Having yellow or brown spots in your lawn can be unsightly & not something you like to see in your yard. Many dogs urine will burn the lawn especially if they urinate in the same place most of the time. Many male dogs lift their legs on items, trees, bushes lawn furniture, but female squat, some males squat, especially those that are young. Young male dogs usually start to lift their legs because they watch & learn from male dogs that lift their legs. I had a friend years ago that breed & showed Collies & she didn’t allow me to bring my dog close to hers because he lifted his leg a lot & marked everywhere he could. If in the show ring & a male lifted his leg she could be disqualified (not sure if that is the case, but knew she didn’t want the males to do it). I think it why she usually kept females.
I think many people think burned spots in their yard from urine are just part of dog ownership. I want you to know there are things you can do to help or prevent the brown spots from getting the best of your lawn. Some things you can do are:
- Teach your dog to potty in one area of your yard (I wrote a blog post about that it is # 67)
- Dilute your dogs urine spots with water, use 1/2 to 1 gallon of water. Doing this minimally on the first urine of the morning can help. The first urine in the AM is the most concentrated of the day. Some people will fill a bucket 1/2 full so it is ready to go first thing in the AM. You can use your garden hose, but some people don’t want to drag that out each morning.
- Walk your dog on a leash to an area where you want your dog to urinate.
- There are things called “dog rocks” that can be put in a dog’s water bowl that claims to filter by absorbing impurities like nitrates & ammonia from the water. I found some warning with these; the water bowl & rocks need to be scrubbed frequently to prevent the growth of bacteria. Possible risk of dental damage if a dog chews the rocks, or choking habit if swallowed. I have never used these.
- Grow Ryegrass or Fescue seed as these two are less susceptible to dogs. replace the burnt grass before putting down new seed.
If You are learning &/or enjoying my blog please help me get the word out there so others can find my blog. You can do this a few ways: Subscribe, click the ‘Like button’ at the end of posts, Visit often, comment on something you liked or learned. My goal is to reach as many pet owners as I can, If you have an idea for a post please email me & share your idea, echoinggreatpet@gmail.com I have 151 other posts on this blog & the table of content can be found on my home page in the upper left under the show tab. When you see one you like then you can go back to home page & scroll down to the post you want to read.
Thank you for reading, Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 