As a real estate investor, I've seen pets get hurt by xeriscaping. Dogs chew rocks, kids scrape arms on spiky plants. We fixed this by adding smooth flagstone paths and soft ground covers instead of sharp rocks. We also replaced toxic plants with dog-friendly natives like sage and yarrow. My advice? Get down on your hands and knees and see the yard from your kid's or dog's view before you plant anything.
In xeriscaping, large accent boulders, stacked rock walls, and dry creek beds are commonly used to create a natural, desert-like appearance. These types of features often have abrupt elevation drops — e.g., 12 to 18 inches deep — which are not visible at first glance; these could be located behind plants, in a dry creek bed, or next to accent boulders. Young children and pets will often run, jump, chase balls, and explore, and when they do so on xeriscaped areas, the edges of the elevated features can be a great hazard. Without realizing it, either a child or a pet can easily step off one of the edges and fall down, and potentially suffer from a sprained ankle, twisted knee, broken bone, cut, or head injury, especially since there isn't much cushion available due to the typical hard surfaces of a xeriscaped design (rocks, gravel, compacted dirt). An extremely successful way to address this potential problem is by creating clearly defined, stable pathways and stepping stone trails throughout the yard. By doing so, designers can graphically plan out the most common routes that children and pets use, i.e., from the back door to the play area, around seating zones, etc., and create wide, smooth pathways using materials such as flagstone, pavers, or decomposed granite.