I'd just spread bahia seed and sprinkle it. I've had great luck with that! of course if your yard is too small they'll just keep it trampled down and that won't work.

Unfortunate fact is:
you've gotta irrigate. Seed with something durable like Zoysia and water nicely in the early AM to get the water down before the dogs hit the ground running.
When we bought our house the previous summer, the PO's three big dogs had turned the 1/3 acre backyard into a veritable sand lot. Regular watering has been slowly bringing the greenery back to life (but quietly killing the bank account). I'm not being picky about what grows. We've got a mix St. Augustine, Bahia, centipede (I think, might be Bermuda)grasses liberally peppered with a plethora of weeds. I pick my battles. There's a neat crinkly-leafed low growing plant that grows great under our big maple that withstood doggy trampling, so I declared it ground cover and let it grow. Too bad frost knocked it back, but I think it'll come back. No sand on doggie feet there! There's also a shaded area along the side of the house where the only thing that grows is purple nutsedge. Again, I've opted to let that grow in that area and once grass starts to make its way into the area I'll start ripping that out. Is our lawn the envy of the neighbors? NO. The only green in the front lawn right now is the clover growing rampant over the septic tank. We do have at least 1000% more grass than what was alive when we took possession, so we're going to continue as we are. We've never been particularly fond of the "manicured lawn" culture and the fewer chemicals I use, the happier I am (though I was well irked when I lost half my tomato plants to spider mites.)

Another big help in the battle against the sand incursion into the house was building decking and flagstone areas around the existing patio. We get a place to sit and the dog's got a good long path to follow dropping sand before she hits the living space.

Patience, water and taking the dogs out for long walks rather than depending on the backyard for all their exercise needs will cut the sand dunes down inside the house. That and embracing vacuuming daily. If you got pets, you gotta vacuum every day. 'sa fact, Jack!

Thanks for your suggestions. We are working on adding some hardscape decks to the area, we have a above ground pool that we are slowly adding a deck to as the $$$ permits. Watering isn't a problem as we are on a well and have a irrigation system. Unfortunately the main area is from one side of the fence around the lanai to the other side of the fence has become the race track. I am thinking that if I can change both those parts of the fence from a chain link to a privacy it might cut down them running because they wouldn't be able to see the people waking by on the street. But I live on a corner lot with a dead end street on one side, vacant overgrown lot on the other side and a overflow canal behind that has turned into a ATV raceway.
Also I know what you mean about vacuuming, we have carpet (bad choice I know) but at the time we bought the house 2 yrs ago we had one dog, then we got him a playmate and ended up getting two because they were brother and sister. As soon as the carpet starts looking bad, we are planning on ripping it out and staining the concrete. Again thanks for any suggestions, and I look forward to continue reading and help from this forum.

mondo grass, dwarf or regular.....my dogs(3) pee on it daily, run through it, cold hardy.....can't kill it...needs a bit of shade though. i feel your pain....:)

What about fencing a small area for the dogs to play in and not have them have the whole yard? I fenced my veggie garden on the side of the house to keep the dogs out. So it's a fence within a fence. And have you considered using pavers for a patio. If you plant a lot of bushes you can make paths for them to run on with stepping stones. Of course it takes a while for all this to grow.