# any solutions for lawn-turned-mud pit?



## redmischief (Jul 6, 2010)

We adopted Sasha about 2 months after we moved into our house. Our yard isn't huge, but it's big enough for her to romp around a fair bit. There was grass when we moved in, I swear. Now it's just an ever-expanding mud pit. I've seen a few threads with some lawn advice but it seemed like most were addressing "burning" issues.

So...has anyone found any reliable ways to grow grass with a GSD around? A particularly hardy type of grass? Or some nice grass alternatives (not artificial grass though, that's not a financial option for us)? 

Thanks!


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

I'd love to hear ideas also. I have the same issue. I put straw down in the winter to cut down on the mud when things melt but I am determined to have a lawn this summer which means I will have to fence off a potty area and keep the dogs out of the backyard.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

redmischief said:


> We adopted Sasha about 2 months after we moved into our house. Our yard isn't huge, but it's big enough for her to romp around a fair bit. There was grass when we moved in, I swear. Now it's just an ever-expanding mud pit. I've seen a few threads with some lawn advice but it seemed like most were addressing "burning" issues.
> 
> So...has anyone found any reliable ways to grow grass with a GSD around? A particularly hardy type of grass? Or some nice grass alternatives (not artificial grass though, that's not a financial option for us)?
> 
> Thanks!


You have my sympathy, the only solution I found was to keep the dog off the grass during its fragile periods, like spring, summer, fall and winter 

Find some other place for the dog to run, or make your choice: dog or lawn.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Same here!

No grass in front yard.


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

redmischief said:


> We adopted Sasha about 2 months after we moved into our house. Our yard isn't huge, but it's big enough for her to romp around a fair bit. There was grass when we moved in, I swear. Now it's just an ever-expanding mud pit. I've seen a few threads with some lawn advice but it seemed like most were addressing "burning" issues.
> 
> So...has anyone found any reliable ways to grow grass with a GSD around? A particularly hardy type of grass? Or some nice grass alternatives (not artificial grass though, that's not a financial option for us)?
> 
> Thanks!


No solutions . . . just commiserating with you! My husband isn't going to be happy but I think I'm going to put straw down this weekend. I called him today to ask if we could just pave the back yard!


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

The first of the every year after the grass has been dormant a while (tx) I fence off half of the yard so I won't lose the whole yard in the winter. When spring comes around I take it down and my full lawn comes back nicely...though it takes until about June for the full yard to be thriving again.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

PaddyD said:


> You have my sympathy, the only solution I found was to keep the dog off the grass during its fragile periods, like spring, summer, fall and winter
> 
> Find some other place for the dog to run, or make your choice: dog or lawn.


I concur completely with this! (And happen to find it quite funny)


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## Lora (Jan 7, 2011)

A large dog pen works I have a 20 x 20 pen with patio stones for easy cleaning, that he goes in for potty and such, we clean it daily. He only has full run of the yard when we are in the yard.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

I don't think there's a solution other than to keep your dog off the grass. We have a huge back yard, about 2/3 of an acre, and we still have places where Shasta's worn the grass away. Fortunately for our sanity, we're not trying to grow a lawn back there.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Unfortunately, if you have a smallish yard, it really can't be your dog's play area if you want to keep any semblance of a lawn. With a small yard you have to be diligent about poop pickup and really play elsewhere if you want to keep your grass. This is one of many reasons we sold our house in the city and moved an hour out of town to a house on an acre. The commute is a drag, but at least we have an on-site dog park!


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## Bridget (Apr 5, 2004)

Same here, grass depleted in the backyard, 3 big dogs. A sign of spring in our neighborhood is that our family attempts to grow grass. We fence the part we have seeded off. Then we take down the fence when the grass looks pretty good and...voila, the dogs play on it and ruin it. Happens each and every spring, but we are slow learners and keep trying. I'm sure our neighbors are laughing their asses off.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I wish I had two female dogs instead of two male dogs. If I had two female dogs, I'd put them in T-shirts before they went out to the back yard to play in the mud and then I'd sell tickets for mud wrestling. At least then I wouldn't mind so much having a mud pit instead of a yard. 

