There’s sometimes an assumption that when you have a dog, you kind of have to give up on having a beautiful yard. For some, that’s an acceptable tradeoff. For others, though, it’s a real letdown. What comes to mind are images of holes dug into the lawn, pet waste, the yard torn up from running around, muddy areas, getting into your garden and making a mess, etc. And those are all legitimate concerns, and they’re things that can indeed happen.

The good news is that this assumption isn’t correct. In reality, you can love and enjoy both your dog and your yard at the same time. Yes, it’s possible to have a beautiful lawn that’s also safe and fun for your dog. We’d like to share some of our favorite dog-friendly landscaping ideas.

Get A Splash Pool Just for Dogs

The hot summer is tough enough on us. Imagine having all that extra fur a dog does! Why not get a cheap kiddie pool made of hard plastic for your dog to cool off in? If you want something fancier, consider a water feature such as a fountain with a shallow pool at its base.

Add a Sandbox

News flash: most dogs love to dig! With a sandbox, you can provide a dedicated space where it’s okay for your dog to dig holes, bury things, and roll around. A little training will teach your dog the sandbox, not your grass or your garden, is a place where it can dig away!

Designate Dog Paths and Zones

You can use fencing to create a dog-specific area in the yard. Make sure the dog has shade, shelter from rain, a water bowl, plenty of toys, and room to run and play.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that dogs like to travel the same paths over and over. This owes to their territorial instincts, and while it’s completely natural, it’s not good for the grass they’re routinely walking over. This tramples the grass and compacts the soil. 

A nice way to deal with this is to put gravel or paving stones on frequently traveled paths such as those along the perimeter of your yard. You’ll protect your lawn from damage and add a nice touch to the yard without any negative impact on your dog.

Protect Your Garden with Barriers

Just as you can create dog-friendly zones in a yard, you can also create no-dog zones. Using fencing or other barriers, you can keep your dog out of flower beds, vegetable gardens, or any other location in the yard where a dog isn’t welcome.

Not everyone cares for the look of barriers, and for those people, there’s still a way to make dog-free zones without keeping the dog inside: elevating your garden beds so that you can still get to them easily but a dog can’t.

Provide Plenty of Shade

Shade is a must for dogs, especially in the warmer months. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have large shade trees in your yard already. If you don’t, you can plant some, but it may take years before they provide significant shade.

When that’s the case or if your climate isn’t conducive to shade trees’ growth and survival, you still have options such as canopies, pergolas, awnings, and, of course, well-ventilated dog houses.

Use Flea-Repelling Plants in Your Garden

Fleas are always a concern with dogs, particularly for those that spend a lot of time outside. In addition to your usual efforts to prevent fleas, you can also make flea-repelling plants a part of your garden. Examples of such plants include catnip, marigolds, rosemary, and sage.

Cedar chips as mulch are also very effective at repelling fleas and many other pests.

Install Artificial Grass

LandArt Solutions installs K9Grass made by ForeverLawn, and it comes with a lot of benefits. For starters, it looks great, stays green all year long, and requires little maintenance. It’s also engineered specially for dogs with comfort, durability, safety, and ease of cleanup in mind. Pups love it, and so do their humans. If you don’t want to replace all your natural grass with artificial grass, that’s fine; you can just create a section for dogs to play, relax, and take care of their business!

LandArt Solutions: Full-Service Landscaping Pros

At LandArt Solutions, where we believe every outdoor living space is a masterpiece waiting to be created, we bring years of industry experience and accreditation to every project. It’s our goal to help you maximize and achieve your property’s potential, and we aren’t satisfied until you are. How can we help you with dog-friendly landscaping or other landscaping needs? Let’s talk about it!