Once you have decided to integrate the dog or dogs into your landscaping plans, how do you go about it? If you’re the type who likes following instructions, and can program not only your VCR but your satellite dish, you can use the book as a how-to manual and finish up with a dog who understands some rules about how to behave in the yard and a landscape you find useful and attractive. However, a lot of people may think all this is far too much work. That’s okay! You don’t need to faithfully follow every step outlined here to make your dog garden-friendly or your garden dog-friendly. Feel free to skip around, read about what you need most right now, and maybe come back for more information later. I don’t mind, and you and your dog will both benefit whether you do a little or a lot.
Success in planning your new landscape or landscape renovation means adding a few considerations that relate to canine entertainment and avoiding garden-dog conflicts. It starts with analyzing what you’ve got, through the fun and exciting activity of dreaming up everything you’d like, to plotting out what actually fits into your space and budget and lifestyle, to actual installation. Take your time and consider all your options carefully—while carpenters live by the adage “measure twice, cut once” to avoid costly mistakes, landscape designers advise “plan twice, plant once.”
Include only the major aspects of your property in the initial drawing.
Measure from the house to the walk and the walk to the drive on which the photographer is standing.
Analyzing What You’ve Got
Even if you’ve bought a newly constructed home, and what you’ve got is a house and drive surrounded by dirt, you need to assess your property. You’ve still got property boundaries, important utilities to keep in mind, views (good or bad), sun and shade (from the house, if nothing else), prevailing winds, and more. So, get yourself a pad of paper and a pencil and take the dog—on leash unless you have a fence already—with you to explore your little piece of the world. If your deed includes a map with measured property boundaries, you’re ahead of the game. If not, you’ll need the longest tape measure you can lay your hands on and either someone to hold one end (dogs just aren’t up to this task) or a small stake you can push into the ground to hook the end over.
Make a basic drawing of your property—it doesn’t really matter how rough it is at this point. Mark each measurement down as you take it. Find the length of each boundary line—straight lines are easy. If you happen to have a curving boundary, break it into segments and measure the short, relatively straight segments, plus measure a straight line between the two end points of the curve and the distance from this straight line to the widest part of the curve. You can use all of this information to draw the curve accurately when you get to the second drawing.
Once the boundaries are measured, do the same for the house and any outbuildings and for the distance of the buildings from the boundaries. Also measure the driveway and any walkways, decks, or patios.
While you’re tramping around and taking measurements, keep one eye on the dog. If your property isn’t fenced yet keep both eyes and a leash on the dog. Note any area the dog shows particular interest in—sniffing, digging, marking enthusiastically, lying down or rolling. This may not be a good place for expensive landscaping.
If your dog is a puppy, be doubly sure to keep him on leash and safely out of trouble.
Take your drawing inside, sit down at a table with some graph paper, and make an actual scale drawing. Believe it or not you can still find graph paper at most office supply stores. How many little boxes are on each piece isn’t important, since you will decide on the scale you are using, and how many feet each box will represent. Make your scale as large as seems workable, taping pieces of graph paper together if you like, then get several copies made. What you want is as much space as possible to write in comments and plan. A caution here is that 11 x 17 is the largest size most copiers can handle, unless you have access to a machine designed for blueprints. Also make at least a couple of copies of your rough drawing so you don’t have to redo all the measuring and other early analysis tasks (coming up next) if something disastrous should happen to your original such as accidentally being left out in the rain, say, or being chewed up by the dog you’re trying to include.
Next, take one copy of your rough drawing and a different colored pen or pencil so your new notes will be easy to find. With the dog, make another jaunt around the property. This time you’re looking for anything that will factor into your landscape planning. Do this survey more than once, at different times of the day and, if you’re not in a hurry, different seasons of the year. Shade of course moves as both the day and the seasons progress, winds may change, damp spots may only show up during the rainy season, unless you water heavily, views and shade will change when trees lose their leaves. Indicate “North” on your plans, as direction can be important for the path of the sun and prevailing winds.
