Okay, I don’t mean our home, I mean the dogs’ quarters.

We have three big fenced-in yards for the dogs to play, exercise and potty in. Even though our property is seven acres, the dogs don’t get free-rein on all of that (unless they are outside with us) because our property butts right up to a forest and also because we have horses. The horses are fenced in with a two-strand hot wire fence so the dogs can go right under the wire and be in with the horses. Little dogs can easily get hurt or killed by a horse. And also with the woods so close we do have predators that live nearby. So the fenced in yards are for the safety of the little dogs.

The two yards that are connected to the dog’s house have gotten very worn down and dusty. We do not have a good enough well and water supply to be able to have grass in our yards, but we do have a variety of ground-covering type weeds that provide some “greenness” to the yards. As the years roll by the dogs have worn things down and we ended up with more dirt than anything, especially in those two yards. (The other yard is the backyard off our house). In the summer, the dirt in the yard, driveway, horse pasture and everywhere becomes like talcum powder. You can dust in the house and an hour later it doesn’t look like it hasn’t even been done.

So “we” made a plan for a new project. When I say “we” it means, I think of a project and my poor hubby has to execute it. 😛 hehehe

My idea seemed fairly simple, but it ended up being quite a project. Years ago we had laid wire under the dirt along the edge of the fence to prevent the dogs from digging under the fence. So my plan was to lay wire down over the whole yard and then put pea gravel down which would prevent the dogs from digging and also keep the dust down and things cleaner. Sounds easy enough. 😉

Hubby first had to use the rototiller to level the ground (he ended up pulling up the buried wire along the edges) and fill in the “bomb shelters” the dogs had dug. Seriously, there were huge holes. We have one dog that is a professional excavator of massive proportions!

Next he had to find the right kind of wire and lay it over the whole yard, connecting it to the bottom of the fence again to prevent escapes. He also attached 12″ boards along the bottom of the wire fence to keep the gravel from escaping the yard. While in the process of working on the fence, one of the wooden posts busted! *sigh* That made more work. He had just replaced these (treated) wood posts a couple years ago. So not wanting to do that again he bought metal posts and replaced the front fence posts with new metal ones. When he put the posts and wire back up the measurements were a bit different than the previous fence, so then he decided he would need to make a new gate! So on and on the project went….

They sure are enjoying the new yard though now that it’s done! But you can see the dust in the air from the boys in the back yard. I’d love to do this to that yard also, but that yard is a lot bigger and we don’t have a way to get a large amount of gravel back there. (*putting the thinking cap on🤔)

Another view. (Gracie on her perch).

We got the play structure back in but the shade cloth needs to be put back up. Hubby took it down when the fire was nearby.

Cody and Quinn enjoying some play time in the new yard.