Artificial grass….how to train dog not to toilet on it?

[NewMeNewUs]

We are having our garden renovated in a couple of weeks which included artificial grass being laid.
the gardener has advised me to train the dog (1 year old Labrador) not to toilet on the fake grass, she can do it on the patio instead.
my question is how do I teach this!? Many thanks

Still better than your ugly fake grass hun.

This is just nonsense. 3 front gardens near us have plastic glass. They all are a weird faded green. One is in strips and looks frayed round the edges. One has weeds growing up through it. I see the owner out sweeping the one which looks half decent, (if you like the fake plastic look). I never sweep my real lawn! I only mow it a few times a year - very little maintenance. I NEVER water it, but judging by everything owners of plastic grass say it requires 'washing,'. Plus the water involved in producing it and the negative impact on flood management of plastic grass. So I cant imagine how having plastic grass lowers water bills. Plastic grass won't cause hayfever, sure but having a plastic lawn won't prevent you getting hay fever from other forms of pollen (lots are allergic to tree pollen). And the plasticization of our environment and separation from nature is very likely increasing our propensitu to getting allergies

There’s a house on my walk to work where the small square of lawn was replaced with plastic grass last spring. The weeds already growing through it make me smile every day.

Nature fighting back.

Suspect without more effort than I put into my grass these things don’t look ‘good’ for long.

Do you mean they just stuck a bit of fake grass alongside real grass ? If so that's very odd . And yes weeds would definitely green through it like that .

No they removed the actual grass and did all the preparation underneath and then laid the plastic. You can’t keep a good dandelion down it would seem.

They can't have done it right. Ours must've been down at least 8 years and apart from a bit of moss up one corner we don't get any weeds at all

Do you mean they just stuck a bit of fake grass alongside real grass ? If so that's very odd . And yes weeds would definitely green through it like that .

plants will grow where they have good growing conditions. including on top of grassphalt.
unless you remove seedlings regularly plastic grass will be the base of new plants quite soon.

I never fly anywhere and I walk to work, and share a lawnmower with neighbours
am I allowed an opinion about plastic grass?

I agree. Mines only been down a year. And I don't get weeds either. It means tee base for it was not done well .

Only if you wear sandals with socks!

Ours has been down for years. The only time there is any weed growth isn’t from underneath - birds drop seeds occasionally and of course certain things are wind borne. So you’ll sometimes have tiny little sprouts that need tweaking out. It’s like growing cress on kitchen roll. But nothing ever comes from underneath.

Totally agree! Needs to be banned and think it likely will someday.

ahem
it is possible to be both stylish and care for the environment you know
socks and sandals indeed

Endless mowing? It’s a garden not a bowling green, half an hour 3 or 4 times between may and September and it’s done.

Deleted as it posted many times

And again

5 minutes for me with a push mower once every few weeks, compared to people with power hoses and leaf blowers desperately trying to keep their precious plastic leaf-free.

Also, don't mind a "weed", no such thing as "weeds" really, they're just wild plants. The only one I actively pull up is the creeping buttercup, but the dandelions can stay (my rabbits also agree).

The average household mows their lawn once a week, invariably on a Saturday morning when their neighbours are trying to sleep. No annoying the neighbours when you have an artificial lawn.

Apart from the potential screaming playing children, endless footballs against fences, barking dogs, loud chatter, music playing everyone with a plastic lawn is completely silent at all times I guess?

I suspect this is made up data! I know noone who mows the lawn once a week & my neighbours have never woken me up mowing the lawn in any house I have ever lived in. One the excuses Ive heard for plastic lawns is they make entertainkng easier so I suspect plastic lawns may lead to more not less antisocial behaviour.

I would have thought weekly lawn mowing was becoming less and less likely as people become more aware of decreasing biodiversity.

Can’t really be arsed with that anyway. It sounds a bit time consuming.

I know literally no average households then 😂

I know a couple of people who are pretty into gardening as a hobby and do it fortnightly from spring to autumn, a load of people who do it more like me where every few weeks in summer they decide it probably needs doing, but then it takes a week or two to be dry enough and have time to do it, one who does it once a year with a strimmer because it’s got to waist height and they say they’re going to cut the grass and finally sort out the garden, but never do so just repeat it the next year and a couple who never cut it because their pet rabbits or guinea pigs keep it so short they don’t need to.

My parents have a lawn, are moderately interested in their garden, and still only mow once every three weeks. Doesn’t take long. And they have a BIG garden.

This is a dog owners forum. If anyone here is in a situation where they and their partner are both EITHER physically incapable of leaving the house, or so brain-meltingly busy that they are literally incapable of finding one hour every few weeks, I really struggle to see how they can possibly be managing to walk and care for a dog.

If that is aimed at me, my dog us very well looked after thanks. He's walked, stimulated and a very happy old man. As I said, grass was already down, we don't have the funds to completely re-do the garden, we have just picked up the pluses of having it now we do.

Up keep of a garden moving etc is completely different to walking a dog. I don't understand why it's Been compared.