Start with the house. Mark in windows and doors—you don’t want them blocked as plants mature. Note any views, whether good; a lake, distant barn, mountains, or bad; your neighbor’s propane tank, the garbage cans along the garage wall, a highway or industrial building. Also picture what it may look like when trees lose their leaves, if you can’t bear to wait for Fall and actually see. If your plans include any elevated structures such as a deck, climb on a ladder and check out the views from there. Consider how the dog might feel about views. Many dogs will prefer an elevated location for keeping an eye on their surroundings. The comic strip “Peanuts” showing Snoopy perched on top of his doghouse is based in fact (though a fat roof might be more reasonable).
Measure and draw in any existing fences and note their condition. Draw circles for the width of the canopy of any existing trees, even those on other people’s property if they’re near enough to property lines to cast shade in your yard. You may also want to ask if the neighbor has any plans for removing such trees. You don’t want to plant a lovely shade garden only to have your shade disappear. And you may want to identify what kind of tree it is because certain trees, such as walnuts, can create soil conditions toxic to other plants.
Note on your plans shade throughout the day.
Pools themselves can be attractive, but controls often need to be screened.
Mark areas of shade and sun, including differentiating morning sun from afternoon sun. Remember that shade will change during the year. If you’re doing your site analysis in spring or summer, as most people do, try to picture the sun lower in the sky, more to the south, as it will be in the fall and winter. Consider if you want to let more or less sun into the house through the year. Wind will also change if plants serving as a windbreak lose their leaves in the winter.
Be sure you know and note where all utilities run. You can call your local utility company and ask to have services marked. Within a few days, a representative will come and spray color-coded lines on the ground to indicate water lines, power lines, sewers, phone lines, natural gas lines, cable T V, and anything else that might be hiding underground. Add these to your scale drawing so you will have a record of where they lie. Don’t overlook overhead wires either. Trees that grow into them risk being pruned to mutilation by utility crews concerned only with keeping them clear of power and phone lines.
Consider water. Are there any areas that might be soggy low spots? If they occur near the house, you’ll want to do some remedial landscaping. Consult an expert to see whether you might need French drains or re-grading or some other solution. Look also for places dried by the sun and wind. Note all water spigots and irrigation systems so you’ll know where water is available for your use. And note where any exterior services such as an air conditioning unit or irrigation or pool controls might need to be screened from view.
Try to decide which areas will be most susceptible to frost. Low-lying depressions often collect pockets of cool air and shouldn’t be the site for sensitive plants. Take note of any slopes that might need to be lessened either with grading or terracing. Test your soil, if you are so inclined. Home soil tests are widely available, and will tell you if your soil is acid, alkali, or neutral. You can also take or send samples to your local cooperative extension, and have them do the testing for you. Testing the soil lets you know how you might need to amend it for your plantings. Digging into the soil at various locations will show you if it’s rocky, sandy, or clay, or the loam everyone hopes for.
Note any direct paths from one important area to another. This is one place it will be essential to include the dog in your planning. Dogs will move in the most direct line possible when hurrying from one place to another (the back door to a view of the driveway, for example), and trying to convince them to change, short of putting in fencing, will just frustrate everyone. So keep in mind that they’ll want to see the family’s comings and goings and what’s happening in the neighborhood. They’ll also want easy access to the door that lets them in and out of the house, their play yard or digging pit or their dog run if they have one. If you watch your dog’s activities for several days, you’ll see the same paths being used and you can sketch them into your plan.
Fences assume more importance in yards with dogs.
These plants not only stay below the window, they shield the home’s large propane tank from view.
Finally, note any bonuses your yard offers—an existing boulder, a tree with spectacular bloom or fall color or interesting bark and limb structure, a sunset view. Note minor deficits, such as where you might need more light or where a streetlamp or neighbor’s spotlight might need to be screened. Use smaller circles to draw in smaller shrubs, identifying them if you can.
