Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

This particular Mr. Smarty Plants is not a dog owner, but we have observed that puppies + plants = puppies. And not only will it be expensive to keep them in plant chew toys, but many plants have poisonous parts. Puppies are not too discriminating, apparently, and you don't want sick puppies in your side yard. We are trying to visualize the layout of your property, so we're not sure what will work, but our suggestion is that you continue to place some sort of barrier to keep the puppies from digging their way out, but do the planting outside of the fence. Plants on the west side of the dog run will provide shade in the middle and late day, whether there is a fence between them or not. Your best bet there is shrubs, as they will attain a height for some shade fairly soon, as opposed to more slow-growing trees, but will not get so large that they are unmanageable (as opposed to the puppies.) Since, as you say, you work for a nursery, you probably don't need plant suggestions or even plant care from us, and can make selections that have no poisonous parts, like berries, that might grow through the fence (assuming it's a chain link fence).