Dog Urine Ruining Lawn-Any solutions!? PLEASE help!

[Sadie's Mom]

So the snow is gone and the grass in the back yard is starting to come in green again, but there are patches in the areas where Sadie pees the most that are completely burnt and yellow. I'm a starving student and still live at home and besides this, my parents absolutely adore Sadie. But my Dad is seriously pissed off about the lawn, not so much because he cares how it looks, but because we're planning on selling our house in a couple of years. He wants me to go and take Sadie down the street a bit and have her pee on public lawn everytime she has to go!!! That's crazyness. I shouldn't have to do that when we have a perfectly good backyard for her to go in.

I knew when I got Sadie that female dog pee is worse on lawns, but I thought that because she is so small, it wouldn't be a problem. Guess I was wrong. :sad:

So does anyone have any solutions for me? I'm pretty desperate and I need help badly!

[Lucky Rescue]

Your dad didn't know that dog pee burns grass? You could hose the spot right after she pees.

You'll either have to take her out, or take her on a leash in your backyard to have her pee in one spot. Of course this means she can never be loose in the yard.

In two years, when your parents sell the house, they can just seed the bare places and there will be new grass in a week or so. It's not really a big deal and certainly nothing to be so peeved about. Most people have to do some fixing of their property before they put it on the market.

Maybe someone else will have a better answer.

[Prin]

There is a liquid that you can put in the water that makes the pee less acid, thus it burns the grass less. I don't know, but logically the acid prevents UTIs and maybe this stuff may make your dog more prone to them. You'd have to check.

Personally, I'd either train my doggy to pee in one place or research tougher grasses... Fertilizer works wonders too...

[CyberKitten]

When my nephew lab visits, I take him out to one spot behind the garage where no one can see what the lawn looks like. I also walk him to an area at the end of the street that is essentially a trail in the forest. So that's my solution to saving the lawn and ensuring G has a good place that is not too far to do his thing. (The spot close to the house is for most of the time and the other on walks - when I laways take the scooper. Mind you, I buy the stuff and my bro decides he likes it so much, it goes back with him and the pooch, lol).

With all our bio tech research, hopefully someone will be able to create a hearty urine friendly grass seed.

[kcronk]

It is funny but with my dog, we have the opposite problem (if you can call it a problem) wherever she "goes" the grass grows like crazy. I believe it has something to do with the food the dog is fed. We feed her science diet lite. Talk to your vet about this, they maybe able to suggest a different food.

Hope this helps.

[Sadie's Mom]

Haha super-grass would be great! Someone needs to market a grass towards dog owners, it would sell like crazy!

I googled around a bit and found some practical solutions similar to what you all have suggested, like hosing her area down, getting her to go in one spot, etc. I'd love to have her go behind our shed where it's rocky, but I don't know if she'd be too keen on that. I'd hate to confuse her, she's so young still (10 months), I wouldn't want to screw up her potty training which we worked so hard to establish.

Right now she primarily pees in two areas of the yard. Peeing on the gravel area would be awesome, but do you think I could train her to do it without confusing my poor girl? Any suggestions in regards to that? Thanks a ton! This place is the best resource for a new pet owner.


Oh and Lucky, my dad did know that dog pee wrecks lawns, but I was hoping Sadie's diminutive size would have been beneficial in preserving a nice lawn. But apparently, in this case, size does not matter!

[2Cats&AGolden]

There is an easy solution for this - train your pup to pee in the same spot all the time. I learned the hard way - have a very small backyard in which the grass is practically all ruined. This spring I am reviving the lawn - and my golden will not be allowed to pee on it. We're constructing her own "bathroom" - it will be a small dirt area covered in wood chips. My dog is 3.5 yrs old and is certainly capable of learning how to do this - it is up to me to be consistent in showing her the right way. While I know it will be a bit of commitment on my part, I'm up for the challenge.

Can't wait to have a lush green lawn again! Hope this helps.

Good Luck!!!

[Shaykeija]

i have 2 little piddle bums that also do a number on my husband precious lawn. . We have no urine burn marks though. I keep the hose handy and just spray where they went pee. It dulutes the urine so no harm to the grass. You might want to try this. Of course doing this may make the grass grow faster . LOL not sure about that one but it makes me laugh.

[LittleLoves]

We have super grass too!!

