Dog-Friendly Landscaping Tips (For a Backyard You Both Can Enjoy)

If you have a dog, you know the damage they can do to a landscape. Digging under shrubs, pounding out a dirty path by the fence or even eating your delicate (and potentially poisonous) flowers. Lets face it… dogs are quick to turn your beautiful landscape into their own personal playground… but we still love them. That’s why I put together these dog-friendly landscaping tips.

Figuring out your dog’s personality is the easiest way to plan a dog-friendly landscape. Is your dog a patroller, a digger or a chewer? (Or are you the lucky person with a trifecta combination?)

Planning out your dog-friendly landscape

Planning your landscape starts with determining what type of personality your dog has. Once you know what types of behaviors your dog presents, you can plan around them! The three types that are most common are the patroller, the digger and the chewer. Or… maybe your dog is all three! 🙂

Patroller Dog Landscaping Tips — THE PATROLLER

Landscaping for the Digger Dog Personality Type — THE DIGGER

Dog Friendly Landscaping Tips for chewers — THE CHEWER

Before you start planting, it’s important to note your dog’s traits and behavior. Different breeds have different instincts, and no two dogs are the same.

So… is your dog a patroller — constantly circling the yard to protect her property? Is he a digger… constantly burying toys or digging holes that you later twist your ankle in? Does he like to chew, or does he typically leave plants alone?

All of the above?? I feel you, there. Keep reading because I’ll be sharing some tips to deal with all three personality types. Plus, at the end of this post I also have some “universal” dog-friendly landscaping tips to try.

Landscaping around your dog’s personality type

Start by writing down the most common behaviors of your dog so that you have a good idea of how to create a dog-friendly space that’s also beautiful. Lets face it — your dog isn’t going to change his instinctual behaviors. Here are some things to remember:

You need to plan your landscaping around the expected

Just because you want a pretty yard does not mean that your dog is going to stop patrolling for burglars. So, YOU need to plan ahead.

Dogs will investigate noises

Most dogs will investigate when they hear a noise. Think about the areas close to walkways, doors, gates and driveways that your dog gravitates towards.

Dogs are creatures of habit

Noises from neighbors and their pets will also attract your dog over and over to the same area in your landscape. Where are these areas?

You can incorporate your dog’s needs into your landscaping

The key takeaway is that as long as we know what our dog likes to do, we can incorporate him into our new landscape, rather than stressing him out with changes that affect all the fun he has in his yard! This seems like common sense, but I’ve seen the opposite so many times.

There are many ways to have a beautiful AND dog-friendly landscape… let me show you!

Landscaping Tips for Dogs that Patrol the Property

If your dog patrols the yard (especially if the yard is fenced) you need to plan around it. Here are some basic rules to follow:

Don’t plant where your dog always goes

Keep high-traffic and patrolling zones open (no landscape). If it’s a path that your dog patrols, leave about 18” of walkway. If it’s where he barks at your neighbor’s dog or waits when your son pulls into the driveway, create an open area and landscape AROUND it rather than where your dog will be.

Landscape can enhance or hide areas

Use landscaping to either hide or enhance worn areas. What are your options? Wooden decks or brick paver walkways are a more permanent, low maintenance solution. If you don’t want to go that route, you can mulch the area(s). Large bark mulches hold up to the traffic and are easy to find and work with. You can also try a stone mulch such as rounded pea gravel. Stay away from sharp-edged mulches that could hurt your dog’s feet. Mulch is a less permanent option than brick or wood, so you’ll have to do some maintenance from year to year when it starts to look shabby.

While mulch is a great choice for a garden and mostly soft on paws, steer clear of cocoa mulch. The smell may be great, but if your dog eats it, it can cause the same bad reactions as chocolate.

Plant tall foliage that will grow ABOVE your dog

Use tall plants or shrubs that will spread foliage above the height of your dog

Tough evergreen shrubs are an excellent choice if you need a year-round screen (like along your fence).
If screening isn’t an issue, deciduous plants and shrubs are often more ornamental, but will shed their foliage in the winter.
Containers or raised planter boxes are a great option if you want to plant more colorful and delicate flowers

Landscaping Tips for Dogs That Love to Dig

Tip for the diggers: attempt to deter the digging. 🙂

In all seriousness, there are a few tips I have for you here.

Fencing to keep the dog OUT or IN

Adding a low (or high) fence around an area you don’t want your dog to dig is a good solution. An alternative is to create a fenced in dog area of your yard that will separate him from the gardens he likes to dig up. (Image Source)

Cover digging areas

Try installing linked garden stakes or rounded garden staples to deter your dog from digging.

