The Ultimate Pet-Friendly Lawn: Finding What Works for Your Pack

Aug 1
3 min read

Have multiple pets? Problems keeping your grass alive?

As most pet parents who follow us know, we recently installed heavy-duty grass mats in our yard. They are working wonderfully well to prevent mud, and we highly recommend them! But for the average homeowner, a truly dog-friendly yard might not require going to quite that extreme.

If you are looking to plant a fresh lawn that can handle some paw traffic, here are a couple of great grasses recommended for dog zones:

Tall Fescue

Best For: Shade-heavy yards and mixed climates.
Pros: It has very deep roots, making it incredibly resilient to dog urine burns.
Cons: It doesn't repair its own bare patches, so you will need to reseed worn-down spots.

Kentucky Bluegrass

Best For: Sunny areas and cooler seasons.
Pros: It spreads as it grows, meaning it will naturally creep in and repair its own bare spots over time.
Cons: It has shallower roots, so pee spots can cause more yellowing.

Zoysia or Bermuda Grass

Best For: Full sun and warm weather.
Pros: Widely considered some of the toughest, most durable options for trampling and heavy play.
Cons: They turn brown quickly in the winter and struggle if your yard has a lot of shade.

Our Extra-Duty Yard

Having tried those heavily recommended grasses ourselves in the past, we discovered they just couldn't hold up to our extra-duty heavy traffic. When we are fully booked, there are 10 dogs here! That’s a massive amount of trampling, which is why we need the grass mats.

While we were installing the grass mats, we also reseeded the lawn underneath and decided to just let nature take its course. We didn't care what happened—if it grew, great! If it didn't, that was fine too, because the grass mats were doing their job.

The Surprising Secret: Embracing Crabgrass

Watching it all grow in, we discovered a little-known secret. We've decided to embrace what is considered a weed by many, and what people work so hard to get rid of: crabgrass.

Yep, that’s right. We can hear many of you cringing when you read that, but we've decided to fully embrace the crabgrass! Here is why it works so beautifully for us alongside our grass mats:

The Pros: It is practically indestructible and stands up to heavy trampling. Best of all, dog urine is packed with nitrogen. While that concentration burns delicate traditional grass, crabgrass is such a heavy feeder that it actually uses the pee as a fertilizer boost to grow lush and green!
The Cons: It dies back and turns brown in the winter. However, because we have the grass mats right on top, we still don't get any mud in the house.
The Environment: We aren't worried about the crabgrass choking anything else out, because there is absolutely nothing else in those play zones for it to choke out!

Safety First: Pet-Safe Yard Care

No matter what route you decide to take for your lawn, please only use pet-safe products. Whether you have pets yourself or just want to protect local wildlife, a beautiful yard is never worth endangering the lives of living beings.

If you are trying to get rid of unwanted weeds, skip the harsh store-bought chemicals and try this easy, pet-safer homemade weed killer instead: