The picture above shows the new rainy day yard, with patio areas and a gravel potty section. This is where the dogs go to potty outside when the weather is bad. This has worked out amazingly well. You may notice in the picture that the yard outside the gate is still just dirt in this picture. That has since been resolved with some bermuda grass plugs and seed and a twice the usual water bill to get everything growing good. The results are shown in the next picture.
I also added some large pavers to make a walkway to the back gate of the grassy area and also over to the water spigot. The final part of this puppy yard project will be to build a puppy playground on top of the old concrete cistern you see in the middle of the yard. It will have a deck and a ramp, with corner uprights to allow a roof. My previous puppy playground at my old house had steps on one side also, but due to the beautiful set of steps up to my back door, I don’t see a need for steps. My puppies will definitely learn how to use the stairs.
I am installing chain link guard panels on each side of the stairs to prevent any puppies from falling over the edge. Usually they don’t fall but might get pushed off by another puppy, so the panels are ordered and will be installed next week. Construction on the puppy playground should be complete as well.