Dog ownership and astroturf??

[PacificDogwood]

We have an extremely small back garden which is also v wet and grass does NOT thrive there (not helped by small boys playing football there).

We are seriously thinking about getting some astroturf put down.

But we I am are also seriously considering dog-proofing the garden (we need a fence and a gate) to allow us to get a dog (see my previous threads).

Now, my question is, does anybody know how dogs cope with astroturf? And how it copes with dog wee?

Any experiences?

Astroturf does seem to cope okay with being poo-ed and wee-ed on, and is much easier to clean than grass, although you may have to accept that poo particles will be washed around in it. You should be able to train your future dog to use a particular area only though.

I considered it but decided against it as mine would probably have taken against it and tried to eat it/dig it up. My dog is an arsehole though.

Our Astroturf is great. I still hate how it looks but compared to the former swamp that was there it's fantastic for our puppy. He never poos on it (goes on the wood chips under the trampoline so it's easy to pick it up all with a handful of wood chips) and we hose down the pee as soon as he's done it.

Thank you, all.

*Taz, yy, a swamp is what our back garden is too.
Even in the midst of summer, if you walk barefoot on it, water squidges up through your toes - and that is after several thousand pounds having been spent on drainage.

I am not an astroturf fan, but it seems like the lesser evil just now.

Good to know that it would cope with a morning wee - if our theoretical, as of yet unchosen future dog is anything like the dogs I grew up with then he/she won't like pooping on his own territory anyway.

Percy

kelpeed, thank you for the words of warning.

Our whole plot is a long a long and narrow rectangle which slops down to the front and slightly to the west; we are between 2 streets that meet at an angle like slice of cake IYKWIM and the houses next to us/behind us are also at an angle (it's really very hard to explain, but basically one of our neighbours is higher than us i.e. we get all their rain water run off; another neighbour is lower than us).

The garden is too small for a willow, sadly; I'd love one. I've considered bamboo but apparently it's very invasive?

I think the heat might depend on where you live. We're in Scotland and it hasn't been a problem.

Yes, Scotland here too. Although this afternoon was lovely - we had a warm swamp...

AstroTurf saved our garden.. It didn't drain very well and after the rain we had last winter combined with a labrador that has to circle 16 times to the left and once to the right before each pee, we were left with a swamp. We've had it since May, it's easy to clean, looks brilliant still and the dog isn't phased. Even in the height of summer she still loved lying out on it. She hasn't tried digging it up either (my flowerbeds aren't so lucky!). For us it was totally worth it.

It is a glorious day in West Lothian and Noodle is spending it lounging on the astro.

Noodle looks very happy

V wet here today - the swamp is filling up nicely. I am sure there must be newts in there somewhere…

Does anybody have any recommendations re particularly good company to lay/install it? Or able to recommend a particular 'grass' that looks nice/realistic?

Thanks again.

What about when it gets crapped on?! Doesn't it kind of stay on the surface?

Yes, I'd like to know that too

Domestic artificial lawn is certainly 'porous' and lets water through so presumably would get washed in to the ground when it rains?? Apart from the fact that you'd pick up dog poo in your own garden of course.
The dog I grew up with refused to crap in our garden - she'd have a little cross-legged dance, whining at the door if we were a bit slow in getting it rather than do a no.2 in the garden.

But yes, any dog and astroturf owners: what happens to poo?

Did you attempt putting your own drainage in - or did you hire someone? If the latter perhaps they weren't much cop?

We used to have a boggy lawn and spent thousands on drainage (very good landscaping company - we still use them for garden maintenance) and it completely resolved our soggy garden issue

hmc, we spent a 5 figure sum on drainage some years ago as part of a bigger house conversion/garden rejig project - it involved 10 ton lorries and JCBs in the garden. I am NOT doing anything of the kind again. Ever.

Currently our (small) garden is full of a play fort and giant trampoline with v little lawn. This is the bit that I am considering something artificial for.
In another 5 (or 10 years) when the garden can be a bit more of an adult-zone again, I would consider filling it with 3ft of topsoil to elevate it and then possibly look at the drainage situation again.

It is a very difficult site because everything is so slopy. We have water ingress to our garage from underneath it and through the wall because 2 of our (back) neighbours' plots are higher than ours.

We have Astro turf and the dog loves it. He rolls on it and scratches his face on it. He never does the toilet on it.

PD you can get teeny hybrid willows (often a weeping graft on a standard trunk), we've put one in as our "lawn" is north facing on a slope (in Glasgow) and esp in winter, an utter swamp (not appreciated by our small furries!)