Hi all,
I have finally decided to give up the idea of having a garden at the rear of the house due to the current excavations being carried out by the four doggies :) By the size of the hole in the middle of the garden, I assume they are planning their own swimming pool, but as I have just gone through a winter with most of the mud coming into the house, I have asked them to consider a sandpit for digging and paving for the rest with maybe a couple of areas for large bushes (for male comfort). Do you think a 6x4 foot pit would be big enough for the four of them? How deep should it be? And finally, do you put builders sand in it or play sand?
Joan :)

The problem with a sand pit ( aswhen children have them too ) is that they need to be covered up when not in use . Such a large one may be difficult to cover .
Otherwise you find cats will tend to "dirty" in them .
lel

I heard somewhere you need to use - oh heck what is it called - not builder's stuff anyway. Yes probably play sand but it mightbe the same one gardener's use and i can't think of the flipping name!!!

Lindsay

Lindsay -

Sharp sand?

Sharp sand, thanks :p, that's the stuff; having said that i'm not sure it IS the same stuff as play sand.

I'll just shut up :D :p :o

lindsay

Honestly if you'd seen the state of Taiko when we had all the rain, he looked like he'd been steeped in tar! We fixed a gate onto the fence, when the garden is a mud pool due to Taikos digging, I close the gate. He still has plenty of room on the paved area and the garden gets a chance to recover. I don't mind him digging but his swamp renovations were a nightmare. When the ground is dry I open the gate and he's sooo content digging his heart out. You'll have to let me know how the sand pit works out. Taiko completely ignores the sea when we hit the beach, he just digs and digs and digs in the sand. I'd judge the depth needed by the depth of their worst hole to date :D
Julie :)

What a good idea! :) or why don't you just let them carry on making their swimming pool for the summer heee ;) sorry unhelpfull !!!!! You should see the hole getting bigger in my front garden now! Julieann xxxx

We put in a sand pit for our dogs and the little sods used it to go to the toilet in!!!!!

Thanks for all the replies. As we live on a corner plot, the dogs will still have access to grass at the side of the house when it's dry :) I've just come to the end of my tether as far as muddy paws go - especially when half the paw prints are mal sized ;) I did think about a pond as they have already dug it, but then thought that I'd be swapping mud for water! I hadn't considered a cover for it but it's a good idea. As far as toileting goes, I suppose I'll have to sieve :D
I'm still not sure that sharp sand is okay though, isn't that the stuff which is still gritty? Would that cause problems if they ingested some when retrieving toys or treats
Joan :)

Hi Joan,
Having experienced 'garden makeovers' from our previous mals we gave Chewi his own sandpit by taking up some of the paving slabs outside our kitchen door. We dug it out to about a foot and lined it with the old slabs before filling it up with sand. We didn't bother with any play sand, just used some builders sand that was lying around. He loved it, and we just top up the sand every so often. I found that the rain got rid of the staining residue in the sand, and that he kept the cats out himself :D I cannot recommend a sandpit highly enough! We do still get small holes occasionally where we shouldn't, but nowhere near the extent with the others.

Jean

P.S. He also has a 'paddling pool' beside it that was originally a fish holding tank at a water centre. Chewi loves playing in it. Lately he has been breaking the ice and lifting it out. Great fun:D