Animal Welfare Professionals

Good afternoon everyone! I'm in charge of a very old facility that has concrete kennels for the indoors and "outdoors" area. This makes it difficult to house-train a dog, or tell if one is already trained, especially since the "outdoor" area is enclosed behind a wall and a roof. 

I would like to add something to the "outdoor" section that would provide a sign of outdoors for the dogs and was thinking about astroturf/artifical grass. This would also solve the other problem of having a slick surface that the dogs slide on and create a totally putrid mess of by the next morning.

Is there any specific type or brand that might work for a dog kennel? A type that cleans easily and won't tear, shred or break quickly?

Hi Brian,  I'm an architect with Animal Arts who specializes in animal shelter projects.  K9Grass http://k9grass.com/ is a good artificial turf company, and it is really important that you consider how the grass is installed so that there is proper drainage *under* the grass.  Placing it directly on concrete nearly ensures that stale urine, fecal matter, and contagions will become trapped at the bottom of the artificial turf and create substantial odor (and potential disease spread) over time.  K9Grass or any other artificial turf should either be installed over a gravel bed (per the manufacturer's recommendations), or on a lifted tray system if being placed over a concrete surface (K9Grass makes a system exactly for this purpose).  You will want to make sure that any indoor applications likewise have drains underneath.  K9Grass could answer your specific questions, and they have material describing how to install their product on the raised system.  Any good company should also be willing to send you a free sample and to answer technical questions.   Just think about being the one having to clean it whenever you look at any of these products and their recommended installations, and that helps give you good perspective on whether you feel like it will be compatible for your use.  I hope this helps!