Transfer anything permanent to your scale drawing. Don’t clutter it up with every detail—keep your rough drawing to consult.
If you have inherited an existing landscape, you’ll want to make some additional notes. While drawing in all hardscaping (the solid material, non-plant portions of landscaping), also note the condition of walkways, decks, patios, fences, retaining walls, and the materials they’re made of. Start thinking about whether they’ll be easy to care for and if they suit your needs.
Also consider the existing plantings. Note any unhealthy specimens or those past their prime. Have foundation plantings close to the house grown up to block windows and give potential burglars an excellent place to hide while breaking and entering? Are the plantings boring and one-dimensional, the same plant repeated endlessly in straight lines? Are beds overcrowded, or trees too close to the house? As much as you can, note what’s in bloom when and what color it is. Get a general impression of the balance of trees and smaller plantings, the size of the lawn versus planting beds, the variety of evergreen and deciduous plants.
It all sounds like a lot of work, I know, but it gets you to the next really fun step— daydreaming anything and everything you’d ever like to see in your landscape.
Inventory Chart
Planning What You’d Like to Have
Don’t worry about prioritizing, practicality, or expense right now. We’ll sort it all out later. This is your chance to let your imagination go and make your wish list as wild as you want. Always wanted a hillside Japanese garden but your yard doesn’t even include a hill? Maybe you could do it in miniature with a mound of dirt, bonsai, and some scaled-down lanterns and bridges. Don’t censor yourself for now—just let your ideas flow. A waterfall into a lap pool. A patio in two colors of slate so it can also serve as a checkerboard. Who knows what you might want? Cutting gardens, herb gardens, knot gardens, butterfly gardens, fragrance gardens, moss gardens, English cottage gardens, topiary gardens—the choice is yours. If your family is interested, have them make wish lists as well.
You’ll have to create the dog’s wish list. It might include places to lie in the sun and in the shade, a yard for romping and roughhousing, definitely an acceptable potty area, maybe somewhere to dig, an elevated viewing platform, a way to be with the family as much as possible, paths that go where a dog needs to go, materials that minimize tracking mud into the house—the dog doesn’t want to get into trouble, after all. She will surely want clear boundaries so that rules are easy to follow, a fence to keep everyone safe, a dog door for self-serve comings and goings, consideration that there are no weeds or plants with burrowing seeds or stickers or thorns that make life uncomfortable for dogs.
If you don’t seem to have a lot of ideas, walk or bike around the neighborhood and see what other people have done. Odds are if it works for someone just up the street, it will work for you. Look through magazines and books and jot down ideas. You will often want to use only the basic idea or one little bit of something you see, and take the rest in an entirely different direction. That’s great.
Think of your family’s likes and dislikes. Do you revel in competitive games of croquet and badminton? You’ll want a manicured lawn set up for those sports. Rather spend your time barbecuing and entertaining? Maybe a large deck or patio and low-maintenance landscaping will suit you better. Needs can also change. Children graduate from sandboxes and swing sets to softball diamonds and bike paths. Rambunctious puppies eventually grow into more responsible dogs.
To help you along, make a list of anything you feel your landscaping has to include. This might cover such necessities as a place for garbage cans, parking for guests, a mailbox, a tool shed, a compost pile, a dry path from the car or the mailbox to the house, a safely fenced dog yard, a dog run. Add a list of things you’d like to have. Maybe the kids are clamoring for a tree house, the spouse wants a built-in barbecue, and you want a water feature with a seating area under a pergola. Write it all down, and then write more. No, you probably won’t be able to afford all of it, at least not all at once, but you want to leave room in your plans for future improvements.
