separated during exciting play.

I did leave the dogs a bit of grass, which has gradually become mostly earth and with this weather a mud bath.  Only been an issue one or two years, but it is going to go to gravel if I can shift OH into gear, the rest will e re concreted and repaved.

The rest of the grass in back is going to be replaced by alternate paved and gravelled areas too.  Well so eh promises, was supposed to happen in 2012, but the weather was just so awful.

I would first look at the quality of the poo. Ideally, a motion should be firm and not too big. I find if the motions are right then even on grass in the rain they hold their shape well enough to be scooped up in the morning, where I can get both the results of the evening before and the immediately after breakfast motion.. I keep a little shovel and container in the garden for this purpose- and that gets emptied into a plastic bag every few days.

If the motions are too copious and/or sloppy I'd suggest looking at diet to see if they can be firmed up a bit. I'd also keep a little bag of sand, which can be sprinkled over messier areas after scooping. Mind you coping with many dogs is a different matter but firm motions may help a bit.

Sorry to be so graphic!

I would like to section the garden off but with what? OH wants garden to look attractive but its far from that now i can tell you. He doesn't want a high fence going across because it will be unsightly, if its low the dogs will jump over he said.

In the summer i have given him a few goes at poo picking but it doesn't make him go running to the garden centre, but it does make him scowl.

Thanks for the replies.

That is a good idea about the sand, any sand in particular?

> Your dogs will be fine, they do not need the whole garden to run around in, walks are for that

:) We have a very large garden and there is no way I would ever wish to have it partitioned off :) :) Our problem is not with getting muddy in the garden, it is getting muddy when walking. There is mud on the road outside our house (it has grass growing down the middle as well) and is muddy for most of the year. With no pavements, narrow lanes and sugarbeet lorries, tractors, delivery vans etc etc driving up the verges, it is impossible to take the dogs out without everyone getting muddy. We went to our next door neighbours this evening and had to go in boots and take slippers - wish we could do the same with the dogs :( :(

Are your dogs used to dog gates Tricolours?

Mine and all family dogs have been brought up with them and tbh most could easily jump over them if they wanted to, but a gate means no entry and that is what they are used to, they don't question it.

I have picket fencing dividing garden areas with gates - painted, with flowers & climbing plants the other side, to make the garden look pretty in those areas, along with some metal fencing areas, bushes and even some walling, but the mesh fencing you see in new build gardens is just as good (green) to start with, you shouldn't need to go above 3-5 feet. :-) Even the agility dogs don't try to jump them, they seem to understand the boundary, either that or a quick no soon stops any monkey business.

I'm also thinking of dividing the garden - it's not a very big garden but I'm fed up of the dogs pooing in the shrubs meaning I can't find them! The other issue is that I am always having to wash the paths down with Jeyes Fluid to get rid of the green algae or I risk breaking my neck every time I go to the shed where the dog food freezer lives, or hang out washing. I'm told it's dog wee causing it, and normal disinfectant doesn't seem to shift it or stop it forming.

There's a small concreted area, not as glamorous as a patio, outside the back door so I think a small fence and a gate will do. The manhole cover is also in this part so it would be dead easy to pick up and hose down straight into the drains.

I noticed the publishers Hubble & Hattie http://www.hubbleandhattie.com have a Dog Friendly Gardening book on their list - no idea if it's any good but might be of use to someone.

I don't like too many fences, gates or partitions but in most gardens it's possible to divide the areas just enough for your convenience and their safety but not so much that you look like a military zone

We have post and rail fencing, with added livestock fencing, on some of the boundaries and to separate the front garden from the back (our garden wraps around the whole house).  However we have an area of gravel and paving near the back door which has been fenced off from the rest of the garden with tree stakes (skinny but sturdy posts) and chicken wire.  This is invisible enough to see through but works well as a boundary which the dogs wouldn't attempt to jump.

We leave the gate open for much of the year but it's helpful to contain them to a cleaner area in some weather conditions, or if I need them to do a quick wee rather than bog off to the bottom of the garden to blow bubbles in the ditch!!   It's very handy too when the hedgehogs are tracking through the garden and I want to check the coast is clear first...

Maby see if you could train the dogs to only go in a certain place, i saw it sugested on a training programe once where they were trying to teach them to go behind a fence. not sure if it actualy worked or not but if it can be done you could get some raised flower beds to make a small space for them to go in.

Good advice. Thanks everyone.

we have astroturf no problems at all just disinfect and wash down every now and then :)

Thats a decent size garden so a fence to divide shouldn't be too difficult. Ours is slightly smaller but on two levels. Near to the house is paved and fenced and the lower part is grassed with borders. The dogs only get into lower garden in summer and supervised. They can play out in upper garden with toys for ages when its dry out and its very easy to keep clean. They do get two good walks a day too.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I walk my dogs regularly enough so they do not poo in the garden. If you take them out regularly enough they won't want to toilet in the garden. The only time mine do is when they are poorly.

Yep!  Even when poorly mine would have to be so desperate to use the garden, they hate doing so.   They get three walks spread over a day and all the doings come out on those walks.

Our garden is approx 120' the bottom 20' has paving slabs full width of our house and a wall/gate which the dogs use during bad weather (which is most of the time in this country) the next level has been levelled and turfed, the top is grass but not quite so flat, during the summer they have the run of the whole garden, but soggy days they use the paved area, much easier to pick up and pressure wash down and disinfect if need be, I have fussy dogs you can walk them for ages and they won't go anywhere other than our garden.

> I would like to section the garden off but with what?

I have four foot high heavy gauge 2 inch weld-mesh panels, so you can see straight through.

My neighbour had a lovely patio with raised beds and then lawn.

When the old dog died they got two terrier pups who proceeded to wreck the lovely garden that he had spent all his spare time maintaining.

I suggested he section it off, and he also worried about ruining the view of his Flowers. 

He bought a roll of heavy gauge weld-mesh, made up wooden frames for it, so they could be put up and removed when the dogs  got older. 

The dogs are now 15, the panel frames and fixings get revamped and, they have found it ideal to keep the dogs to the flagstones when ti is wet, and in good weather the dogs are free to share the rest of the garden under supervision, when they were still young, pretty much free run these days.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">I have fussy dogs you can walk them for ages and they won't go anywhere other than our garden.

2 of mine are the same - have seen them desperate to get in the gate at the end of a hike because they NEED to poo!  

I use the builders fencing to cordon off areas with some metal stakes.

http://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/green-barrier-fence-55kg-green-plastic-mesh-p-181.html

And use the metal posts not the plastic ones.. This does work and can be removed when the weather gets better and being green isn't too much of an issues.

I use barrier fencing with metal poles.
http://premierbarriers.co.uk/catalog/green-temporary-fence-heavy-p-430.html I got the whole kit from this place and very happy with it. Easy to put up and take down.