Old Friends Senior Dogs: Mud is a Dirty Word

If you saw the picture of Gracie that I put on Facebook last week, you already know that we have a mud problem.


Gracie - last week and various other times...

Admittedly, we also have a Gracie problem, but since that's not going away anytime soon (she's vowed to stay a puppy until she's at least 15 years old), we'll have to deal with the mud problem. It doesn't help a bit that a natural spring goes through the lower, flatter and more popular section of our yard, leaving the water table just a few inches underground for most of the year. Gracie and friends have tried their best to dig a pond, but have only succeeded in creating something akin to the La Brea Tar Pits.
In all honesty, this has been going on since way before Gracie...
Michael built a boardwalk over the mud several years ago to give a clear path across the yard. That helped most of the time, but the dogs didn't quite understand that they were supposed to walk on the boardwalk all of the time, and they had things to do in the grass so there was a lot of off-boardwalk activity going on. The grass didn't flourish, both in the shade and under paws of all sizes. After the big rain in 2010, there was no grass or topsoil left at all.
We put pine straw over the entire area, replenishing it every few weeks throughout the year. It helps a lot in most seasons, except for the spring with the regular rainfalls.
Our latest problem has been lizards. The lizards go under the boardwalk, so Gracie goes digging after them, followed by much of the rest of the gang. Pretty soon the boardwalk will be an overpass....
Today Michael is putting paving bricks along the side of the boardwalk. He'll cover them with straw so they don't look so bad. That will keep the lizards and then (hopefully) the dogs out. While he's doing it, Michael has multitudes of helpers; Belly's eating the sand, Charlotte is eating the mud, Toby is playing in the sand, Maggie is digging a hole....what next?