Consider hardscaping. Would you like to dress up that front concrete stoop? Does the entry walkway need to be wider, and would a curve make it more appealing? Are some fences in order for security and privacy? Is the patio or deck large enough, if there’s one at all? Do you have a good area and surface for the dog’s potty area and/or dog run? Then move on to planted areas. How big a lawn do you really need? Remember that the lawn can be one of the most maintenance intensive features of the typical landscape. What sort of plantings appeal to you? Do you like a riot of color or prefer a monotone? Also consider how long you plan to stay in your house. If this is your dream home, fine, make the dream landscaping plan to go with it. But if you plan to move in a half dozen years, for whatever reason, concentrate on those features that will give you instant enjoyment—hardscaping, annuals, fast-growing trees and shrubs.
One set of improvements this homeowner would like to see
Anything is possible in your land of dreams.
After you’ve played this daydreaming game for a few days, you should have a long and impressive list of possible landscaping projects. Now you can begin to put them in order.
Prioritizing and Plotting Your Plans
Because this is a dog-friendly garden, let’s start with the dog. You definitely need a safely enclosed area, whether that’s a fenced yard or a dog run, a place to potty, and an open area for play. Other potential projects might include a digging pit, a doggie greens garden for self-service grazing, a do-it-yourself exercise toy, a doggie pool, or a full-blown agility course—it’s up to you.
The family may agree (reluctantly) that a swimming pool will have to wait, but a patio with some sun and some shade, outdoor seating that doubles as storage for outdoor games equipment, and a new barbecue center are a must. Maybe a water feature would be nice, but you’ll have to see about costs. As far as plantings, if you’re like most families, no one has a great abundance of time to spend in the garden, so it looks like that combined knot/herb garden is out—too much fussy edging, weeding, and trimming—but some easy-care low-maintenance plants with weed-guard fabric and lots of mulch to keep down weeding and watering sounds like a plan. And less lawn to mow will be a bonus! See Chapter 7 for how weed-block fabrics and mulches can help keep weeds down, retain moisture, and reduce time spent in unwelcome garden chores.
Lay out the dog features in your plans, too.
With these basic ideas, you can start to sketch out plans. Lay a sheet of tracing paper over your scale drawing and put in where you’d like your patio, lawn, and planting beds to go. Don’t forget the dog’s potty area and those other essentials like garbage cans and a new path or two if you’ve decided on that.
Draw as many plans as you like. You may find that seeing spaces down on paper changes your thinking somewhat. It’s much easier to make changes now than when you’re actually out in the yard leveling ground or digging planting holes. Tracing paper is cheap—use plenty of it. Be as accurate as possible with sizes of things, and think of plants at their mature size when you start deciding on actual selections.
Once you have a plan you think you like, take it outside and mock it up as much as possible. You can lay out hoses to mark the boundaries of patios and walks and planting beds, or you can sprinkle oatmeal, four, or sand on the ground or you can use the landscapers spray paint the professionals use. For that shade arbor you plan at one end of the patio, drape a sheet over a couple of ladders. Put out chairs where seating will be, or prop up boards on cinder blocks for benches. Place your old barbecue where the new one will go, or a couple of garbage cans can fill in if you don’t yet have a barbecue. Stick poles in the ground and tie open umbrellas to the tops of them to act as new trees. It may all look a bit bizarre, but you’ll be able to walk about the spaces and see if there are any problems with traffic flow or if a tree will block a view you’d like to keep, or if the dog is going to vault a bench and land in a flower bed because it’s the most direct route when a squirrel is in the bird feeder. (Besides, you’ll entertain your family and your neighbors with this exercise.) Will you be able to see everything the neighbors are doing (and vice versa)? Does your ersatz shade arbor shade the right place at the right time of day?
Here the homeowner has developed an alternate plan.
Rhododendrons (and many other shrubs) can become quite large—keep that in mind when considering views and plantings.
Move your props around if necessary, and reflect those moves on your plans. Look at your mockup from inside the house. Will it provide a pleasant vista? Will you be able to see what the kids and/or dog are doing?
Have features serve two purposes wherever possible. Maybe you can grow grapes on your shade arbor for a nutritious crop or plant those sunflowers you love so they keep the afternoon sun out of your office window. The dog’s digging pit could even become a trendy raked Zen garden if you place a boulder at one corner and rake it smooth.