Where Lady pees comes in yellow and burnt looking in Spring, but it grows back greener and fuller every year. We don't get it, but I can't complain.

I agree with retraining her to go in one spot, or even just hosing down the area.

[nymph]

We either get green spots or yellow spots LOL, but whatever. We tried to water down the dog urine everytime he pees, but have long given up on this practice.

[GsdDiamond]

Oh my...I can't hose down where Diamond goes pee! She plays with the hose when we take it out for the year, and wants to be at a water park all the time! You'd think we weren't feeding her and teasing her with a juicy steak, the way she barks and whimpers to have the hose turned on!!

Is lawn fertilizer bad for dogs? Our back yard looks like a blow torch was taken to it...burnt to a cinder! Either that or we have aliens leaving crop circles all over the place!

[nymph]

I don't believe there is much danger in the fertilizer that would harm your pet. Fertilizer is made from nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, they are part of the natural substances from your soil even before your fertilizer's applied. However I'm not sure about those fancier fertlizers that contain herbicides.

[Sadie's Mom]

Ok, first of all, thanks a million for all the suggestions!!! It helped me to figure out a solution (hopefully).

I'm going to try to rinse away Sadie's morning pee, in hopes that that's the one that's causing the most damage because it's most concentrated and largest. Then throughout the day, if I can I'll rinse away her other pees too and also try to keep her peeing in the same spot so that we don't have spots all over the lawn.

[Sneaky2006]

You could always buy a pee post to put in a certain spot, hoping she will only go there. That way if you do have to replace the grass where she ruined it, it will only be a small area.

http://www.petco.com/product_info.as...gle=1&ei=UTF-8

[Prin]

Sneaky- that is so funny! I thought it was a joke, but it's a really good idea.

[Peter Bridges]

A vet once told me to grate a carrot into the dogs food and it worked for me

[Sneaky2006]

Sneaky- that is so funny! I thought it was a joke, but it's a really good idea.

I think it is! We're going to get one, I didn't think of it as a big deal about where Yukon goes but with the pool we're going to be walking around outside without shoes and I'd really hate to step in a pee puddle!

[Gripenfelter]

Hmm. My grass has never been greener. Its a dark green. Mind you, Zeus drinks over a litre of water a day so its probably diluted his urine quite a bit. It looks almost clear.

[Sadie's Mom]

^^^Haha, lucky you!!! Sadie's not a huge drinker (haha, no AA for her).

I've done my research and apparently the large amounts of nitrogen in the urine is what kills the grass. But in smaller amounts, it is fertilizer. Also, it's not female dog urine that is worse. There's no difference in the gender, it has to do with the way in which they urinate. Females squat low and their urine goes right into the ground, whereas males life their leg and spray.

[Prin]

So then you just have to encourage your dog to walk around as s/he pees... lol

[charoscoe]

I have 2 male dogs that squat when they pee, every spring our lawn looks horrible. I had to re-sod 1/2 of my yard this year. One dog drinks tons of water, the other hardly drinks but they both kill the grass. The spots usually show within a few days.This year I did some research and found that treating the lawn with lime & gypsum will help (help being the operative word here), we also fertalize 2x a year. We keep the hose handy and spray (lots) where they pee, we try to do this with every tinkle. One dogs thinks the water that comes out of the hose is a toy and the other is terrified of it! When I do find yellow spots they tend to be small, so I rake them and put seed and soil, the spot usually fills in a week or so later.

Yellow grass is the worst! It's not just how horrible and embarassing it is but it also smells something fierce, we found that watering really helps!

As for trying to get them to pee in one spot, one of my dogs has started to pee in my flower pots! I think I need to find him a new spot!

[2Cats&AGolden]

Just an update to this, I posted that I was going to teach our golden to use her own "toilet" area...so far, so good! I wouldn't say that she's exactly caught on 100%...we've had to rope off the in-progress grassy areas so she stays off...but she does go in her "spot" with prompting...and I've never seen greener, lusher grass in our yard. I'm planning on keeping at it for the rest of the summer...again - it's a bit more work for me, but I feel it will pay off in the long run. Once I feel she's 100% using her toilet spot, I will remove the roped off sections of the lawn.

Good luck to everyone who wants a nice lawn this spring!

[Lissa]

I'm confused, why don't you guys take your dog for a walk so he/she won't pee on the lawn?

I just take Dodger for a quick walk before we hang out in the backyard.