W wrote:

What would be an attractive ground cover to help firm up
the soil and stop erosion that meets these criteria:
Squirrel and rabbit resistant
Low water requirement
Nice root growth horizontally to keep the soil in place.

I call it the Mother's Day plant because in the US that's when it
flowers: Lily Of The Valley. It's highly toxic, no critters eat it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_of_the_Valley