Choosing your grass
Artificial Grass for Dogs: What to Know Before Installing
No more mud tracked into the house, holes dug in the lawn, or patches burnt by urine. Artificial grass solves several problems that dog owners know all too well.
But it creates one problem you need to plan for: urine doesn’t evaporate the way rain does. If the drainage hasn’t been designed with that in mind, odours follow. Here’s how to get it right.
Drainage comes before everything else
This is the one point that really matters. Rainwater passes through, spreads out and dries. Urine is different: it contains ammonia and organic compounds that get trapped wherever liquid pools.
Three requirements, in order:
- Perforated turf, with a fast-draining backing across the whole surface, not just around the edges.
- A draining sub-base of compacted crushed gravel, which channels water away instead of holding onto it.
- A slight slope, often around one percent, so nothing pools in low spots.
Turf laid over poorly prepared clay soil will eventually smell, whatever the quality of the product. The steps are set out in our installation guide.
Infill makes all the difference to odour
Standard silica sand holds onto moisture, and odour along with it. For a garden with a dog, two options work better:
- Infill-free turf, where nothing holds the liquid: the simplest option to live with on a small area.
- Antibacterial infill, treated to neutralise ammonia rather than mask it.
Do claws damage the turf?
Much less than people assume, provided the fibre is right. A dense monofilament yarn takes the running and sudden starts without tearing. Low-grade fibrillated yarn splits and flattens quickly under the same wear.
The real weak point isn’t the surface but the seams and edges. A dog that finds a loose edge will pull at it, just for fun. That’s why proper perimeter fixing and well-made joints matter, especially along walls and thresholds.
Digging, chewing, lying down
A dog that used to dig in bare soil no longer has anything to dig into: the surface is sealed. It’s often the benefit owners notice first.
Puppies may chew at an edge in the first few weeks. A well-fixed border and a bit of supervision are usually enough to get through this phase.
One last practical point: the surface heats up in the sun, and a dog will happily lie on it. Planning a shaded area is as much for your dog as for you, as we explain in our article on artificial grass and heat.
Maintenance in practice
- Solid waste is picked up as normal, followed by a rinse of the area with water.
- Urine needs regular rinsing of favourite spots: once or twice a week in summer is generally enough.
- A more thorough clean, two to three times a year, with an enzymatic product suited to artificial grass. No bleach, no solvents: they damage the backing.
- Brushing high-traffic areas to lift the fibres back up.
The full schedule is in our maintenance guide.
What to ask before you order
Three questions rule out most bad surprises: what is the drainage capacity of the backing, what infill is planned, and how will the edges be fixed. A supplier who answers all three precisely is selling a product that will last.
Our garden ranges can be compared hands-on at the Casablanca showroom, and the technical site visit and measurement are free.
