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kathy9norcal

Female dog ruining my lawn!

kathy9norcal
14 years ago

Any help would be appreciated. I let the two dogs out on the lawn to pee before bed each night and when I get home from work. Her spots are all turning brown, as they do every summer--only this year it is happening much sooner and every time she pees.

Is there anything I can put in her water that wouldn't hurt her or him (my male dog)? I am feeling really frustrated.

Comments (18)

  • carmen_grower_2007
    14 years ago

    Give her a few tbs. of tomato juice each day.

  • handymac
    14 years ago

    Don't put the tomato juice in their water. Put it on their food(won't hurt the male either) or let them lick it out of a bowl.

  • weed30 St. Louis
    14 years ago

    Nothing you feed the dog is going to help very much. The only things that work are to flush the area she just peed in with water to dilute the urine, stop fertilizing your lawn with nitrogen, and plant urine-resistant grasses like perennial ryegrass and fescue. Kentucky bluegrass and Bermuda are more sensitive to urine, which has high levels of nitrogen. Nitrogen encourages growth, but too much causes the burn.

  • cindyb_va
    14 years ago

    Keep a spray bottle of water by the door. When she pees, just spray it with plain water a few times to dilute.

    Another option you might want to consider is having a designated potty area in the yard. Train the dogs to do their business in the spot. I have put one in the back corner, mulched. It keeps the lawn pretty and makes scooping easier too.

  • mazer415
    14 years ago

    Or just leash walk your dogs in the neighborhood a couple of times a day....you might even take the to a local park, lake or fire road for a nice long walk once a day.

  • weed30 St. Louis
    14 years ago

    cindyb: Does just a spray bottle work?! I've always used a hose.

  • lilliepad
    14 years ago

    "Or just leash walk your dogs in the neighborhood a couple of times a day....you might even take the to a local park, lake or fire road for a nice long walk once a day."
    Yeah,let them pee on someone else's grass or the grass in the park where someone's kids play! I'm sorry,but for some reason that just doesn't sound right!LOL I vote for letting them pee in your OWN yard and put up with the dead spots,or take the advice about hosing it down.

  • trinigemini
    14 years ago

    There are also pills that are supposed to make the pee harmless to the grass...not sure how well it works but my mom was using it for her dog...did not cause any problems and her grass was green.

  • housefairy
    14 years ago

    The only effective treatment I found was to schedule the sprinklers around the dog's normal potty runs. If you don't have a sprinkler system, you can purchase timers that you hook to a hose. Attach a sprinkler and just leave the hose in the area. Just check it to make sure you have no leaks since you do have to leave the hose bib turned on. That way you would have one less chore to think about every day during the work week.

    As Weed stated, heat and fertilizer are causing your problem. And walking the dogs so they pee in someones yard will not make you the most popular person in your neighborhood. If the spots bother you, think how irritated your neighbor is going to be when you take your dog for a walk and leave brown spots in their yard.

  • cindyb_va
    14 years ago

    cindyb: Does just a spray bottle work?! I've always used a hose

    It works fine for me. I used to use a hose also and then a neighbor said it just needed a few squirts with a spray bottle, which ended up working well for me and is less of a pain than dragging the hose out.

  • mazer415
    14 years ago

    lilliepad - some lawns can not take the repeated hits of day after day urination...in smaller amounts urine should NOT have any adverse reaction on ANY plant. Leash walking your dog elsewhere can let the lawn recover and while not all cities have dog parks (where kids are not playing on the area a dog is relieving itself) - it is okay to think OUTSIDE the box every now and then...

  • lilliepad
    14 years ago

    Sorry mazer,I don't agree with you.I don't think it is EVER appropriate to walk your dog and allow him/her pee on someone else's yard!
    "you might even take the to a local park, lake or fire road" This does not indicate that you were talking about a dog park.I'd have no objections to a dog park or maybe even a dirt road,but keep your dog off my grass and the grass where my kids play!
    I still vote for the water hose!

  • carmen_grower_2007
    14 years ago

    I vote for the tomato juice/sauce because it works for us and every one I know who has tried it.

  • cicadidae
    14 years ago

    Finally I found a decent purpose for invasive winter creeper! Ever since the pups were little we have been taking them to the creeper patches to pee and poop. Stuff vanishes from sight instantly and nothing kills it!
    When I can't do that, I take them to the gravel driveway where I don't want grass growing anyway.

  • mazer415
    14 years ago

    Lillie - again, not all people have lawns, not all people have kids that play on their front yard...where I live there is alot of xeropscaping and nobody cares about the dogs urine. On top of that there are many curb strips that dog walkers can utilize...not all lawns. Again thinking outside the box.

  • cynthia_gw
    14 years ago

    Yes, it sounds like Lillipad may live in a community where it's more developed and has only lawns and streets? I do agree dogs should not be allowed to eliminate on neighbor's lawns, but most places I've lived have ample scruffy areas along the streets that work well for walked dogs. And of course poop is picked up.

    Back to the original question though. For potty breaks between walks, I trained my dogs to eliminate in the wooded area at the rear of my back yard. That doesn't mean I have grass in back though! They run hard and have created a dirt track around my gardens. No peeing allowed in front yard ever :)

  • lilliepad
    14 years ago

    I really don't Cynthia! LOL I actually live in a suburb where homes are located on anywhere from 1 to 8 ac.I have 8 acres,much of which is just pasture but there is a neighbor's dog that is allowed to roam.He comes over into my yard every morning and does his poop right where DH walks to get into the truck and hikes his leg on the tire.Big dog,not pleasant.Why can't he go where there's just pasture grass or better still in his own yard?LOL Of course he is allowed to roam free so I guess I can't blame the dog.Another case of stupid owner.They don't even live there any more and left the dog when they moved.Someone comes out and feeds it once a week or so or one of my tenants goes over and feeds and waters him.One of those cases where there's no SPCA or any other law enforcement to do anything about the dog,so he's basically at the mercy of neighbors.
    Mazer-You are right,but I still wouldn't want neighborhood dogs peeing or pooping in my yard even if it wasn't grass and the poop was picked up.
    Up until 6 months ago I had 5 Chihuahuas.They were trained to pee and poop in one corner of the back yard.Never had a problem with the grass turning brown because there wasn't any there.LOL Also I fed them a type of foot that caused the poop to pretty much disintegrate after a few days.We only had to scoop a few times in the summer months and had no odor problems at all.I only have one Chi now and she does her business in the front of the house,across the driveway in the grass where nobody parks or walks very often.
    Sorry......I got off the subject again! LOL

  • stargazzer
    14 years ago

    when I first got my pups I carried them to an area in the corner of my back yard. As they aged they automatically went to that place only.