All sorts of border fences are available, and you can use them to your dog training advantage.
Plan to make it easy for the dog to coexist with your landscaping plans. Have clear boundaries between dog-accessible areas such as lawns and decks and off-limits areas such as planting beds or vegetable gardens. Laurie Fox, Horticulture Assistant at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, notes that dogs tend to just want to go through things in their path. “Make a point to take some time to be in the landscape with the dog. Show her how to get from place to place and give some training as far as what is and what is not off limits to her. It’s the dog’s home, too. You like to explore and decide how you’re going to utilize space in your home, and it shouldn’t be any different for the dog.”
She also suggests you can make an effective stress-reducing compromise by simply allowing space behind your plantings that back onto boundary fences. Most dogs will run the fence to keep an eye on the neighborhood, quickly wearing a dog path into whatever material may be in the way. By acknowledging this and allowing for it with a width of unplanted mulch, you avoid the frustration of trying to alter the dog’s natural behavior.
Good Fences Make Good Dogs
Owning a dog, in most cases, means having a fenced yard. Breeders, humane societies and breed rescue groups often require that you have a fenced yard before they will release the dog to your care. Good fences simply make life with your dog much easier.
Your choice of fencing is important and will be governed by both the needs of your dog or dogs and the design of your garden. Fences and borders have traditionally been wood, metal, or stone, but are now joined by plastic or vinyl alternatives. These alternative materials are initially more expensive, but don’t rot and don’t require maintenance. Dogs probably won’t be attracted to chew them.
Designs are as varied as builders’ imaginations. When designing fencing around dogs, be cautious of any plan with spaces between the slats or boards. Dogs can get their heads caught or dislodge the uprights enough to wriggle through, people walking by can inspire barking, unkind children can poke sticks through at the dog. Be careful, too, of gaps below the bottom of fences, showing daylight, as they can encourage escape artist canines to dig to freedom.
Height of course is a relative thing in reference to dogs, but four feet is sufficient to confine most. You might want six feet or more for increased privacy and to keep vigorous jumpers safely inside. Stone walls, while appearing massive and impregnable, actually can provide footholds for climbing. The smaller terriers are especially adept at scaling walls. Realize that some dogs seem to be canine versions of Houdini and can find a way over, under, or through seemingly impregnable fencing. Dogs learn to open latches of all sorts, light-bodied dogs can literally climb wire cyclone fencing, and there’s the confirmed report of a German Shepherd patiently moving split firewood logs one at a time to build a pile from which he could leap the fence. The key with these dogs is to entertain them at home so they aren’t so driven to escape. More on this in Chapter 4.
Even short edging fences can be a visual reminder to dogs, so use them to your advantage. You can put the fences in before any plantings, and start teaching the dog the difference between lawn or paths and planting beds.
Electronic Fences
Several landscapers mentioned the popularity of “electronic fences,” those wires that are buried in the ground around a perimeter. Before you include these in your plans, let me explain what they are, exactly how they work, and where I think they should and shouldn’t be used. They are not for every situation or every dog.
The wire you bury in the ground serves only one purpose—to activate the sensor the dog wears as a collar when the dog approaches within a certain distance. Most of the sensors first give an audible warning tone of some kind, followed by an electric shock if the dog comes any closer. This can be a problem with some systems because fast-moving dogs can receive the warning tone and the shock nearly simultaneously, negating one of the ways for them to avoid receiving the shock. Compounding the problem, training may be glossed over in ads for these systems or ignored by the dog owners installing them.
In many dog owners’ experience these systems do not make a good choice for boundary fencing. Because only your dog is wearing the shock collar, other dogs are free to pass through your yard as often as they like (as are neighborhood children, wildlife, and the mail carrier looking for a shortcut). Your dog can see everything going on out beyond the yard, and may be so stimulated by all the activity that he becomes a barking nuisance. Even worse, he may see something so enticing that he darts out of the yard. In some systems the boundary works on a radius in any direction which means the dog will now be shocked if he tries to get back into the yard. That can have dire consequences, with your dog unable to come safely back home without receiving a shock.
