the word shady means little to us.. how many hours of sun per day .. and during what part of the day ...

not many plants grow to a certain height and then magically stop growing ... and one of the problems with 8 feet .. is maintaining such at 8 feet ... it usually means ladder work ... which can get problematic as the years roll by.. and you cant do such .. at which time it becomes a checkbook job ...

a pic or two of the spot would really help us.. help you.. ken

Both laurels and aucuba are shade loving broadleaved evergreen shrubs that could work well for you. English laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, appears to offer cultivars in a wider range of mature sizes (more compact forms or even dwarfs) but Carolina laurel, Prunus caroliniana, is also available as 'Compacta' (6-10') or 'Bright and Tight' (8-10'). Aucuba rarely exceeds 8'.

Thank you all. Apologies for the lack of info, i am a bit new to this.

Before i forget, I have a dog which has a habit of munching on shrubs (not just grass, apparently was a goat in a past life), so it would need to be non-poisonous.

I looked and am apparently in zone 7b is that what was needed?

As for photos and amount of shade, i just took on this morning and will take another late afternoon then post them.

Regarding height and trimming, I am fine if they grow higher than 8ft, just don't want them to stop when they are smaller than that (like some miniature boxwood looking shrubs that my neighbor planted 6 years ago and its barely knee high [they said they had gotten it intentionally and had not trimmed them]). For trimming, i can trim the sides but would prefer something that doesn't grow to like 20ft wide (the holly i mentioned are literally 20 feet wide).

I will def take a look at the laurel and prunus!

Thank you all and will post photos soon.

Look up "dogs eating grass" and see what is said about that.

Ternstroemia gymnanthera (sometimes called 'Cleyera') and Camellia sasanqua might also work. As well as some of the Illiciums such as henryi, lanceolatum or parviflorum. With a bit more sun, some of the Osmanthus should work. How many plants do you need exactly? Just one or two?