Do you own a deck? How about a fence?  

Some deck thoughts.....
after having to repair ours many times...
If you go for wood use STAIN not paint. Paint takes forever to maintain.
Then keep an air space under the deck but be prepared to keep fencing or something to keep out the neighborhood animal population.
If you can all afford it go for the new recycled plastic decking. No splinters and no paint. Keep the grill away from the edges of the deck.
No fence for us, neighborhood code :-(.

Hello Bethany. Yes, I have both. And, there is a nice backyard garden right close to the deck. That's where I enjoy the evenings, when the weather is favorable, relaxing and getting rid of the stresses of the long work day. Ofcourse, I still need to make some improvements to the deck to have more space, and to be more pleasant.

Hi Bethany, Congratulations on that new house and the fence and deck will come in time. I agree since you have dogs, the fence should come first. I have a deck but no fence, but then I don't have dogs either. Blessings.

When we bought our big house we had to put up a fence, just because we lived next the road that we traveled on to get home and we had little ones running around then. I never had a deck, I'd rather have a fence. We put it in ourselves, it was hard work but it made the value of the house increase.

I've got an invisible fence around my house. It is to keep the dog in the yard. I also have a deck. The thing I am lacing that I really, really want is a garage. I really wish that I had one and I will try to get one within the next year. I need to et a regular job first though.

Hello my friend Bethany1202 Ji,
Well, to be true, we niether have any Fence nor a Deck, and further, it is niether under pipe-line in future. We have a house and we do not intend to have hens at all. We do not keep dogs or hens to run around. At this age, we think to take care of ourselves. May God bless You and have a great time.