How To Repair Grass From Dog Pee
Anybody loves having a lush, green lawn, just sometimes doggo ownership makes achieving that a wee bit harder. Especially because as cute as our puppers are, their pee can be a downright grass assassin.
But don't worry! In that location are things you can do to help protect your yard from these kinds of pee-pee problems!
Beneath, we'll chat about how to care for dog urine spots on grass and discuss ways to keep your lawn looking its best.
- Dog urine contains a lot of nitrogen. And while advisable quantities of nitrogen are proficient for grass, as well much nitrogen volition cause the grass to turn dark-brown and die.
- There are a number of ways you tin can help protect your lawn, including hosing it down after your pup tinkles, increasing the amount of h2o your dog drinks, and encouraging your dog to pee elsewhere, amid other things.
- If your dog has created a dead spot on your lawn, you lot can ready it past removing the damaged grass, applying some limestone, and so re-seeding the area.
- There are a few products we'll share that have helped some owners protect their grass from urine-caused backyard damage. None are perfect, but they may be worth trying.
Why Does Domestic dog Urine Impale Grass?
Most people assume that urine kills grass because of its low pH level, simply that's actually not the case. The truth is a lilliputian more complicated, and you have to examine the chemical makeup of dog urine to get the full story.
Looking at the main components of dog urine, you lot'll find urea — basically an ammonia-rich byproduct created when your dog metabolizes proteins.
Because dogs are carnivorous, their urea is total of nitrogen.
While nitrogen is important for a plant's growth, too much nitrogen volition harm the institute and eventually kill it. This causes the patches of brown yous may notice on your lawn.
If you examine a brown patch, you may observe a bright green halo where the perimeter seems healthier than the residual of the lawn. This is considering the grass absorbed some of the beneficial nitrogen but non plenty to cause plant death.
Another common misconception is that only female dog pee kills grass, which likewise isn't true. This concept is due to the fact that females squat to do their business, causing a more concentrated deposit of urine in one area, therefore upping the risk of grass impairment.
In other words, it's the way your doggo unleashes a tinkle torrent that harms the grass — it has naught to exercise with the urine coming from a male or female dog. Plus, many males squat to salve themselves too!
Dissimilar Grasses React Differently to Urine
Certain types of grass are particularly sensitive to the components of dog urine.
Common cold-weather condition grasses like Kentucky bluegrass, for instance, are susceptible to urine damage due to lactic acid.
Check out our article near the Five Best Grasses for Dogs to learn more!
How Practise You Prevent Lawn Damage from Dog Urine?
Luckily, yous tin reduce or even preclude urine impairment to your lawn by following a few steps, including:
- Hose it downward: Spray the soiled surface area down with water equally shortly as your domestic dog does his business. This helps dilute the nitrogen, which avoids the overload that damages grass. Applying iii times as much h2o as at that place is urine inside 12 hours is a good rule of thumb to follow.
- Hydrate your hound: A properly hydrated pooch volition have less concentrated urine, which will cause less lawn damage. Encourage your doggo to drink upwards with absurd, fresh water or a dog water fountain to help proceed your backyard and pupper happy and healthy.
- Try moisture food: Feeding your pup wet food tin help reduce lawn damage because information technology ups your dog's water consumption, just this isn't always a surefire solution. For i, your pooch may merely drink less water in plow, eliminating the do good. Only monitor your dog'due south urine to see if it's working — the clearer his urine is, the more than hydrated he is.
- Check your dog's nutrient: Loftier-protein dog foods increase the nitrogen content in your dog'due south urine, increasing the risk of lawn damage. If your pup doesn't crave a loftier-protein diet, you might want to consider switching. Talk to your vet first and make sure any switch is gradual to avoid stomach issues.
- Skip the snake oil: In that location are a lot of dog supplements out there claiming to miraculously save your lawn from pee spots, and the truth is, they're sadly full of stuffing. Some are actually full of table salt, as well, which can beal canine atmospheric condition similar eye or kidney disease. These products don't piece of work and can crusade a major headache (or heartache) down the road.
- Urine sample examination: If you notice ongoing brownish spots or a sudden uptick in lawn discoloration, have your canis familiaris into the vet for a urine test. Your pup may accept an abnormality (like a canine UTI) that's throwing off his urine makeup and causing the problem.
- Raise the bar: On your lawn mower, that is. Enhance your mower's level to leave your grass a little longer when cut. This puts less stress on the grass and can reduce the advent of browning.
