If the groundcover will come up again - if it's perennial - I would cover the ground with straw to keep some mud off the dogs and your shoes and wait for the groundcover. I'm guessing groundcover is there because grass won't grow in that much shade. Also if you plant grass and the groundcover comes up, you're going to have a mess with clumps of grass growing through the groundcover. I guess I'm saying wait and see what happens. Then you have all summer to decide what you want to do next fall. Sorry I don't have anything more encouraging to say.

It sounds a lot like my back yard. What we have done is to create garden areas along the sides with a few garden islands here and there. The rest is mulched with hardwood chips (which you can sometimes get for free from tree services) to create a play area for the kids (or maybe dogs). I don't know if that would be viable for your purposes, but it has worked well for us since grass doesn't grow in shade and most other groundcovers don't like a lot of traffic. -Ais.

Consider Mondo grass. It will do fine in the shade, will spread despite the tree roots and your dogs will not wear it out. You would probably be wasting your time and money trying a turf grass.

Moss gardens can be amazing looking in deep shade.