OK, for evergreen, very low growing, dog tolerant and able to withstand the dry shade situation that exists under a bigleaf maple, your list will need to be revised a bit. Eliminate the following:

Gallium odoratum - not evergreen and subject to fungal dieback annually in our climate.
Baby tears and corsican mint - not reliably evergreen, won't tolerate much foot traffic and need even and regular moisture.
Selaginella also requires more moisture than it will receive in this situation.
Irish or scotch moss need lots of sun and regular moisture also (they are not true mosses and don't do well in shade).

Of all the requirements, I'd be less concerned about height. Ajuga, Vinca minor, Rubus calcynoides and salal (Gaultheria shallon) will be your best bets - tough, determined and heavy duty evergreen plants that will withstand the conditions. Dwarf mondo (Ophiopogon 'Nana') will work also but is very slow to establish. Lamium can also work nicely - evergreen, often variegated or heavily patterned foliage, dry shade tolerant, but may not hold up well to dog traffic. Arenaria is a good choice for between the pavers or Azorella trifurcata (bolax).

Any of these will still need regular watering through their first growing season (at least) to be come established and it would help a lot to keep the dogs off as much as possible until they get settled in and start spreading.

Thanks for your advice. Rubus calcynoides and Azorella trifurcata are good ideas. I wasn't sure about baby tears and selaginella, so those are gone. And although the irish moss came up in a search for shade groundcovers, you're right; I've never seen it in much shade, let alone under leaf cover. I am a bit concerned about the slow growth of Dwarf mondo; I know my parents won't want to weed much! Ajuga and Arenaria will stay on my list.

However, I've always seen Galium odoratum evergreen here, though a bit scraggly looking in the winter, perhaps by the fungus you mentioned, but I'm not so concerned about that since I plan to plant several species. The corsican mint I have in another part of the garden, in shade, with no watering, and I've never seen it lose its leaves, but I'm not sure how it would withstand leaf cover. It won't be stepped on much, as it will be around the stepping stones. (which is also the moistest part of the area) It certainly would smell nice! I won't plant vinca or lamium - they are much too invasive, and the vinca is poisonous to the dog if she were to nibble on it. Salal, though I love the plant, would be far too big - I still need to be able to walk on the plants if necessary. I have done plenty of bushwacking through salal forests in my life!

Sweet woodruff, Gallium odoratum, is most definitely herbaceous - believe me, I buy and sell the stuff professionally and I've been trying to remove it myself for years. Of any of the plants listed, this is the one I'd consider most aggressive and invasive. I wouldn't worry either about the lamium or vinca as being too invasive - lamium is not invasive at all (although certain forms of Lamiastrum are) but increases in spread very manageably and vinca in dry shade is not invasive either. Having lived and gardened with dogs all my life, they are unlikely to nibble on anything other than a few forms of ornamental grasses or edible crops and the listing of plants with toxic properties if ingested far exceeds those that are not - you'd probably have to remove the better part of your landscape if that was a primary concern.

Groundhuggers would be optimal because I don't want the plants to cover from view and yet not protect a foot from dog poo! :P

Question: I could not find any references that said Azorella can be grown in shade. All I found was ones that said light shade in hot climates. And the one time I remember seeing it was in a sunny exposed location. Will it really withstand leaf cover?

I have tried almost every groundcover listed here, and other than ivy - the only one that does well is creeping jenny. I guess that is because of our clay soil. It seems fairly easy to control, but now I am bored with it. Think this year I will try some stepables. Suz

I wouln't tell my worst enemy to plant irish moss. It was very invasive for me and I am STILL trying to eradicate it after many years. I have had some luck with ajuga. The burgundy colored ones. I planted a green and white varigated one also, but the burgundy variety far surpasses it.
Good Luck
Von

My most favorite ground cover of all times is New Zealand Brass Buttons. I have tried most of them that do well in Washington and this one has preformed very well for me, it is a steppable, does well in the shade is fairly agressive and well behaved at the same time, meaning it wont cover rocks or other ornaments, it goes around them. It gets one inch tall.
botanical name "Leptinella squalida" formerly "Cotula"
PLatts Black is a nice selection, give it a try!!

Salal - always a wise choice, and edible, too. B^) Consider a shrub, like evergreen huckleberry. I planted Corylus Cornuta Californica (sp?) under my Acer macrophyllum, and I keep the number of stems down. Check out any native understory plant for this situation. Sadler's oak can be fun and likes moisture. It doesn't look or act like an oak.

Then again, I'm a bit crazy; I'm trying to grow Brewer's oaks in a grove in the front yard in the SF Bay Area. B^) The triple takes when people realize that those under one foot tall plants (6'-10' at maturity which will likely happen sometime long after I'm dead) are perfect miniature Garry oaks. I've got them spaced for maturity.