Landscaping for Blind Dogs

As a person who used to be into serious landscaping, I find creating a yard that is user-friendly for a blind hound and still somewhat attractive a HUGE challenge.

When Ray first came to live with us, I limited changes to removing things from the yard that could poke him in the eye and keeping the patio furniture pushed out of the way. But after a couple of years of watching Ray in action and seeing his patterns, I have slowly but surely been renovating the yard to be more Ray-friendly.

Extra yard for Ray to run

Since Ray pees on everything, the vegetable garden became more than a little useless. It would either have to be fenced-in or it would have to go. After a couple of years of indecision, and with a bit of regret, the veggies were retired and that section of the yard was over-seeded with grass. Ray now has a bit more open yard to run in and I have more spare time in the summer. (click on photos to view text)

One of Ray's best features (and I hope I don't jinx it by talking about it) is that he has self-designated places to poop. There are two sections of the far back yard that he uses routinely, but in the summer, these areas become less desirable to Ray because of the growth of perennials. So, in the summer, Ray switches to his less-than-ideal (from our perspective) summer-pooping locale, the lawn.

Schematic of the poop path

In order to preclude this from happening, I added the poop-path; stepping stones that traverse the sea of perennials that crop up every year and hinder access to Ray's chosen bathrooms. Although this was somewhat successful last summer, more perennials popped up in unexpected places and made access not as easy as Ray would like. So last fall, I did more rearranging and purging of the obstructions. I am hoping for better results this year.

Up for adoption, the cauldron; 
perennial wood poppies included

Last fall we also removed some hardscapes. The concrete birdbath was relocated to the front yard after Ray got excited about something, went offtrack of his usual memorized path, and nearly knocked himself cold by running into it at full-speed. We also relocated the thing that we fondly refer to as the 'cauldron;' a planter made out of a recycled truck tire. We inherited this unique, indestructible landscaping element from a friend and have had it for years. It serves a dual purpose; in the spring and summer it's a planter, in the fall we fill it with bones and skulls and it's a Halloween decoration. The cauldron is residing in a temporary location in the front yard and is currently up for adoption.

Ray's navigation aid (fence) 
bordered by pesky trees

Because Ray uses the fence as his navigation aid, I have been relocating plants that get in his way (i.e. take a beating) to other places in order to give him a clear run. Unfortunately, a couple of large trees also block Ray's path along the fence. He knows where they are and slows his gait to navigate around them.

Stepping stones to come...

Ray also has a route that he consistently uses to get the fence in the far back, if he gets a bit off track, he tends to run into one or another of the trees that border this passageway. I removed a swath of daffodils that grow up every spring in that area, and which seem to confuse him, and this week plan on laying some stepping stones so that the path is bordered by the remaining flowers. That way, with the stones under-paw, Ray will always know where he is in space and be able to avoid crashing into the harder-than-he-is trees.

This week, in a moment of uncharacteristic optimism (aka insanity), I ordered Zoysia grass plugs for the back yard. This type of grass, if I can get it established, is particularly hardy and grows into an incredibly dense, thick mat which I hope will be able to prevent digging and

Not-so-tall fescue.

withstand dog-paw traffic. It has the added benefit of being Ray's preferred grass type to flop on while traversing the neighborhood. The current tall fescue has shown itself to be wussy in the current situation and I have given up on trying to re-establish it.

Hey, when are you going to move the rock?

Doe, di, doe. Doe di doe.