How to fix a muddy yard with dogs

easy fix for a muddy yard when you have dogs

What to do for a muddy yard with dogs? If you have dogs, you know the stress a muddy yard brings. Pine flakes by guardian are a great muddy backyard solution for muddy dog paws.

Dogs track mud in from the yard. Cleaning their paws is a hassle.

Each spring in Chicago, we get a lot of rain, which turns backyards into mud. Dogs come in from the yard with muddy paws. Even if the dogs don’t run, just them walking through your mud swamp yard is enough to make you cringe.

To solve the muddy dog paw issue I pour pine flakes in the yard, covering muddy areas.

how to fix your muddy yard when you have dogs

End of spring, when the rains stop, my small backyard resembles a pitcher’s mound of hard compacted dirt. I tried all kinds of things to fix the muddy backyard.

  1. Tried fencing in the area with garden fence netting. Our German Shepherd either ran through the fence or jumped over it (4 feet high.)
  2. Bought an electric roto tiller. Tilled the backyard, adding sand and cow manure to build up the poor excuse for soil (construction dirt.)
  3. aerated the soil.
  4. Re-seeded the backyard 2 or 3 times a year. The lawn looked great until end of winter.

Nothing worked and the end of each spring was the same thing….muddy backyard! The grass didn’t stay because the soil is garbage. I was wasting money and time every year on this stupid backyard.

A friend of mine rolled out astro turf in the backyard for his dogs, like what they use on soccer fields. This is a great idea but I didn’t want patches of astro turf along with real grass.

Here’s what I did to fix the backyard mud issue. Applying pine flakes works great

I got pine flakes, which are used as horse bedding. I use guardian horse bedding and it lasts around 9 months. One package that is 8 cubic feet will cover a 20′ x 20′ area about 2 inches deep. I used 14 bags to cover my 800 square foot yard with an average of 3″- 4″ depth. Pine flakes soak up water on the bottom level with enough to fluff on the top. Dog paws never touch water or mud. The dogs also don’t go after the pine…they aren’t interested in eating it. Pine flakes decompose over time (8 months) and are very good for soil and grass.

Pine flakes also keep fleas and ticks away.

A lot of people use pine flakes when planting grass seed in their yards. A layer of pine flakes placed on top of grass seed protect from the elements and prevent birds from eating the seed. Over time, the decomposing pine flakes will feed the soil, and in turn, help the grass seed you planted.

I’m very happy with the pine flakes for solving the mud issue in the backyard and it only took about an hour to complete.

The dogs now enter the house with clean feet. Pine flakes are soft, flexible and thin; they will not hurt your dog’s paws.

Cleaning the yard of dog waste is actually easier with these pine flakes as bedding. The dog waste doesn’t get caught in the grass…it simply lays on top of the flakes.

If you have any questions let me know. I really recommend this as a fix to your muddy backyard issue, especially if you have dogs. It may sound silly with a backyard full of pine flakes but they smell great and no more mud issues or muddy dog paws to clean!

Another product my blog readers have used that works well, also from Amazon.

Pennington SUN and SHADE grass seed I use under the pine flakes. Also from Amazon.

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Thanks!

Steve