I know exactly what your going through except my houses rented and Loki has wrecked the garden with a mixture of digging, running round and dog pee killing the grass, I am going to stick some grass seed out whilst we are away and hope that it grows well durring the two week respite from loki but im sure it will be back to mud again in no time, as for the dirty feet and floors it is impossible to get it all off with a towel no mater how long you wipe them and we have carpet by the back door which is becoming rather grubby and as I say its not our house so its a real worry!
Ive thought about keeping a bucket off water by the door and trying to dip his feet in before using the towel in an attempt to get most of the mud off first not sure how successful it will be may try giving it a go and will let you know how I get on! Failing that maybe the dog dry bags may be and idea to get their feet dry before they walk it round the house, I cant see loki being happy to be trapped in one of those though!

Here are a few pics although it actually doesn't look half so bad in the pics. I promise you though when you walk in it you sink an inch or two in places.
Ian can't use bark chips because as I said in my original post the dogs love to eat them in fact as we pass the play park they go mad to get them.

Close up of the ground on the garden as you will see it doesn't look so bad on pics of my garden as an overall but this is what the ground is like between the clumps of grass.



Looking down right handside of garden



Looking down my garden from the little patio by the back door. This shows the whole width and length of garden.



This is a really thick gloopy bit where they chase the cats although not looking half a thick and horrible as it really is.





this is showing back of my house with small patio leading onto garden.

It definately needs digging over but it's probably too wet to attempt it, how about a really thick layer of straw on top of it. It's cheap won't look pretty but will actually be quite good for the soil in the long run.

Thats a good idea.
What about barricading off the patio so they can't get on the grass???? Or does your dog want to spend on the grass?
The trouble is dogs get used to spending on certain surfaces so if your dog is used to spending on the mud/grass it will be hard to persuade it to do otherwise...hard, but not impossible. :smt002
Blocking off the patrio/grass, may be your best option. We had to make a spending area for the pups, we did so cheaply with trellis and bamboo cane, would that work along your patio??? You could then put grass seed down when it isn't Christmas?

Brilliant idea there!! Even better would be to get some seed hay coz that will encourage new grass to grow there too! I used to put straw done in very muddy patches by my horse's stable and in the end that all got trodden in and muddy too, but with dogs, it will be a doddle and could possibly cure your problem!! I hope!!

Pop your wellies on and use a garden folk to pop drainage holes in the mud/grass.....

Unfortunatly patio is very very small won't even fit tiny round table and 4 chairs (people sitting) on it.
I am still thinking slabbing out the worst areas. Would this be hard for me to do myself? they don't have to be perfect, just give me a better paved area.
My big girl will only toilet on grass so she will need a bit left.
But I thought I may be able to pick up some old slabs or end of line ones cheaply and just mix and match. At least that would conquer the cat persuit area and the worst areas.

Phone your local council, sometimes they let you have slabs free of charge!!!! They did with me when I wanted some for outside my stable which was in a wet field. Mind you, they are quite big ones and are very heavy!!! Sometimes they have those rubber ones that they've used for children's play areas, and they could let you have any leftovers f.o.c. or maybe for a small charge?? It's really worth a try phoning them. I suggest the Highways Dept. and if they can't help you, they will tell you who can. HOpe that helps! If there's two of you to life them you'll be able to throw them down yourself, but the rubber ones would be fantastic for you.

How about slate chippings???

Its bigger than gravel and i bet no dog would try to eat it.

The internet is the cheapest place to source it from and expect to pay around £65-£70 for a 3/4 ton bag (750kgs) which would be delivered by lorry to the nearest point of access.I can sort of guesstimate that you would need approximately 3 bags (2 1/4 tons).

You will also need weed supressing membrane which isnt too expensive when bought off the roll at builders merchants.

Another option though is gravel (also referred to as ballast) which is much cheaper at around £30 per ton.Avoid pea gravel though if you've got cats living nearby cause they'll use it as a toilet and opt for 20mm ballast instead cause they hate walking on it.Your local builders merchant should be your cheapest place cause they will source it locally and cuts out the middlemen.

I think your garden looks quite good compared to ours... Ours is like the muddy bit in your pic but all over.. we have slabbed over bits of it but can't slab it all as we need to leave 15ft square for the pool in the summer!!..

We got most of our slabs free from the free ads...