The Challenge

Country Kennel is an active boarding and daycare location in North Carolina and is part of the Destination Pet network. With an average of 110+ dogs being let out four to five times a day, the owners were having a difficult time keeping their dog yard attractive and tidy. With so much paw traffic, their dog yard looked like a dirt patch—and when they tried to plant grass seed in April, it would be brown and dead by June.

They needed a product that would:

1. beautify their dog yard
2. protect grass seeds and seedlings during germination and growth, and
3. stand up to the wear and tear of hundreds of paws a day. 

The Approach

Their install team prepped the ground by removing debris and adding loose dirt to the yard until there was a level surface. After prep time, it took just a few hours for three of Country Kennel’s maintenance crew to install the Natura turf with the included biodegradable anchors. In all, they installed about 1100sf of Natura, or stated another way, nearly 400sf per hour. One unforeseen obstacle was the hard and rocky ground. It was difficult to pierce the included biodegradable anchors into the ground to bite onto the turf. We’d never seen this problem before, but luckily a little ingenuity saved the day. We found that using a cordless drill to pre-drill the holes for the anchors made the job much easier—it’s just like drilling a pilot hole for a wood screw! We’ll have that trick up our sleeve for future installations—but wetting the ground the day before is also a good solution for this problem. 

Results

After installation, the owners decided to hold off on letting dogs out on the turf for a while to see how the grass would grow. While this is not necessary—the turf can be used immediately upon installation—they had the space to hold off for a bit. Within two weeks, grass was growing through. Now, as you can see in the photo to the right, they have a lush dog yard. In fact you can barely even see the Natura through the dense grass – but it is there, working at the ground level to keep the grass protected and ensure that as grass does get worn off, it can quickly regrow. Just look at the follow up photo!

"We love Natura turf and so do our dogs. Now we have a long term solution in which we have year-round ground coverage meaning no muddy areas. We can't believe how fast and thick the grass grew through the turf and we now plan on adding Natura to our other additional play areas." Nolie - Center Manager