Create a Backyard Dog Recreation Park

Why Build a Backyard Dog Recreation Park?

If you have a dog and you want them to exercise and have fun during the day building a dog recreation park in your backyard goes to the top of your DIY list. A well-exercised dog sleeps better and is less prone to destructive habits. Plus, it’s just fun seeing your dog enjoying themselves, playing, and interacting with your children.

Taking your dog to the local dog park isn’t always feasible. Fortunately, you have a backyard, and putting together a backyard dog park can be a family affair, inexpensive, and a lot of fun. There are many reasons you might want to build a dog recreation park in your backyard. See if any of these reasons fit your family:

• Your dog is older or has health issues
• Your dog doesn’t socialize well with other dogs
• You have young children and dogs and both are too much to oversee at a dog park
• Your work hours or commute are long so visiting a dog park isn’t feasible
• You work from home and taking breaks to play with your dog gives you both an excuse to be outside and exercise
• You prefer a simple solution rather than commuting to a dog park
• You have a dog that is timid and easily inhibited by other dogs
• You want a fun DIY project for your family and happy dogs

Creating Your Backyard Dog Park

Creating your backyard dog park doesn’t need to be difficult, time-consuming, or expensive! Be sure to keep your dog’s age and abilities in mind when designing your backyard dog park. Most dog recreation parks include some standard features, such as jumps, weave poles, chutes, rope pulls, and agility tunnels. Now the fun begins!

Dog Pools Are Great Fun!

Most dogs love water and dog pools are a favorite pastime for most dogs especially when the weather gets hot! Dog pools are low-impact and great for older dogs, and young and old dogs alike love chasing float toys in the pool. You can purchase a premade dog pool or use a child’s wading pool.

Pick your pool size based on your dog’s size and weight, considering water displacement when choosing the depth of the pool. This is not an activity for your dog to do unattended. Adding ice cubes or floating toys to the pool for your dog to chase just increases the fun factor! When the pool play is over be sure to drain the pool and put it away. Stagnant water is a breeding ground for mosquitos and other problems.

Dog Teeter-Totters are Great for Agility

If you have young dogs with a lot of energy a dog teeter-totter is a great DIY project for your backyard. Dogs love jumping for frisbees and other moving objects and setting up a stationary pull toy is the next best option for hours of playtime for your dog. This is an activity that takes supervision so one dog doesn’t send another dog flying, but it’s great for agility and burning calories. You can buy a premade dog teeter-totter, but making one is easy with PVC pipe and wood and only takes a couple of hours.

Dog Tire Tunnels for Hours of Fun

Tire tunnels take up a bit of space, so you need a larger backyard to accommodate a dog tire tunnel, but they provide hours of fun and games when you join the mix. The tunnels are fun and they give your dog a place to cool off on a hot day. Most dogs love tunnels, but not so good for older dogs with joint or mobility issues.

Making your own tire tunnels is easier than you think. You can get used tires from a junkyard or tire shop. Figure out your course first to know how many tires to buy and then you will be digging a small trench to make sure the tire is secure in the ground and can’t be knocked over in boisterous play. Tire tunnels are long-lasting and inexpensive to create lots of fun hours for your dogs.

Create a Sandbox or Digging Area

Dogs are naturally inclined to dig, some breeds of dogs more than others. Most dogs like having a job and digging are one of their favorite past times. Giving them a great place to dig instead of your flower beds or vegetable garden is a double win!

You can make your own sandbox or digging area by filling a play pool with sand, just make sure it is playground sand so it is safe and hasn’t been treated with chemicals. Be sure to cover your dog’s sandbox when not being used so they don’t use it as a litter box. We suggest building your own sandbox with redwood or similar wood, installing hinges on the sandbox, and then attaching a wooden lid when the sandbox is not in use.

Dog Agility Jumps

Dog jumps are a great way to help your dog burn off lots of calories and it goes to the top of the list for your dog recreation park if you have high-energy dogs! Dog agility jumps are so easy to make out of PVC pipe and connectors. Be sure to make it so you can move the vertical bar to different heights and also anchor your PVC base to the ground with landscape staples to avoid knock overs. Be sure to keep the horizontal bar at the height your dog can jump and make sure to keep the area free of rocks and debris. Starting the agility bar low and slowly moving it up as your dog’s abilites progress is best, always err on the side of caution, you want this fun, not dangerous for your dog.

Dog Toy Spring Pole

This toy will get a high-energy dog playing for hours. Just make sure the spring you buy can take the weight and the pull strength of your dog. A dog spring pole features a rope with a toy or ball attached from a spring coil at the top that lets your dog wear himself out leaping, tugging, and twisting to get the toy. This is great for Labradors, German Shepards, Jack Russels, Huskies, and other high-energy dogs. Dogs like variety so it’s great to change out the toy or ball attached from time to time to give them variety so they don’t get bored with their toys.

A-Frames, Weave Poles & More

In designing your dog recreation park, you can make it as simple or complicated as your time, money, and abilities allow. There are so many different recreation items you can add to your dog’s backyard recreation park, such as a-frames, weave poles, splash pads, slop and slides, dog swings, and dog slides, many of these items can be premade but also make excellent DIY projects at a much lower cost.

The idea of a dog recreation area is to keep your dog exercised and entertained. Some hints to make your dog recreation fun: add food as a treat for a job well done, experiment with what works best for your dog, and don’t leave your dog unattended, so this area will need to be fenced off if it has activities that need supervision, sand all wood and make sure nails and screws are all below the surface, because the surface needs to be smooth, use dog-safe products, and above all have fun with your dog or dogs in your backyard recreation area!

We would love to see your photos of your backyard dog recreation park and you can send them to info@shedwindowsanddmore.com. We couldn’t think of a better holiday present for your canine friend than a backyard recreation park, it will be the go-to place for all your friends with dogs in your neighborhood!