Within the yard, there might be a place for this device. If you want to protect some particularly valuable plantings and don’t want a visual fence of any kind, the buried fencing may suit your needs. Keep in mind that it operates on a set distance from the buried wire, so don’t plan to walk your dog on a narrow path past the protected area while he is wearing the electronic collar. A bed in the corner of the yard would be the best sort of candidate for such protection.
Electronic fencing is not a magic bullet. If you decide to use it, look for a manufacturer that includes detailed instructions on how to teach the dog to respect the barrier and avoid being shocked. Follow the instructions or, better yet, consult a trainer in your area for help. Do not just install the fence and leave it for the dog to figure out.
Bringing it All Together
It surprises some dog owners to know that their dog can show as much respect for outdoor living spaces as they do for your indoor ones. Your design plans along with training can help here. Just as dogs can be taught the difference between tile and carpet (some people allow dogs on only one or the other, or give food only in rooms with tile), they can understand the difference between lawn and gardens and decking. If you only play rambunctious games on grass, reward sedate behavior on decks, and warn away from gardens consistently, your dog can learn what’s expected. That’s not to say that in the heat of a hot squirrel pursuit, a dog won’t charge through anything in his path, but it will work on most occasions. See Chapter 9 for actual details on training. Here, I’ll just say that “warn the dog away” does not mean screaming at the dog. Trainers use a short sharp non-word that sounds like “att.” It’s enough to attract the attention of most dogs so that you can redirect their attention to more appropriate things. A sharp clap of your hands can also work well. Both techniques interrupt the undesirable behavior and give you a chance to redirect the dog’s attention and praise him for stopping.
Once you have chosen a list of selected improvements, it’s time to gather more information. Visit home improvement stores, nurseries, hardscape suppliers. Look at whatever materials figure into your plans, consider options and prices, collect any information on self-installation or get quotes from professionals. You won’t really know how practical your plans are until you know how much they’ll cost and if you can do the work yourself or not.
All paths lead to the river, a high-priority dog destination.
Many projects offer a range of prices depending on the specific materials you select. A patio might be brick, flagstone, slate, or a variety of other options. A deck could be cedar, redwood, Trex™ or similar manufactured materials. These faux woods combine recycled wood with plastic and paper. Plant materials not only come in a zillion varieties, they come in a number of sizes. Buy the largest you can afford for instant effect. Or choose smaller material and plant annuals in the temporary empty spaces between them so you won’t be tempted to plant too close. Or use plants in pots to fill in the spaces, and when the landscape plants grow larger and you have installed that second deck, move the potted plants there.
Also consider your time, interest, and energy. If you’ve never finished constructing a birdhouse because you got bored hammering pieces of wood together, you aren’t likely to finish a deck. If you struggle to lift a can of paint, moving 200 flagstones to build your patio might not be your cup of tea. Hiring professionals adds to your expense, but it does get the job done. So be realistic. If you choose to do it yourself, there are loads of books and magazine articles on specific landscape improvement topics, such as decks and garden ponds. Read up first so you know what you’re getting into.
Finally, whether you hire a professional or do it yourself, remember to keep the dog safe during construction. Workmen do have a disconcerting habit of leaving doors and gates hanging open, and you might fall into the same habit when carting materials around. Be sure your dog is not in a position to escape. Use an exercise pen, if you have one (a portable metal enclosure similar to a playpen), where the dog can oversee the activity. Designate a family member to keep the dog on a leash. Even tie the dog to a tree, if you have to, within eyesight of most of the work. If you have a dog run, use it. Take every precaution to keep the dog safe and secure while work is ongoing.
The homeowner’s final plans for Phase I improvements.
