First, look at your potential garden space. What areas are sunny, what areas are shady? Do the same type of analysis you would when planning any landscape. You don’t want to plant cactus in a low place that always has standing water. A small water feature might be a better choice there. After you get an idea of what you have in your landscape already, where the sun, water, and problem areas are, then you are ready to consider where you dog fits into your garden.
How Does the Dog Use the Current Landscape?
Do the dogs spend all day in the back yard? Or just go out to relieve themselves? Do they play outside with your children but stay inside most of the rest of the time? Note the places where your dogs have worn paths, or spots they dig or lay in the sun. Set those places aside for the dogs. If you plant things there, they will just get trampled, dug up, or squashed by a dog splayed out in the sun.
Space for the Flowers
What areas are left? These areas will form the main part of your landscape. It is best if you can build raised beds here. Put attractive stone walls around an island between dog paths. The dogs will take the path of least resistance, so to speak, and leave your flowers alone. Use decorative fencing to keep the dog out of beds on either side of a path. Use ground cover with thorns or other features that make it uncomfortable to lay in.
Let Dogs be Dogs
Does your dog dig? Give him or her a digging pit, full of nice soft sand and buried treats. Worried about brown spots on the yard from the dog urinating and defecating there? Give the dog a specific place to go. You can put down a small area of pea gravel and teach your dog to eliminate only in that area. If you clean it daily, the dog will be happy, you will be happy, and the grass will be happy. If you have multiple dogs that love to race and tussle in the yard, plant a traffic tolerant grass such as Bermuda grass in those areas.
Follow these hints for developing a landscape both you and your dog can enjoy. For more information on this topic, consider consulting the book written by Cheryl S. Smith (no relation) called Dog Friendly Gardens: Garden Friendly Dogs (ISBN 1-929242-07-7) .
