The $500 backyard challenge!

Well, I could use some help here. The new house we have moved to is pretty boring for the dogs - the back yard is just paving and concrete, nearly fully enclosed with very high fences. There is no lawn and no plants. Kind of good because there's nothing to destroy, but mostly bad because its a bit like a prison for them.

I have saved up $500 that I am going to use to make it a better place for my babies.

So far I have considered tyres, a sand pit, an AussieDog Home Alone t hanging treat dispenser, a Kong Time dispenser, a ramp, a see-saw, various things.

What I am looking for is ideas to use this money to make the back yard the best place to be for my pups.

Can anyone help??

Definately give your pups some grass patches!! Maybe dig up some of the concrete and put in some grass.

Puppies LOVE grass to lay on when its nice and warm out

I know - we hate that it has no lawn. However, its a rental so we can't dig up, and is almost totally undercover so grass would not survive.

I did think about creating a really huge tub of dirt, and planting roll-on turf in it. It would give them about three square metres of lawn that we could move around. I know they would love that. Ruby absolutely refuses to pee on concrete because she was always raised to pee on the grass. It kills her to pee on the concrete.

Some good things already to start with. How about more agility stuff, like a tunnel, so when and if they chase eachother around, they might zoom through the tunnel. I know Lyric loves the tunnel the most. Maybe some other ground cover which is sort of grass-like, but doesn't need sun....in some frame of 2x4s? It will be fine as long as they get their walks and runs when you can. Good luck with your plan. You've saved up lots of money. I bet you'll make it great.

Hey thanks Doberluv! Yep, I have actually just joined an agility association here so I was definitely thinking about getting them some stuff to play on - they would be right into a tunnel, but I'd have to teach them how to use it!

Tunnels are often favorites of lots of dogs. If they're hesitant to go in at first, you can toss a special treat just a little ways in and have someone on the other end coaxing them to come to them or you be at that end. It is like an accordian so you can start with it really short and no curves in it. And just go from there. All I had to do the first time was get Lyric into a very playful, excited mood and toss the treat and one or two coaxings and that was it. He, from then on, would race back and forth through it, first the one direction, then make a U turn and come back through. It was like..."OK Lyric...now will you please keep going onto the next thing, like a jump maybe?" LOL.

LOL! The first time they ever had a sleep-over at their best friends' house (Tess and Goldie, the Retreiver Sisters!) apparently the house is like a giant tunnell - with a looooong hallway leading straight from the back door through to the front door, and then access to the back again round the side of the house.

Well, apparently all four of them were like whirling dervishes for hours - around and around and around and around through their house tunnel.

At 4.30am our friends (Tess and Goldie's Mum and Dad) finally separated all four of them into separate rooms so that some sleep could be had. But as soon as they were let out in the morning it was round and round and round again....that is SO funny...lol!

How about a kiddie pool? I bet they'd love that! And with the concrete, you won't have to deal with mud.

And get them some nice outdoor beds, if they spend a lot of time outside. I bet they'd love a nice place to lay down.

Maybe a patch of fake grass - like Astro turf (like thick carpet, not cheap but so far very durable), I have some on my tile/gravel garden here and the dogs love it.

Outdoor shelters/kennels (for day/play) - a tunnel - a kiddy pool - great ideas too...

Perhaps a kiddy pool half-full of dirt or wood chips (free from landscape companies) would make a good "litterbox" for the dog that won't go on concrete.

I was also going to suggest a kiddie pool. Sadie absolutely loves hers. When she is zooming around the backyard, she always detours through it. She loves splashing in it.