We originally put down sod in our front and backyard when we built our home. Our front yard looks great, the grass is lush and thick. The backyard grass never grew properly for many reasons: it's heavily shaded, there are more pine trees, the landscaper put ruts in the lawn by mowing it when it was heavily watered when we first put the sod down, etc. Then we got two big dogs: a german shepherd and a labrador retriever. Now my backyard is a mess: bare patchy grass (mostly mud at this point) and holes everywhere from dogs who like to dig. Despite the three times a day the dogs are walked, they love to run around outside (the yard is fenced) so we are considering artificial grass. Pros / Cons? Anything I should know about?