Dog run question...

[MattyGit]

Hello all...  sorry I have been member-in-abstentia these past two months...  since the move, the new homestead has been talking up all of my spare time...but I promise I will be back soon with pictures and stories...  in the meantime I have a quandary we are facing.

As you may know the new house sits on just over an acre of land.  We have decided not to let Tootsie have the run of the entire area, so we have fenced off a nice 300sq ft area just off the rear of the house for her to do her business.  It's less of a run and more of her bathroom area.  With that in mind, we know that if we keep it grassed, it will look like hell and be a nightmare to keep up and looking decent.  We have now been toying with the idea various ground coverings and I thought that there may be folks in here that could give us some advice.

Options: 

River Rock (probably large size)
Colored Rubber Mulch (playground safe - no metal)
Natural or colored Regular Mulch

Others??

Please give us any experiences that you may have had either in the pro or con for any of the above surfaces or any others that you may believe will serve us.  We are really trying to wrack our brains on this one.  We would like it to be something easily maintainable and soething that looks good.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much (as always)

Matt

[Gracie & Bea's Mom]

My girls have their "dog run" on the side of the house.  They have a doggie door they can use to come and go as they please.  The area is fenced off with chain link fencing.  There is a sidewalk that runs through the dog run.  There are trees and dog-safe plants.  Most of the area is grassed in.  The only problem has been with the sprinklers. The girls love to chew on them and rip them out of the ground!  (For the plants, the girls were ripping some of the smaller ones out.  I finally got smart and planted only the ones they left alone.)  The side yard isn't as pretty as the rest of the yard but it's not too bad looking!

[Pudgy]

I have river rock in my backyard and they do their business on that.  I think I'd prefer it over the mulch, because after Pudge does his business he tends to kick dirt/mulch and makes a mess.  But he doesn't do that with the rocks, not to mention it's much easier to hose off.

[jgengnagel]

Hi,
I have mulch and I agree with the prior post...it is a nightmare! Always needing to be replenished and they tend to kick and make themselves dog angels in the mulch. It always needs to be raked...sorry, but just my opinion do not go with mulch... do the rock.
Janet

[winwinsmom]

Winston and Ashi have a small yard with stepping stones, pea gravel and some grass.  We took out the mulch we had around the plants and put in rocks.  Down in Florida mulch is susceptible to ticks.  In the winter the grass is sparse but in the spring and summer is comes back beautifully.  As to rocks and pea gravel, it hurts Winston's feet so he doesn't like walking on it.