I live in Knoxville, TN. My back lawn sees a lot of action year-round with two medium-sized dogs. I think much of it is Bermuda grass, since it runs close to the ground, is very thick and soft in summer, and goes completely dormant (dead-looking) in the winter. If I have the wrong grass, please let me know.
Here are some current pictures of a patch in different lights:
Secondly, when the dormant season hits, my dogs are pretty rough on this grass. Since the soil is loose they dig at it, and even the spots that are just high traffic get very muddy. When it rains, I pretty much have to bathe them every time they go outside to save my carpet.
My question is, can I somehow "toughen up" these areas of the lawn with supplemented grass breeds, or should I just herbicide the whole thing and roll out new grass? Obviously, I'd rather take the cheaper route of just dropping some new seed, but I've heard Bermuda is like a weed that will choke out almost everything else.
Disclaimer - I'm pretty much as far from an expert in this field as you can get. :)