Stones In Backyard

[Walliered]

I am going to cover my back yard in small decretive stones. I am constantly having trouble with mole crickets and with 3 hounds there is no such thing as grass growing. Can anyone tell me what kind of rocks to buy that will not hurt the hounds feet?

[philospher77]

Talk to a good nursery by you. You want to look at large, round stones, not the small pointy ones. Decomposed granite might work. Do your dogs do a lot of running in the yard? I'd be concerned about their footing if they do, since the rocks could slip under them, especially on turns.

[Walliered]

My yard is VERY small. It is about 64" long and 27" wide. Actually the size I want to put rocks in is much smaller than that .. an estimate would be 30"long and 20" wide. Two of the dogs do run a little in the yards, but since it is soooo small they don't get too carried away.

[2_Lazygreys]

I did my backyard in pea gravel (it is actually really smooth). I first used vegetation killer (I know a bad chemical, but it was necessary. My friend skipped that step and is constantly having to pull up weeds), put down the weed barrier, and then proceeded to make at least 50 trips to Home Depot to get the gravel. I had a Honda Civic back then and it could really only hold 5-6 bags at a time otherwise I would be doing wheelies driving home. I just made it in my route home from work to swing by there...it wasn't bad. Looking back I would have had it delivered or rented one of their trucks. I love my backyard the month or two I can actually use it in Texas. We go out there for coffee or beer quite often.

 

This one made me cry...Gypsy is no longer with us. My fountains were her "own" watering bowls!

 

This is Red and he still loves the back yard.

Lets see if I did the pics right...I am a little rusty on doing them.

Edited November 25, 2011 by 2_Lazygreys

[Jackandgrey]

I have I 'think" 3/4" river rock. Two of mine run over it like it is nothing. Joshy has corns which he developed after the rocks came, and they are torture for him. He walks on the pavers or from bed to bed till he gets to the garden.

[Guest dragontearz]

64" by 24" is about my measurements!

[Walliered]

Guess I also need to know if they will do their bathroom routine on little rocks??

[Guest sheila]

This is my dog run. It's just smaller pea gravel. The dogs will run on it so I don't think it bothers their tootsies too much. And yes, they both pee and poop on it.

 

[NeylasMom]

We have pea gravel at the winery where I work. Bane of my existence. It's really difficult to walk on and I'm constantly getting rocks in my shoes. I know, I'm not a dog, but just sharing my experience.

[2_Lazygreys]

I have walked bare foot in my backyard just to make sure it didn't hurt (I have tender feet) and it was fine. Now don't be surprised if they end up bringing some rocks in the house... Oh, I put down 3 inches of pea gravel too.

[Walliered]

I was told today the "Round-Up" will not hurt dogs. I was told by the same guy that you could drink the stuff and it really would not hurt you. I am worried about putting it down before I put the rocks down. I was told to put the Round-Up down, then weed fabric and then the rocks. Oh and also use the landscape barrier around the flower beds to keep the rocks in place. This is going to be a million dollar project. Please tell me what you think about the Round-Up.

[Guest sheila]

if you put Round Up down, then yard fabric and THEN rock there is 0 chance it will harm your dogs. I would however strongly advise against drinking it or allowing the hounds to drink it. I will occasionally use a RoundUp type weed killer in the dog run and I just keep the hounds out of it for an hr or so. There have been no issues here.

I do agree with putting some kind of barrier up around the edges to keep the rocks in place. In my pic there is a rudimentary barrier along the fence line to my neighbors yard that has since been replaced with something sturdier.

[Guest mcsheltie]

One of our group members has a turn out area done in pea gravel. I am very envious! I would like to do my yard too, but it is on a hill and nothing would stay in place.

 

I would do the Round-up for sure.

[2_Lazygreys]

Round up I personally don't think is strong enough (nor would I drink it, that is what beer is for LOL). Between the strong chemicals, the weed barrier, and 3 inches of rock I never worried about the chemicals I used. Also every couple of months I would take a "bug" sprayer thing and spray the yard with a mild mixture of bleach and Dawn dish washing detergent to keep everything fresh and clean. I would "rinse" it with the water hose after an hour or so.

[Walliered]

Thanks so much for the information. I was wondering about keeping the area clean and fresh. The neighbors did not like it when I put up the privacy fence, but they built about 6 feet off the line and I was tired of having their 2 dogs running in my yard..they I got the first greyhound and put up the fence. Now have three hounds and can't imagine life before the fence. But, I know they will have something to say if the rocks start coming under the fence. Fence is white and I cannot find any white flower bed barrier.

[Guest verthib]

My yard is way too big to do in pea gravel but if I had to pick a stone it would be that. I used to have a beautiful back yard and four months after putting our fence in, it looks like crap. Does anyone have grass AND greyhounds?

[philospher77]

I have grass and greyhounds. Now, granted, this place was a foreclosure, so it's the grass that survived 5 months of no water and no care, which means it's pretty sturdy, scruffy stuff. And of course, there are patches that are cold season grass, and patches that are warm season grass, so the only time the entire yard is green is mid-spring and mid-autumn. But it is able to handle Katie's running, except in the rut around the tree. There are some advantages to growing what is, basically, weedy grass! Really hard to kill it, even when you want to.

[Walliered]

I think mole crickets have invaded my yard and eaten up about 1/3 of the yard. So, I have decided to bite the bullet and just put rocks down and forget about the grass. I could put some pretty flower pots and do-dads around, but it is basically a dog run so am just going to do rocks.

[PrairieProf]

I dunno, Beth HATES gravel or stones of any kind, walks over them gingerly like "ow ow ow" and won't run on that surface (and she has no corns or any such problem). The dog park near where my parents live, which is covered with pea gravel, is pretty much useless to her unless there's snow. I would try your dogs out on any surface before you put it in and find they hate it.

[PrairieProf]

I dunno, Beth HATES gravel or stones of any kind, walks over them gingerly like "ow ow ow" and won't run on that surface (and she has no corns or any such problem). The dog park near where my parents live, which is covered with pea gravel, is pretty much useless to her unless there's a layer of snow. I would try your dogs out on any surface before you put it in and find they hate it.

[Walliered]

Ok, the rocks are down. One dog refuses to walk on it at all...other two walk that it really hurts their feet. One tried to lay down on his belly but he didn't like it so he finally laid on his side and that seemed to work. Should I give it some more time or start thinking about inside/outside turf???

[cmc333]

I'd give it more time. My greys are notorious for finding anything new "suspicious". They live with the certainty that anything new is really a way their diabolical momma wants to kill them. But once they get used to the "new" thing, they are fine. You could buy a couple of those sling beds for them to lay on outside - I bought 2, but my kids thought I was trying to kill them and refused to have anything to do with them, so after a few months I sold them. But I must say, Gertie is a stubborn old lady and Sargie's head is really a box of rocks, so it's not really fair to compare them to nice, normal dogs.

 

My solution is to let the weeds grow along with the grass and when it's all cut the same height, if you squint the right way, it looks like all grass. I gave up on having a "real yard" years ago.

 

Connie

[krissn333]

We had pea gravel at the old kennel. It was nice, the dogs ran on it no problem. However, it does get thrown about when they really get running, you end up scooping it up when you scoop poop (like a big litter box), so you do periodically have to add new gravel.

 

Only other thing that came up is that sometimes the pups would get little rocks stuck in their webbing and they come in walking funny. No big deal, just find the gravel and remove it.