Schultz\u2019s original concept, part of her senior capstone, was focused on solving practical problems in veterinary outdoor environments, such as erosion, water drainage, and shade coverage. She worked closely with faculty and staff from the College of Veterinary Medicine to evaluate the terrain, understand biosecurity requirements, and propose solutions that balance functionality, aesthetics, and animal well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/turf-photo-PVH-2-1024x576.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2281-2-1024x683.jpg\")
This summer, the hospital implemented one of the recommendations, which involved replacing natural turf in an outdoor dog run with a new synthetic material. Located adjacent to the hospital\u2019s Intensive Care and Intermediate Care units, the dog run serves as a vital area supporting the recovery of canine patients. The natural grass could not hold up to Indiana\u2019s fluctuating weather patterns and resulted in an unsatisfactory animal care space during bad weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe daily usage of the ICU run for patients contributed to ongoing challenges and unfavorable conditions,\u201d said Director of Hospital Operations Joey Woodyard. \u201cWe were thrilled to work with Mary and the College of Agriculture to identify options that created an enduring solution for this important element to our patients\u2019 care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The replacement turf is called K9Grass Elite, which is specially designed for pets. The product was installed by Forever Lawn of Northeast Indiana. \u201cMost people are used to seeing that black plastic backing on turf, which has drainage holes punched every few inches to let rainwater and urine pass through,\u201d noted Jori Poling, the company\u2019s administrative coordinator. She said K9Grass is different: it\u2019s completely woven, with no plastic backing at all. Instead, liquid drains straight through the surface immediately and does not have to run to any drainage holes. \u201cAlong with the woven construction, the product also has antimicrobial protection built into the blade that continually releases over time,\u201d Poling said. A student-led landscape redesign project has taken root at Purdue University, in the form of outdoor upgrades at the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital. Originally developed by Mary Schultz, a graduating senior in the College of Agriculture\u2019s Horticulture and Landscape Architecture program, the project reimagined outdoor spaces used for animal recovery, training, and enrichment. This summer, the hospital implemented one of the recommendations, which involved replacing natural turf in an outdoor dog run with a new synthetic material.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":30967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,17,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hospitals","category-in-the-news","category-services"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30964"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33189,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30964\/revisions\/33189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The installation took place in June. Purdue Veterinary Medicine\u2019s Lead Facilities Manager Scott Fix said the work required one day of prep and one day to install. Included as part of the project is a site inspection as well as maintenance twice per year for the first five years. \u201cThe vendor was highly recommended by the Humane Society for Greater Lafayette,\u201d Fix said.
The result is a green space for canine patients that remains suitable regardless of the weather. The improvement also serves as a lasting tribute to Schultz, who developed her landscape design for the hospital during the spring semester. After the semester ended, Schultz\u2019s capstone project was provided to the College of Veterinary Medicine for consideration in future planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Intermediate](\"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LA-Turf-project-1024x576.jpg\")