Hi Christy, wow, you have a nice size yard!

Are your dogs chewers, diggers or both...furniture or plants? Short of aversion training or railing off the patio or constructing landscape beds that are harder to reach, a smaller fenced area for them play in while they can't be supervised might work well.

We have a fog system and couldn't be happier with it. Even high pressure systems are not very effective if the wind is blowing hard, though, otherwise, they work great. The mist systems that just run off the hose and the low pressure pump systems can be a constant hassle without much benefit. I wouldn't recommend anything but a high pressure system for tangible cooling results.

Hardscaping can be beautiful. Did you have specific questions in mind? You might browse through photo galleries of pool or hardscape design companies for ideas.