We currently only have one dog, but regularly dog-sit a variety of dogs for friends and family. The backyard here is laid out with the needs of dogs in mind - which means lots of paths that go where the dogs would normally want to travel (e.g. allows for fence patrols!) and allows for vigorous exercise by running circuits on various combinations of the paths. The basic paths are bare dirt (soil here is heavily clay-based....) covered with a mix of 1/3 concrete sand and 2/3 pinebark mulch (finely ground/shredded pinebark - not nuggets!) In low spots we had started to get water accumulating during spring snowmelt so last spring we added 'crusher run' gravel to some paths to raise the level a bit and provide faster drainage. We covered the gravel with pinebark mulch to make it look better! That is working well. Some pictures from early May last year - plants are just starting to emerge so the path structure is still visible After the plants fill out, the paths are less visible! :
DH and nephew laying the gravel in 'the wet corner' area (the low iron fence is sufficient to direct the dogs to stay on the paths - they really do take 'the path of least resistance' when running in the garden!):
looking down the fence to the wet corner area:
similar view after the pinebark added:
a month or so later after the plants have filled in:
you can see some of the path network on the other side of the yard here:
Collie racing recently :-):
Q
Great ideas for dog paths
Q