Hmmmm, I wonder if I could get some of those big 4 wheel drive trucks into my back yard and sell tickets for that........


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## Linzi (Mar 23, 2010)

I put grass protector mesh on the worst part of my garden a few year's ago.
The grass soon grow's through,but no more mud problem's..The link below will show you an example of what i used.
Linzi


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## Linzi (Mar 23, 2010)

So sorry,my 5 year old grandaughter was talking to me, so i forgot the link.
Type B Grass Protection Mesh Roll


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## smdaigle (Mar 14, 2008)

Linzi said:


> So sorry,my 5 year old grandaughter was talking to me, so i forgot the link.
> Type B Grass Protection Mesh Roll


Does it really work? Do the dogs' claws ever get caught in it?

We've got a pretty good sized yard so can't see doing the whole thing but I'm going to have to try it in a few especially bad areas. One in particular is right off the basement patio. When we go out the dogs are always so excited that they're bolting out and they really churn up the mud when their paws first hit the gound. We've done the fencing thing but like many have said, we grow some nice grass, remove the fence and then it gets destroyed in days.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I put large exercise pens in the backyard. That way there was not as much tearing up of the grass. But , still every year, I reseed because we play ball in the yard.


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

Linzi said:


> So sorry,my 5 year old grandaughter was talking to me, so i forgot the link.
> Type B Grass Protection Mesh Roll


That looks like a great idea, does it really work?
I made my husband build a deck over my problem area last summer. 








I'm sure this year I will end up with a new dirt/mud area off the deck. Guess I'll "ask" him to make a nice walkway.


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

I split our yard into two yards a couple years ago and wished I would have done it sooner! No more mud pit or worrying about mud all over the house every time the dogs go out when it's wet. I fenced off a "little yard" (about a quarter of the yard or a bit less) which the back door opens out to and covered the ground with river rock and gravel. That yard opens out to the "big yard" which is just grass. Now the dogs can be let out into the little yard to potty and if it's dry, can then be let out into the big yard to romp. If it's not dry, they can still run around in the little yard. There is a nice mature tree in the little yard, so there is plenty of shade. It makes it much easier to keep the yard clean too, with all the poop confined to the gravel area.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Agile- Any change you would be willing to post a pic of your yard? Maybe you could climb in your roof to give us a good "overview" shot? 

No really, I can picture it in my head. But the problem I'm having is- don't you have a big chain link fence running down the middle of your yard? Doesn't the fence get in the way?


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## racer (Nov 5, 2010)

when moved into my house by backyard was dirt I had it hydroseeded with a mixture of tall fescue dwarf fescue and kentucky bluegrass it's held up great in the winter it goes dormant the company that hydroseeded it suggested this mixture at that time I had 9 month old husky and a 2 year old rottie


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

wildo said:


> Agile- Any change you would be willing to post a pic of your yard? Maybe you could climb in your roof to give us a good "overview" shot?
> 
> No really, I can picture it in my head. But the problem I'm having is- don't you have a big chain link fence running down the middle of your yard? Doesn't the fence get in the way?


 I'll see if I can find a picture of it and if not - I'll snap one from the deck. The dividing fence is made of livestock fencing. It doesn't really get in the way because only the big yard gets mowed - the little yard is all gravel. We have a gate from the driveway into each yard and a gate that opens from the little yard into the big yard.


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## kidkhmer (Jul 14, 2010)

Cement is your friend ;-)


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

A few pictures I found that show our yard set up:

Puppies in an expen, inside the little yard. You can see the gate behind them and part of the deck. 










View of the opposite side - privacy fence because the neighbor's drive way is right there:









Little yard gate:









Winter view from big yard:


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