Do you have artificial grass and a dog?

[Crispsareafoodgroup]

Putting aside the fact that fake grass isn't great for wildlife/environment.
Do you have artificial grass and a dog? Has it worked out ok or do you regret it (the grass not the dog)? Are there any issues you wish you'd known about before putting the fake grass down?

It can get very hot in summer. We visited a place with fake grass last summer. Looked great but we couldn’t stand on it barefoot.

Yep. Onto our 3rd house where we’ve had it fitted and always had at least 1 dog using it.
No downsides for us.
We live in a boggy area and when we moved into this house our dog would come in from a wee up to his belly in wet boggy mud.
Not a single speck of mud enters my house anymore!
I would say that in our old house there was a patch of grass which did smell strongly of urine, but you can get biological cleaner for this which we maybe used 4 times a year.
I know it’s not environmentally friendly, but I always leave lots of raised flower beds round the edges and lots of bee/butterfly friendly plants and bird tables. I’ve not noticed a lack of wildlife. We still even get hedgehogs and frogs.

We have it and I'm not gonna lie it starts to smell, but a good hose down and spray liberally with zoflo and all is good again. Probably more hygienic once dried if we were to sit on it than grass.

I own a boarding kennel and have an astro turf paddock.
It has been an absolute God send, we live on the moors where it us wet and the rain just stands.
We have a watering can with a disinfectant solution that gets poured on any spots that are pee'd on. It's easy to do because the dogs aren't left alone in there, so we can see where they've been.
Absolutely no downsides.

Definitely not.

I would like to see it banned.

Horrific environmental/plastic concerns aside it looks terrible (imo), no value for wildlife, ruins soil underneath, can contribute to flooding, off gases dangerous chemicals, gets super hot and unusable in summer and stinks of piss 🤢

We have a patch of gravel where the dog goes toilet, no toileting allowed on the lawn.

We have up to 10 dogs a day on ours, I can assure you it doesn't smell at all if you look after it.
Having a 20m x 8m patch hasn't stopped the deers, barn owl, hawks, stoats and no doubt smaller creatures frequenting the rest of our acreage.

On the plus side, we have been able to exercise the dogs without the risk of Alabama Rot, which unfortunately has claimed a life a couple of moors over

I think the better quality the artificial grass the better. We have a dog and what was a very boggy rear garden done, find it absolutely brilliant for the dog.
Very easy to clean and maintain.

Many thanks for the responses. I know it's bad environmentally but my garden is muddy and unusable for much of the year. My son really wants to play football all year round.

I moved to a house with it and I have to say it’s amazing. I had environmental concerns and intended to replace it with a real lawn but it’s brilliant for the dog. It makes my life so much easier keeping the house clean during winter. It can smell but should be fine with a regular hose down. I’m a convert having hated it before.