- Regular backyard care: A healthy lawn tin handle more wear and tear. It'll also abound back meliorate if and when yous practice run into hiccups. Recollect that extreme temperatures are rough on grass, which is why y'all're more than probable to meet urine issues in the summertime when your lawn is broiling in the sun. Keep information technology watered well, and your backyard will be better equipped to deal with some damage.
- Opt for canis familiaris-friendly grass: Stick to canis familiaris-friendly grass types that tin can withstand life with doggos. They're non as sensitive as some varieties and can handle a little tinkle.
- Set up potty boundaries: Found a pee-friendly zone in your m on a surface that isn't grass, like gravel or soil. Train your domestic dog to pee and poo in that specific spot instead of the lawn. This eliminates the risk to your grass entirely, and if your domestic dog does his poo patrol here besides, it can make yard make clean up mode easier.
- Sacrafice a adjourn spot. If y'all don't have a dog yourself but are eager to forbid neighbors' dogs from peeing on your grass, yous can prepare a doggie potty spot that'southward closer to the adjourn to describe attention away from your lush backyard.
How to Repair Urine Spots on Lawns
Despite our best efforts, your dog may still like to tinkle on the grass. And this ways urine marks on your backyard tin can happen from time to time.
But don't worry!
With a bit of elbow grease and some common lawn-care supplies, information technology'southward possible to salvage your grass's expert looks.
Merely follow these relatively like shooting fish in a barrel steps:
- Rake over the damaged area to remove as much of the dead grass and debris every bit possible.
- Apply a thin layer of basis limestone over the affected area and water it thoroughly. This helps better grass growing conditions.
- Let this coating sit for a calendar week, keeping your curious canine away while the lime does its magic.
- Apply a sparse layer of topsoil to the affected area.
- Lay grass seed over the patch, using the existing grass type to achieve a seamless look
- Water the expanse and repeat daily for i to iii weeks, depending on the grass type and climate. If it rains, skip watering that solar day to avoid washing away the grass seed or over-watering.
- During the growing process, go on your dog away from the area. New grass is delicate, and your doggo tin destroy weeks of growth with a wayward paw.
Other Lawn Repair Hacks
There are a few products available that tin can assist your lawn stand up up to pupper piddle, whether they encourage pottying in one identify or try to bulk up your lawn's strength.
Results are mixed across the board, only you lot never know if they may help.
1. PetiGreen Dog Urine Damage Prevention
About:PetiGreen's Canis familiaris Urine Damage Prevention Solution combats pee impairment by fortifying your backyard's health with a natural, pet-friendly formula. Apply every 6 weeks for all-time results.
PetiGreen Canis familiaris Urine Damage Prevention
This easy-to-apply grass-supporting solution helps repair damaged spots and stop new ones from forming.
Features:
- Bottle attaches to the cease of your hose for piece of cake application
- Every 16-ounce bottle covers up to 4500 square feet
- Creates a healthier, greener lawn over time
- Pee mark prevention seen subsequently 4 to vi months of apply per the manufacturer
PROS
Ease of application wins a tail wag of approval since you can hook the bottle onto your hose to treat a large surface area speedily. It helps your grass grow stronger, too, which tin help with other wearable and tear effects of doggo life, like damage caused by daily squirrel chasing.
CONS
This tin can be pricey if you have a large area to treat. It also takes time to work, which isn't the all-time solution if you demand a quick fix for an upcoming upshot.
ii. Dog Rocks
Almost:Domestic dog Rocks are mined rocks that you identify in your dog's water dish that claim to remove nitrates from drinking water. By stripping nitrates, they reduce the amount in your doggo'southward urine, saving your lawn in theory.
Canis familiaris Rocks
Designed to be placed inside your canis familiaris's water bowl, the manufacturer explains that the minerals in these rocks aid prevent expressionless lawn spots when your dog tinkles.
Features:
- Manufacturer states they're safe for all pets, making them platonic for multi-species households where dogs and cats share a common water bowl
- A natural and chemical-gratis product
- Just rinse the product, fill your doggo's basin with at least two liters of water, and insert the rock
- Last upwards to 10 months before they should be replaced, per the manufacturer
PROS
These are very much a fix and forget it type product, which is ideal if you don't take time to fuss with lawn budget. They're also a practiced choice if you're dealing with a public grass surface area that y'all can't treat, similar an apartment complex.
