Lifelong animal lover Elizabeth Bublitz carved a business niche from her two passions – pets and plants – when she started her own design/build firm in 1998. Today, she bills her company, Pawfriendly Landscapes in Golden, Colo., as the state’s only pet-focused landscape company.
Ninety-nine percent of her firm’s work comes from clients who want to make their yards safe for their pets and aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Such an approach to backyard design makes sense, she says. After all, “The dog uses the yard more than anyone else.” Her book Pawfriendly Landscapes, published in December, is written for homeowners, but Bublitz offers tips for professionals whose clients have difficulty coexisting with their pets in their yards. Here are some answers to common problems:
- Dogs often kill the grass and create a muddy mess in high-traffic areas, like along fence lines. To keep these eyesores at bay, consider creating “runways” using rock mulch, wood mulch or pavers. The material Bublitz selects depends on the breed (greyhounds get pavers; mulch may be OK for smaller dogs), but she emphasizes it’s important to know whether the dog will eat the mulch before you install it.
- Digging is a common complaint among many dog owners. Bublitz, who co-wrote her book with a veterinarian, says it’s important to remember that certain dogs will always dig. She advocates leaving an area where it’s OK for a dog to dig, albeit one that’s out of site (think: behind the garage). When re-grading the other holes, Bublitz recommends including a layer of landscape fabric and then chicken wire wrapped in fabric. Dogs are averse to the wire’s texture and it usually deters them from digging.
- The bathroom area is another common concern for Bublitz’s clients, who grow frustrated with dog urine killing grass or shrubs. “Almost no plants withstand urine,” she says. Fortunately, most dogs concentrate their bathroom duties to one area of the yard. Bublitz prefers to remove the grass from this area and install cobbles, pavers or rock mulch (assuming the dog won’t eat it). Wood mulch requires too much maintenance, she says. “Most dogs will go on pavers,” she adds.
Another trick is to replace shrubs with other items that can act like fire hydrants, like boulders, faux boulders or bird baths. Then, Bublitz recommends adding plants with winter interest in front of the bathroom area. Consider barberries, evergreens or other thorny plants (which dogs don’t like to urinate on).