Astro turf or fake grass

[GreyLee]

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Hi all,

Like many people, our back garden is very very wet at this time of year.

Now add to that we have a 2 year old saluki that likes to run around it (at least twice per day) at mach 2. So currently it resembles a scene from the Battle of the Somme - or maybe just a ploughed field!

We're considering having fake grass put down as the soil is heavy clay anyway.

Our concern though is spending all that money only for our loony to rip it up in a few weeks.

Has anybody else had experience of fake lawns with FAST dogs that run around and around for 10-20mins at a time? It's not the the running that causes the issue, it's the fast turns.

I have heard positive feedback from other dog owners but they haven't had lurcher type dogs i.e. there's a considerable difference between a dog dashing around a garden and a lurcher dashing around a garden (I don't mean any offence by that but if you've seen it, you'd understand).

And we do take him for a dash in a secure field every so often but it can be tricky to get the field booked.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JudyN]

I've no personal experience of it, but several members on the Lurcher Link forum use it and think it's wonderful. I'm hoping it's OK to cross-post to other forums.... I've a feeling that you might have to be a member to see threads in the chat area, but in case I'm wrong, you could try this link: http://www.lurcherlink.org/llink/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1066713&highlight=astroturf#1066713 (And if that works, searching for 'astroturf' on that forum should pull up some more discussion.)

Potted summary of the thread is the poster has a long, narrow garden and three lurchers, and it too used to look like the Somme, but now they reckon it was the best thing they ever did - and several other members have backed them up.

 

[GreyLee]

I've no personal experience of it, but several members on the Lurcher Link forum use it and think it's wonderful. I'm hoping it's OK to cross-post to other forums.... I've a feeling that you might have to be a member to see threads in the chat area, but in case I'm wrong, you could try this link: Lurcher Link :: Log in (And if that works, searching for 'astroturf' on that forum should pull up some more discussion.)

Potted summary of the thread is the poster has a long, narrow garden and three lurchers, and it too used to look like the Somme, but now they reckon it was the best thing they ever did - and several other members have backed them up.

Thanks

 

[Sezzy]

I have a Sproodle (Springer x Poodle) that is as mad & energetic as they come. We changed to artificial grass two years ago & it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. See the before & after photos.
I was worried about her trying to dig & pull it up but she never has. As long as it’s laid properly (we did get a professional in) & you haven’t got joins in the middle it should be fine.
I have just this second taken this photo to show it’s still going strong.

Ps, those are bits of chewed up stick not dog poo!!

 

[Josie]

wow what a difference @Sezzy

 

[JudyN]

A couple of years back we went on holiday to a cottage with an enclosed garden, which we thought would be really useful. Unfortunately, the lawn turned out to be astroturf and Jasper flatly refused to poo on it for the whole week, so we (OK, OH) still had to take him on his morning constutitional before breakfast! Mind you, I've never heard of another dog do this so it's unlikely to be a problem.

 

[JoanneF]

A couple of years back we went on holiday to a cottage with an enclosed garden, which we thought would be really useful. Unfortunately, the lawn turned out to be astroturf and Jasper flatly refused to poo on it for the whole week, so we (OK, OH) still had to take him on his morning constutitional before breakfast! Mind you, I've never heard of another dog do this so it's unlikely to be a problem.

Actually we had the same issue - only for weeing not pooing.

 

[Sezzy]

A couple of years back we went on holiday to a cottage with an enclosed garden, which we thought would be really useful. Unfortunately, the lawn turned out to be astroturf and Jasper flatly refused to poo on it for the whole week, so we (OK, OH) still had to take him on his morning constutitional before breakfast! Mind you, I've never heard of another dog do this so it's unlikely to be a problem.

We never had that problem with Misty, in fact I remember she christened it immediately with a poo in each corner!

 

[JudyN]

Actually we had the same issue - only for weeing not pooing.

He was unsure about weeing too at first but then realised he could lift his leg on the surrounding hedge & shrubs. One advantage of being a boy!