This is a neat trick that I recently discovered. All you need to do is find the area that your dog digs, and place a screen of hardware cloth underneath the dirt or mulch, then cover it back up. Hardware cloth is a metal fencing that comes on a roll and kind of looks like chicken wire. If your dog tries to dig in that area and comes across this screen, he likely won’t want to dig there anymore. Obviously there are stubborn dogs that this won’t work for, but it worked for me and it’s worth a shot!

Create a Sandbox

building a sandbox for your dog — If your dog loves to dig, the solution may be to redirect him to his own digging area… like a sandbox.

If your dog loves to dig, the solution may be to redirect him to his own digging area. I suggest a sandbox because sand doesn’t get muddy, dries quickly, and shakes off easier. For maximum impact put the sandbox in the area your dog already likes to dig, and landscape around it with some rocks or very tough plants. If you don’t want it where your dog is already digging you can try putting the sandbox in a shady area of the yard. You may have to do a little coaxing to get your dog to use this new area.

Don’t garden around your dog

My dog Sally is quite the digger. When I’m gardening, she dutifully follows me around the yard digging behind me, pulling weeds and planting her own gems. I’ve realized that in the days following my gardening session, Sally actually digs more holes around the yard.

My suspicion is that she is doing what I do. And if I’m digging in a particular location, in Sally’s mind I must be digging for a REASON, right? So, she’s following along behind me trying to figure out what’s so wonderful about these places that I’ve dug holes. And, digging her own right next to them.

In a way it’s cute. But it’s also incredibly destructive. I’ve found that keeping her in the house when I’m weeding or planting actually reduces her digging quite a bit.

Landscaping Tips for Dogs that Love To Chew

The chewer personality can be a really dangerous one. That’s because many plants are toxic and create health problems for your dog.

The ASPCA has a very extensive list of toxic plants for dogs (and other animals). Just a note that toxic does not imply that the plant is fatal and the ASPCA website will give you more information on each plant so you can do your research.

Some plants may only cause stomach ache or mild irritation of the mouth, while others are severely toxic. There are also a number of variables that determine how severe the poisoning symptoms may be, such as your dog’s age and weight and the quantity of the plant ingested.

Keep this toxic plant list handy if you have a dog that loves to chew. And keep your pup in mind when choosing new or exotic plants for your landscape.

Landscaping Tips for All Dog Owners

Here are some universal tips that any dog-owner can use for the perfect landscape and a happy pooch.

Give your dog his own space where he can be a dog.

We love our dogs. We shouldn’t have to yell at them every time they are in the yard. There are ways to happily coexist, and this begins with taking your dog’s needs into consideration when you are creating your backyard oasis. Dogs are animals that need space: space to roam and space to play. Embrace open areas for your dog to be a dog.

Give them access to fresh water

How about this self-serve Cool Pup Faucet Waterer? It attaches to any outdoor faucet and the waterer is activated when dogs lick the lever—once they stop licking, the water shuts off.

Create a “Potty Area”

Creating a potty space is a great way to stop your dog from going all over the yard, and destroying your lawn in the process. Here are a few links that may help you with creating a potty area:

How to build an outdoor dog potty area

Looking for more?

Here are some other great articles on landscaping for dogs

Wrapping Up

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my tips for a dog-friendly landscape. Plan ahead by noting all of the common behaviors of your dog and follow the tips in this post to find the best solutions. Some of the key takeaways are:

Consider your dog’s patterns of movement when placing plants and making walkways
Deter your dog from digging by using fence, garden stakes or hardware cloth
Keep delicate plants safe with containers or raised beds
Choose plants that are non-toxic and safe for your dog
Give your dog their own space to dig, play and roam
Remember that even with the proper planning, your landscape will not be perfect.

This guide is not the be-all end-all to dogs making mischief in their yards. Trust me if I had all of the answers I wouldn’t be sitting at the computer writing to you right now as I’d be on permanent vacation in the Caribbean!! Just know that even though it won’t be perfect, if you plan your landscape with your dog’s needs in mind you can minimize problems and maximize your chances of getting the lovely backyard oasis of your dreams.

I’d love to hear what you think. Do you have any great tips for planning a dog-friendly landscape? –Amy

3 Comments

Boston Landscaping Services says:

February 4, 2019 at 12:19 pm

We recommend pinecones as mulch around flower beds and landscaping when you have dogs. They’re natural and biodegradable but very uncomfortable underfoot, keeping dogs away from those areas. Great tips, thanks for sharing this info!
Boston Landscaping Services says:

February 4, 2019 at 12:19 pm

People also need to consider every part of their property when choosing color for landscaping. White roses against a white home or white picket fence will just blend in, and red roses against a red brick home disappear. Great info, thanks for the tips!
Michael Robinson says:

January 18, 2018 at 6:55 pm

I like how you mentioned that you should design your backyard based on the personality of your dog. Rosco, my dog, is a patroller, and he likes to make sure that the home is safe. As you talked about, you can better figure this out by writing down their behavior. Thanks again!

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