pine straw? (Denver, Craig, Elizabeth: house, to buy, live in)

[hello.monday]

hello,

i live in denver and have two large dogs that i keep confined to the side yard at my house when they are outside. this works out well for other parts of the yard, but the side yard has been reduced to nothing but dirt.

so i have been researching different coverings to make the yard more dog-friendly, and my house cleaner, and have decided that pine straw would make a great, economical solution. i would prefer rocks but cannot afford them due to the size of the yard (approx. 800 sq ft)

anyway, i can't find anyone in the denver area that sells pine straw. is it even available to buy out here?

thanks for your help!

[JstPam]

What is pine straw?? I have horses and dogs and have never heard of pine straw. We use pole peelings in the dog run, easy on their feet, and clean.

[ottodog]

Originally Posted by JstPam

What is pine straw??

Pine needles I believe.

[Nav]

hello.monday
Pine straw is simply pine needles. If you want some free contact me via private message. I live in Elizabeth in a ponderosa pine forest and you are welcome to as much as you want to take. I just gave away a 5x8x5 trailer full to a friend a week or so ago.

Nav

[hello.monday]

Originally Posted by ottodog

Pine needles I believe.

yup.

i guess i might be going in a really wrong direction - i know they're used commonly in the south, but maybe you just can't get them around here in bulk?

pole peelings would work, too. i'm planning on doing an entire 20' x 40' area for the dogs to play in...do you think they would work well in such a large space? do you have to replace it often, or just fill in when it starts to biodegrade? where do you buy it from?

[BlueWillowPlate]

heh
I mostly grew up in Denver and never heard the term "pine straw" until I moved here to north Florida. (And of course, we do use it here.)
However, when I lived in Denver, we just used cedar mulch for the dog run and it worked fine, probably easier cleaning up after the dogs with mulch than with pine straw... We did replace sections of it once or twice a year.

[Legs1357]

If you have a big dog who runs A LOT i'm not sure the pine needles would do very much for you. They would probably be helpful at first but would soon be scattered, trampled, and moved to less run-on areas...and you'd be back down to mud. We have this problem with our dog who actually does the same thing with mulch as well...

[couldbebear]

Nav

Do you still offer the pine needles? And if so does one have to rake them off the ground or are they in a pile?

Larry

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Nav's last post was almost four years ago. If you are looking specifically for pine needles, maybe you could advertise on Craigslist.