3. Simple Solution Pee Post
About: The Unproblematic Solution Pee Post is a chiliad stake designed to entice your pooch to urinate on it rather than your grass, saving your lawn (and lawn gnomes!) Just tap into the ground, let your dog sniff, and allow him do the rest.
Simple Solution Pee Post
Encourage your dog to pee in a designated spot by using this simple ground pale. This helps you protect your lawn or garden and forbid dead spots.
Features:
- Made with a non-toxic pheromone that encourages your dog to marker the post
- Can help with guiding your pup to potty in one expanse of the m
- Bright yellow design makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to spot
- Great option for leg lifters
PROS
For doggos that tinkle everywhere but where they're supposed to, this tin be a game changer for corralling the trouble. If your domestic dog catches on and sticks with it, it tin assist you reclaim your lawn from wayward pee spots.
CONS
Results are mixed with pup parents, with some pooches direct upwards ignoring the post birthday. This product besides seems to only be an option for males that lift their legs, as squatting dogs seem less likely to piddle on the exact location of the post.
What If Your Domestic dog Is Causing Dark-green Spots to Course?
Yep, this tin can happen too, and it'southward a sign of something being off, but this time, information technology'south the footing's fault.
Usually, dark-green urine spots are caused by a lack of nitrogen in the soil. Therefore, your doggo'due south urine is really fertilizing the lawn rather than harming it.
If you notice these dark-green spots, collect a soil sample and have it tested to be sure. Ordinarily all you need is a pet-safe fertilizer to right the issue.
Dog Urine Spot FAQs
Since it's such a common trouble, there are a lot of questions and sketchy remedies floating effectually surrounding domestic dog urine spots.
Let's run through the tiptop ones together to separate fact from fiction.
Is there a dog food that will help foreclose expressionless spots?
Nope. Nosotros detest to exist the bearer of bad news, but a unmarried make of nutrient solitary can't prevent dead spots.
You can potentially conform the nitrate content in your pooch'south urine by making a dietary switch to a lower every bit nosotros mentioned above.
Usually the best canis familiaris food to prevent backyard burn down is a traditional kibble rather than a high-protein formula.
Will baking soda neutralize domestic dog urine on grass?
No. Baking soda doesn't neutralize the nitrogen (which is the cause of the grass stain trouble).
Since blistering soda contains table salt, it might actually atomic number 82 to unrelated grass damage, besides. We'd steer articulate, partner.
Will gypsum neutralize dog urine on grass?
Sorry, no. Like baking soda, gypsum contains table salt, which can cause additional lawn trouble rather than neutralize canis familiaris urine grass damage.
Will lather neutralize canis familiaris urine on grass?
Probably not. In theory, lather can assistance water motility through the soil more efficiently, but the chemicals in your lather can cause additional harm to grass.
Volition grass grow dorsum later on dog urine?
Sometimes. This depends on your grass'south health and rainfall in the expanse. A good for you lawn is more resilient, as we mentioned, and ongoing rain can help rid the soil of excess nitrates.
Do male dogs cause backyard spots?
Yes. Females ordinarily get the blame considering of their peeing stance, but a squatting male can cause the aforementioned damage.
Leg lifters certainly tin can too, but at that place is a chance that a sprayer or low-cal tinkler won't cause damage to your lawn – in fact, the pocket-sized, dispersed amount of nitrogen could be skillful for the grass.
Exercise some breeds crusade more than backyard spots than others?
Nope — at to the lowest degree not straight. Chihuahua urine is chemically similar to Corking Dane urine.
But size can be a factor though, as big dogs produce more urine, increasing your run a risk of backyard damage.
Volition supplements prevent my dog from making lawn spots?
No. Dogs are carnivores and all have nitrates in their urine. A magic pill doesn't change this. It tin can introduce all sorts of headaches if information technology contains questionable ingredients that can beal existing canine health weather condition.
Never requite your dog a strange supplement without contacting your vet first.
***
Dog urine spots can certainly be frustrating to run into on your otherwise-glorious backyard, merely at that place are a few things you can practise.
And while there are a few products that may assistance, it turns out but encouraging your dog to drink lots of water and pee in specific places will probably help more than anything else.
Have you tried any of these dog urine remedies on your lawn? Do you lot do something else? Let u.s. know in the comments!
Source: https://www.k9ofmine.com/how-to-fix-dog-urine-spots/
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