My backyard is in terrible condition and I plan on putting some new sod down. Due to my house and trees, there's quite a bit of shade, plus I have three dogs (two of which are around 50 lbs each). I realize I'm never going to have an amazing lawn, but anything will be better than what I have now.

I've had both St. Augustine and palisades zoysia recommended to me. From what I've read and understand, I'm leaning towards the palisades zoysia, despite it's higher price.

Which type of grass do you think would be better for my situation? (or is there another type of grass I should be considering?)

I know they say that the Zoysia is more drought tolerant and easier to maintain but if you want it to look good it will require much more than St. Augustine will. Not worth the money in my opinion. It will cost you about 4 times as much.

how much shade is "quite a bit?"

What do you have in the front? It seems like maintaining two different types of grass (mowing height, watering schedules, fertilizer, pre-emergent, etc) would be a pain.

Not sure how to best quantify how much shade... let's say there's enough shade in some areas close to the house that I know grass will most likely never grow, but in the majority of the yard there used to be significantly more grass than there is now. Yard wasn't great when we bought the house, but as a rookie homeowner I did a lousy job of maintaining what I had.

The size of my yard (both front and back) is very small. Not quite zero lot line small, but not much bigger. The front yard is tiny and is not really much of a factor because it is maintained by our HOA.

The neighborhood is about 20 yrs old and the builder apparently wanted to cram two oak trees in the front and two oak trees in the back of each house. TERRIBLE decision.

I would use Cavalier zoysia. I think it is a little more wear tolerant, and no more difficult than St Augustine to maintain.

I had El Toro Zoysia at my house in Houston. Didn't require near as much maitainance as my St. Augustine that we had in the front. Also, i had two dogs and a very a large shady tree in the back.