Would it matter if our garden had no grass for the dog?

[picnicinthewoods]

Currently we have a small town garden, with paving and steps leading to a grassed area. Our 17 week old puppy enjoys being in the garden, he likes lying on the grass chewing his toys. He also always does his poo's on the grass, but wee's on the stones at the side on the paving.
We are having our garden re-designed. DH wants the entire garden decked so that we can have a nice seating area. Im just wondering how this would suit the dog? I can't get my head around him pooing on the decking! Also would he hate it? we have some flexibility at this stage, and the other idea about the decking is really for practical purposes. Pup also likes digging in the garden, which is turning my grass area into mud, so I guess it would at least stop that.
Ideas welcome:)

In our last house I had my garden re-designed so that it was fancy paving stones and the dog just adapted to it. You will probably find that your lawn gets ruined by your puppy anyway, I know ours did. If you opt for decking make sure you get it treated, it is lethal when wet I got rid of mine because I kept slipping.

We have fantastic artificial grass, would that be an option?

Ugh I wouldn't like to try and scrape dog pop out of the grooves on the decking!!!!

We have decking and the dog loves lying on the hot wood in the summer but she never ever does the toilet in the garden but I can imagine it would be horrid to clean her poo from the grooves.

I let the dog play on the grass but have trained him to do his poo on the paving. Much easier to clean with the garden hose.

The smell of wood soaked in dog pee is not good, so i would put down slabs as well as decking at least it stops the digging and gives an area to do his business.

I would strongly suggest having a small gravelled area for the pup to use as a toilet which can be hosed down and disinfected. Also, my dog ate my decking when he was a pup, so worth considering.

flowery - can I hijack and ask about your artificial grass? Do you let your dog toilet on it? Have heard it can stink in the summer despite hosing it down. We're thinking about it, some of the samples are very realistic. Garden was landscaped six months ago with 2 small lawn areas and its really time consuming trying to protect grass from the dogs. Despite all our efforts its a mess

Yes our dog goes to the toilet on it. No stinking issues. As long as it's laid properly with proper drainage sorted out I really can't see that should be a problem. It's fab! Our garden looked like a WW1 battlefield before, thanks to our springer spaniel who can dig a trench quicker than you can bang on the window and shout "NO!"...

Ok looks like I need to print this off for DH. Sounds like decking alone wouldn't be great. How about all paving? and if I then had some areas for plants, would he just ruin that?
Fake grass, hmmmm, Id need to see that I think, interesting idea.

Best way to stop a dog digging where he shouldn't is buy them a child's sandpit, bury toys and treats in it and let them have at it!

We've got four dogs (including one enthusiastic digger). When we moved into our home, it was a new build. We landscaped the garden, so we have a large pond, with paved pathways from the back door, around the pond and a seating area. There's a gravelled area, a raised bed and then various planted areas, most of which are covered in bark chip, though there's not much open soil as we've gradually let things grow etc. This all works brilliantly for the dogs - each has their favourite toilet area - a couple go on the gravel, and a couple like a nice spot among the bamboo or by the washing line. DH does a poo patrol regularly and occasionally hoses down the gravel and paving. The only problem we have is the Norty Minx occasionally landing up in the pond, startling the newts. We don't miss a lawn at all.

Our dog is only allowed on our lawn when supervised and in the summer ,because he is such a nuisance for eating stuff and digging we fenced off our patio ( quite large) with an ornamental fence so that is where he is confined to . I think if they're exercised properly its not a problem . I do agree that decking would probably start to stink pretty quickly ,I keep a watering can filled with disinfectant on the patio and wash down every time he wees .

Also my dog has a sandpit on the patio but it does not stop him digging on the grass if he gets the chance .

Our new rescue dog doesn't dig but thinks he's in charge of protecting us from all insects so scrabbles at the grass and pulls it up trying to kill tiny crawly things. He also hunts down and catches flying insect, flattening plants in the process. Amazed he's never been stung by a wasp, he kills them by biting then spits them out. Hoping its a puppy thing and he'll grow out of it.

South facing garden with no grass with be extremely hot for a dog to walk on in the summer.

Weeing and pooing on any hard surface will need disinfecting to prevent smells.

Gravel can be eaten by puppies so you would need to be vigilant.

Most bark pulp/chip is toxic to dogs

wow, so much to think about! Thanks:)

Really ref the wood chip/bark?

We have a massive garden (approx 700 sqm) with significant areas of chip, didn't fancy weeding quite that much!!!

Never been an issue for ddog, who is one year old today!!!

Really ref the wood chip/bark?

We have a massive garden (approx 700 sqm) with significant areas of chip, didn't fancy weeding quite that much!!!

Never been an issue for ddog, who is one year old today!!!