Artificial turf and your dog

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It's getting to be that season again here in the Phoenix area when the Bermuda grass goes dormant, turns brown, and many people overseed with annual ryegrass in order to have a nice green lawn during the time of the year when the weather is actually nice enough to be outside. I did this for many years here at The Tropical Paradise. It includes buying seeds, fertilizer, topper, and using up a huge amount of water. Annual grass is pretty but it stains, the fertilizer smells bad while the seeds are starting, and it takes several weeks before it really starts to look nice. And of course, you have to stay off of it, and that includes your dog.

Grass is so wrong in the desert, but so beautiful. I've had artificial turf here at The Tropical Paradise for over five years now, and it's great. In the summer, I don't need to go out in 100+ heat to mow it, it requires no water, the only maintenance it needs is to be swept occasionally, and you can always walk on it. And yes, it's dog-friendly! Just ask Macintosh, the good little wiener dog! It has holes that allow water, and her pee, to drain into the ground, and I scoop up her poop much more easily than on real grass. And I just hose it down every once in a while. Looks like it could use it now!

OK, I'm sounding like I'm doing a sales pitch here! But seriously, I love it. I had a new neighbor come over a couple of days ago and he didn't realize that it wasn't real grass until I told him and he looked very, very closely at it.


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