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Grass, real vs. fake, for pets

Bowtiepower00

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Designing our backyard now, mostly a pool with cool deck, and pavers, but will have a grass area for our dog(s). Would prefer fake turf, but I’m worried about heat during the summer (PHX). What options are out there? Figure a small area, 15x15 or so.
 

Bowtiepower00

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They have pet friendly fake grass, it is cooler to the touch.
This is what we are leaning toward, but does anyone have real life experience with it in a hot environment? Luckily the backyard faces East so it wont see evening sun, but midday, will Fido want to put his paws on it? Worst case I have to spray it down a bit with the hose, I guess. Trying to avoid real grass, but if that is the best option I will deal with it.
 

sirbob

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Our pup uses both real grass and fake - I wished she used the fake more.
I’d be worried about fake in PHX in the summer with heat though???
 

4Waters

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This is what we are leaning toward, but does anyone have real life experience with it in a hot environment? Luckily the backyard faces East so it wont see evening sun, but midday, will Fido want to put his paws on it? Worst case I have to spray it down a bit with the hose, I guess. Trying to avoid real grass, but if that is the best option I will deal with it.
I don't have personal experience with it but my uncle put it in at his house in Boulder City and said it was still pretty warm but definitely cooler than regular fake grass. He put his in on the NE side of his house.
 

CJ_Donahue

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We have the fake in SoCal and any time it gets over 100 we water the fake grass in the afternoon for 30 secords or so if we need to take the dogs out. It gets HOT. Way hotter then the concrete next to it.
 

Havalife

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Pool is the only cool thing in your yard
Pavers are like an oven, our dogs wont even walk on them. I've had fake grass and it was HOT, also the smell is horrible from the pee. We took out the fake and put in real grass and the dogs love it, with all the new mowers and trimmers it's not bad at all.
 

Outdrive1

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If you like being tied to a mower and trimmer and sprinkler repair and blah blah blah, then go real grass. I have fake grass for mine. I’m over the maintenance of real grass.


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DoughBallin14

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This is what we are leaning toward, but does anyone have real life experience with it in a hot environment? Luckily the backyard faces East so it wont see evening sun, but midday, will Fido want to put his paws on it? Worst case I have to spray it down a bit with the hose, I guess. Trying to avoid real grass, but if that is the best option I will deal with it.
Had about a 20 x 25 turf area for our old backyard and had 3 dogs. We made sure to use a mix of the deodorizer fill and base sand so the smell would absorb as much. As far as heat we had full sun after 12pm until sunset. Our installer recommended installing 4 corners of the area with old school pop up sprinklers they cut them really tight so just the tip popped up and we manually turned them off for about one minute and the turf was nice and cool and dried up fast on top but stayed cool as the water seeped to the bottom.
Average so cal temps in my area over 100 daily.
 

DB / HAV

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This above, fake grass but add sprinklers. You will be able to cool it down easily and periodically spray an enzyme product and run the sprinklers at night to wash it clean.
 

Tank0088

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My friend put fake grass in his backyard and he has two dogs. He said never again because one, it gets hot, but two, no matter how much he hosed it off and picked up poop it stank from piss and poop. It looked great but the smell ruined his backyard.
 

02HoWaRd26

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We just did 900sqft of fescue sod on one side of the backyard It’s not doing so well which really pisses me off as i love the look and feel compared to the other half that’s Bermuda grass. Can’t kill Bermuda and well the fake shit doesn’t smell good like fresh trimmed grass. If i was on a well I’d do the rest of my acreage in grass tho.
 

ONE-A-DAY

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In the summer time spray it down with vinegar and then hose it off once a month. Kills the dog piss odor.

Last weekend the pavers around our pool were 167 degrees and the fake grass was 125 degrees in the heat of the day.
 

senorpdog

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In the summer time spray it down with vinegar and then hose it off once a month. Kills the dog piss odor.

Last weekend the pavers around our pool were 167 degrees and the fake grass was 125 degrees in the heat of the day.

Just straight vinegar?
 

Ty N

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We have the fake turf, (Phx) our dogs love it! Literally lay on it till the sun is straight up in the sky. Then get a drink and go back to it. Would absolutely say yes.
 

Sangerdog

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I put in fake turf by the pool for the dog and its hotter than a fire cracker in the middle of the day so far. I cant even stand on it. I put some nice high end grass for pets. I fog it with the water hose and it works for awhile but you have to keep on it if the dog walks across it.
 

Outdrive1

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IMG_3949.jpg



This. ^^^


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2Driver

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Bermuda grass all day long. Easy to care for and I don’t switch over to rye In winter either and it stays mostly green. I cut the small patch maybe every 10 days. Nothing beats real turf. We looked into synthetic, the cost, lifespan and heat made it a no way, besides you get that plastic feeling.
 

Ziggy

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We have it in Havasu. My dog enjoys it. Doesn't seem to have much issue with summer heat on it.
I treat it with vinegar to keep odor down and hose it weekly. If I don't keep up with it then it can get ripe in the real high heat. I only have sand filler and not the "odorfree" type.
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DMF

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We have it in Havasu. My dog enjoys it. Doesn't seem to have much issue with summer heat on it.
I treat it with vinegar to keep odor down and hose it weekly. If I don't keep up with it then it can get ripe in the real high heat. I only have sand filler and not the "odorfree" type.
View attachment 876638 View attachment 876637
That is a badass picture of the dog enjoying the view!
 

Waterjunky

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A little shade in the area wouldn't hurt either.....
 
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