No, not with your stated conditions. Something's gotta give.

One of the regular posters on the perennial forum, woodyoak, has commented that adding water to a spot immediately after pet urination dilutes it enough to prevent burning. Or can you designate a spot for your dog that has a non-growing surface that just needs washing periodically to reduce odor?

How about packed shredded bark mulch for the main surface? It doesn't throw well like gravel or sand and was used as a playground surface in my town.

Thank you for the replies. We've been training the dog to go elsewhere, but it's still a lot of maintenance (watering, mowing, fertilizing, etc). We've thought about bark chips or mulch and turning it into a play area, but I don't think I've seen an entire backyard done like this so I'm unsure how aesthetically pleasing it would be. More importantly, our town is regulating water use aggressively, and is increasing prices to where our water bill for the lawn alone will increase by 40% -- most folks are just browning out their lawns, but that's not really the look we're going for. I'll explore mulching a bit more, thank you.

I've also been considering this... I know it requires mowing, but I've heard it's fairly resilient and doesn't require much water at all. Does anyone have any experience or insight? https://www.westcoastseeds.com/shop/seasonal/cover-crops/micro-clover-seed/

I wouldn't even consider anything other than artificial turf for that size an area. It is almost ideally made for such a purpose. Yes, it may be a bit of a hefty upfront investment but other than hosing down periodically (especially with pets) it requires NO maintenance and will last about 25 years!! How much did you spend on planting the lawn three times? And how much do you currently anticipate spending on a clover or wood chip replacement, both of which will require maintenance and refreshing after a couple of seasons?? Also, current renditions of artificial turf are nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing unless you are examining very closely.

The microclover sounds interesting, although I've never heard of it until now. If you do decide to go with it please keep us updated with how it performs in the real world.

@gardengal48 The lawn was actually pretty inexpensive... maybe $50 in seed, and $100 in water (I assume). We don't plan on being in our current home for more than a 4-5 more years, but I agree about the size of the yard. I'll look into artificial turf, but last I saw it was going to be $1000+ for our yard, which is hefty.

The clover would be susceptible to exactly the same problems as grass. I hate artificial anything in the garden but in this case the fake turf seems the only practical solution other than paving the whole area.

We have St. Augustine in Tx, which is drought tolerant and needs very little maintenance other than mowing. It grows in runners, like crabgress, and when first moving here pulled it out thinking that's what it was! This left my yard almost bare, but because of the runners filled in very quickly. Don't know if it can be purchased in SF or anywhere in Ca, but maybe it can be purchased in plugs on line. I dont know why it wouldn't grow in your area.

While I am a fan of clover and have quite a bit in my lawn, and I like bees, with little kids I would avoid a clover lawn in this spot.

For 4-5 years, I am not sure I'd invest in the artificial turf.

I don't know if you belong to a Costco, but the costcos around here sell very realistic artificial turf grass for $129.99 for a 10'x4' section. Two of those is about all you would need.

I have a small lawn - although not as small as yours - and two medium sized dogs who, if left to their own devices, would completely destroy my lawn. Yes, following them with a hose or watering can and dousing the area after they urinate does eliminate or mitigate burned spots. But it is a royal pain in the rear to do that all the time. Instead, I let them do their business in a small area in the back that is mulched. It's where I keep my potting bench, my composter, wheelbarrow, etc. I use shredded cedar mulch and I have never noticed any bad smell. However, I only let them go out their for their last pee of the day before we go to bed. The rest of the time they go when they are out running with me each morning, or on our frequent walks.

With such a small space, I would suggest putting down a nice layer of shredded mulch. Not chips. It will create a nice mat that will be springy. Then, if you want to grow plants, use pots and various planters that you can set on top of the mulch. If you have a male dog, he might still try to pee on the pots, but if he's small he probably won't get any on the plants themselves.

Yeah, your kids won't have a nice grassy area to play on. But they don't really have that now anyway, give that your yard is small and the grass gets destroyed.

For that small an area, synthetic turf is the perfect solution, especially when you have dogs. It is also not difficult to install yourself. A nice grade of syn turf will cost a do it yourselfer about $5/SF and I'm sure there is a synthetic turf distributor in the Bay area that markets to homeowners as well as landscapers. The other benefit is that if and when you do sell the house (assuming you own it), the lawn will look perfect and not an eyesore to a prospective buyer. A high grade turf will not need infill for the fibers to stand up and therefore, if your objection to the use of crumb rubber as an infill material is an issue, need not be used with the right density of the weave. No water, no mowing, dogs love it, always looks green and perfect and ideal for a small areas.

I was down a HD buying some wood chips/mulch, I noticed they had bags of rubber mulch, this might be your answer. Says it was playground safe..

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-0-8-cu-ft-Cedar-Red-Rubber-Mulch-HDVCRMN8CB/203714941

A portion of our backyard has play grade wood chips for the kids, but we also have a small portion of grass as well (about the same size as your area). I like the wood chips just fine, and we have two toy-size dogs who don't seem to mind the chips at all.

Our lawn is dwarf tall fescue, sod, I don't believe it was a blend. It's been in place about 7-8 years. We did lose some to drought last year, but I'm planning to re-plant it this winter w/some of the lawn that has invaded one of the beds. We don't have trouble w/dog urine killing off the grass, not sure why except that maybe because they aren't restricted to only the lawn, they use the wood chips and the flower beds as well? Maybe it's the food they eat.

I think you will have to make a compromise, it's just a matter of figuring out what you value most. Personally, I think the whole concept of a synthetic lawn is bizarre and I would choose wood chips first.

Rubber mulch is awful, smells like tires. It does feel nice, but I don't enjoy it on hot summer days at the park.