How to Prevent Urine Spots On Lawns
Keeping a lawn green and pristine when dogs use the grass for pottying creates a challenge. Typically, the problem arises from your own dog; however, loose dogs and inconsiderate neighbors who are themselves dog owners (and dog walkers) may contribute to the problem. Attacking the issue with a variety of methods -- and the methods indeed vary widely -- provides you with the best chance to keep that green yard free from ugly brown urine spots.
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Things You'll Need
- Dog trap (optional)
- Yard sign (optional)
- Camera or video camera (optional)
- Fencing (optional)
- Motion detector sprinkler (optional)
- Collar (optional)
- Leash (optional)
- Hose or water container (optional)
- Kennel (optional)
- Protective ground covering (optional)
- Marking post (optional)
Instructions
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Contact animal control about your local leash laws and report the dogs or owners, if you know where the dogs live. Contact the owners of loose dogs, Authorities at Texas A&M University suggest that, if you know the dog owners, advise them of leash laws and ask them to contain their pets. Consider asking animal control to put up a trap to catch strange dogs, as they present a danger to your yard, other pets and possibly children.
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Buy, create or modify signs for your yard. Explain the damage to your yard and ask neighbors who walk their dogs, or allow them to run loose, to keep them off your yard. Place in your yard a purchased sign -- or make the sign yourself and post it -- asking people to keep their dogs off your property. Take pictures or videos of neighbors who do not comply, as well as photos of loose dogs -- and report to animal control or the police if necessary.
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Put up fencing to prevent dogs from using your property as potty territory -- not just to help prevent urine spots and but to guard against the potential spread of worms and disease to your own pets. Resist buying the products that claim to keep dogs away, as the minimal effectiveness rarely justifies the cost factor.
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Put a motion detector sprinkler system to help keep unwanted animals off your lawn, suggests Texas A&M University.
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Put a collar and a leash on your dog and walk it to potty, taking it to public areas where it does not damage your yard or any neighbors'.
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Go outside with your dog into the yard and immediately hose or pour water over the area where it urinates to help dilute and lessen the risk of it burning your lawn.
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Confine your dog to a kennel run or fenced area, or train your dog to use a special area, with special ground covering, such as pea gravel, concrete, artificial turf, mulch, sand or easily removed material, including wheat straw and wood shavings.
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Fake fire hydrants make creative marking posts. Provide marking posts with gravel, stone or other surrounding material to help get male dogs to urinate in an area other than the lawn.
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Plant grass that provides some resistance to urine burns, such as alkali grass, suggests Zac Reicher, Purdue University associate professor. Other options for burn-resistant grass include Bermuda grass and Kentucky bluegrass.
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Tips & Warnings
Collecting your dog's urine and feces and putting it in the area you want it to use helps train the dog where to potty.
Avoid using wood shavings from oil-producing trees, such as walnut and pine, as they may be toxic to your dog.
Do not give your dog supplements to change urine composition as pH balance changes may cause infections, bladder stones and urinary crystals, warns Diana Alfuth, University of Wisconsin-Extension horticulture educator.
Avoid watering the area if you delay more than 8 hours, as it causes worse burns, warns Texas Farm Bureau veterinarian Bob Judd.
References
- Purdue University; Turf Tip-Prevention of Dog Urine Spots; Zac Reicher; April 2004
- Texas A&M University; 'Dog-On-It' Lawn Problems, Updated; June 2002
- VeterinaryPartner.com; Dog Urine Damage to Yards; Bob Judd, DVM; December 2004
- University of Wisconsin-Extension; Lawns and Dogs But Not Tomato Juice; Diana Alfuth
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
