Dog run

Midletonrare

Hello all,
I am new here and just wanted to say hi I am also planning on building a dog run and was wondering what the best flooring to use is. The options I am considering would be 1) a concrete base 2) wood chippings or 3) gravel. I'd be curious to hear peoples opinions on this.
Regards,
Midletonrare

morganafay

I'd definitely say concrete, unless your dog is trained to go in one area. Mine just poo everywhere :rolleyes: but I can just scoop it up and powerwash the yard.

fishfoodie

morganafay wrote: »

I'd definitely say concrete, unless your dog is trained to go in one area. Mine just poo everywhere :rolleyes: but I can just scoop it up and powerwash the yard.

That's interesting. If you gave them a couple of sqr meters of sand in one part would they not go there rather than just anywhere else ?

TooManyDogs

I would suggest concrete too, you end up scooping loads of gravel up when picking up the poo, and mine just love digging and kicking the sand everywhere, also sand gets stuck to their feet and they bring into their beds so everything is covered in sand.

So for me it's concrete as lowest maintenance

morganafay

fishfoodie wrote: »

That's interesting. If you gave them a couple of sqr meters of sand in one part would they not go there rather than just anywhere else ?

Probably not! They have a shed and if it's raining they'll poo in the shed! They also have a picnic table that they sleep on all day and one day one of them poohed on the table?! I'm surprised she didn't fall off. The smartest one will go on the grass in a corner, but the others go anywhere. :rolleyes: I could train them not to I guess, but I'm not too bothered. It's easy to clean up on dry days but not if it's rainy. I just try to let them go into the fields as much in the morning and evening and hope they'll go there instead

And the cats would poop in the sand, and the dogs would eat it! And then try to lick my face. The cats don't poop in the garden, which is good, because the dogs love eating poo.

Dogs really are disgusting animals! And mine are pretty stupid, lol, even my rabbits will go in the corner and the dogs won't!

goat2

Midletonrare wrote: »

Hello all,
I am new here and just wanted to say hi I am also planning on building a dog run and was wondering what the best flooring to use is. The options I am considering would be 1) a concrete base 2) wood chippings or 3) gravel. I'd be curious to hear peoples opinions on this.
Regards,
Midletonrare

i have a dog run the lingth of the back of my home, and it is cement base, dog runs get smelly, so you need to be able to wash it down, i also have those recycled rubber pavers, i beleive they are made from old tyres they are eighteen inches by eighteen inches, they feel beautiful soft and warm for them to lie on by the back door, they put up with the pee and washing

pat58

its just my 2cents concrete and get it rubber coated very easy wash down and disinfect and keep the ped in the corner:rolleyes:

Midletonrare

Thanks guys, concrete it is then ! The ease of power washing it clean sounds good to me

seamus

Concrete is the way to go.

My parents initially just had the dirt/grass under theirs, but they found that with the rain and the dogs walking all over it, it just turned to mud and the dogs got filthy. I imagine gravel and/or wood chippings would eventually go the same way. So they put down concrete slabs instead and it's much cleaner. The dogs love to lie on the slabs on hot days too

Sigma Force

Yeh concrete is the best. Rubber tiles are hard to clean and bits of poo stick in them some dogs may chew on them but perhaps if their house area is big enough a few in there for a different texture. They shouldn't poo in the run or rarely poo in the run if they are allowed out for regular toilet breaks and walks etc.

We've patio slabs would of prefered concrete but was cheaper option to get the patio since we were doing the aviary at the same time and had some left over.

You can scrub the living daylights out of concrete or patio slabs and if a dog gets a dose of the runs you can bleach the whole thing down.

morganafay

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

They shouldn't poo in the run or rarely poo in the run if they are allowed out for regular toilet breaks and walks etc.

I wish my dogs knew that! They're out for hours everyday, running around the fields, walking in the countryside, and they still insist on pooing in the run. :rolleyes: I let them out first thing in the morning and they run around, but they poo at night in the run. Maybe I should change the time of day I feed them or something . . . ah well. We're getting rid of the run in a few weeks anyway and fencing the garden (finally! been nagging my dad for 4 years about that, even though it's a really big run.) so maybe they'll learn to go in a flower bed or at least on the grass, it'd look better and be easier to clean if it was all in one place.

kopfan77

Midletonrare wrote: »

Hello all,
I am new here and just wanted to say hi I am also planning on building a dog run and was wondering what the best flooring to use is. The options I am considering would be 1) a concrete base 2) wood chippings or 3) gravel. I'd be curious to hear peoples opinions on this.
Regards,
Midletonrare

I didnt want to go for the concrete option myself despite its ease to clean etc, I thought it was very permanent. I might decide to move the run etc in time and so I went with gravel/grass combination.
My 6month GSD is happy as a pig in muck in it.

Sigma Force

morganafay wrote: »

I wish my dogs knew that! They're out for hours everyday, running around the fields, walking in the countryside, and they still insist on pooing in the run. :rolleyes: I let them out first thing in the morning and they run around, but they poo at night in the run. Maybe I should change the time of day I feed them or something . . . ah well. We're getting rid of the run in a few weeks anyway and fencing the garden (finally! been nagging my dad for 4 years about that, even though it's a really big run.) so maybe they'll learn to go in a flower bed or at least on the grass, it'd look better and be easier to clean if it was all in one place.

Feeding them in the morning instead will put an end to a lot of pooing in the run, also feeding something like Burns helps keep their poo solid and they tend to poop less often than with something like ped. chum.

Coal shovel is a great pooper scooper.
If they're anything like my dogs they'll poop in the middle of the lawn just after you've cut it and it's looking all nice.

We've a large garden but have found no matter how much you scoop poop (3 dogs=lots of poop) wellies are the only answer so if we do step on a 'land mine' we can hose it off.

Dogs are so much more clever than humans, they never accidently step in our poop.