I'm curious, why is grass not a consideration? Shade? Energetic large breed dog?

I’m not sure what “child safe” means, but it might be worth investigating the source of the rubber mulch, as small children tend to put things in their mouth and spend a lot more time (than older and taller folks) literally in the mulch. Not sure what a child could be exposed to. Ditto for chips/gravel. We are in NE and school playgrounds are required to use a certified “clean” wood chip that costs about 2-3x more but it is screened and certified to be contaminant-free. It could probably still be a concern if ingested. Gravel dust is also probably not ideal to be exposed to. Good luck.

Thanks for all your replies folks! Yeh, I’d read about possible contaminants in the rubber.. sod would be good but Texas so would need irrigation and also it’s mostly in shade and dog would dig that baby up good.

Artificial grass might be ideal.. I wondered about how that’d work with doggie poop but probably workable. I guess not the cheapest option but probably best in other respects.

I believe artificial sod is permeable and you can hose it off. They sell some specifically for dog areas.

Artificial turf is fine w/ dog waste as long as you hose it down thoroughly at LEAST daily in a hot climate. We did it for dog runs in AZ and where the clients weren't good about hosing it down, it about knocked you over when you came in the yard

Man alive - hose down daily?! Might have to reconsider that one!