Dog Urine Burning My Lawn

At her age I guess it might be impossible to put wood chips in an area of the yard and train her to go there? If you take her out for a few weeks right to that spot...do you think she would learn that is where she should go?

Yes, try a product from Pet Guard (found at Health Food Stores or order through a local food buying club or co-op) called Yeast & Garlic Wafers. The dogs love them as treats and they are healthy for their skin and coat.

Hey N.! I have the ultimate solution for you. I actually saw this on HGTV a few years back. What you do is mix a cup of tomatoe juice in with your dogs food each day and thats it!! Urine nurns are instantly gone from your yard! Its amazing and its so easy. My best friend has 2 newfoundlands and she does this now after I told her about it and she just completely swears by it. So try it and see but I swear it works and its completely safe also!! ( my friend checked with her vet.) Good luck!!

This is so funny N.! I have the same problem. We just bought our first house and are heading into our first spring. I was told by True Green just a couple of days ago to put just a cap of distilled vinegar (use the cap on the bottle) in her water bowl. It is supposed to take away the acidity and stop the burn. I have an 8 yr old (80lbs) female yellow lab and she is drinking the water so I'm waiting to see if it works. I figured the professionals should know right?
J. H.

Hi N.,

I second the tomato juice remedy! I have a female dog whose urine also burns the lawn. She gets a cup of food at each feeding, and I just add a healthy splash (maybe 1/4 cup?) of tomato juice to each of her feedings. She loves the juice, and my lawn stays green! And my vet recommended that I try it when I asked her about my lawn issues, so I know it's safe.

Good luck with your lawn, and I hope this helps out!

J. :-)

Most pet supply stores have a supplement called "Green Grass" tablets. They've worked for us and our dog takes them like a treat. I have noticed that we actually get greener, more healthy looking spots where the dog urinates though.....I guess not a bad side effect :)
Good luck!

We have been advised to put water on our dogs dry food to dilute his urine. If dogs don't drink enough thier output is really concentrated! We have a male dog and this works for us, and it helps him to eat his dinner, too!

We used some treats that we found at Alsip Nursery. They came in a green bag and were shaped like four leaf clovers. I cant remember what they are calledIts nice b/c they double as a treat. Hopefully that helps.

This burning of the grass does seem to be worse with female dogs, unfortunately. I have two females, too and I tried everything, from giving them lots of water, to the pills they sell at the petstore, to running out every time they went pee to pour some water on it!
The pills did work somewhat but they are kind of expensive and the spots were still yellow, just not as bad.
The best solution for us (we don't have a fence so we tie them out) was to take up the grass where they pee and replace it with mulch. In the beginning I would take them on the rope over to the mulch to pee and now I just say " go to the mulch" and they go right over and do their business. An added bonus was that I found the poo-poo pick up is easier off the mulch than the grass, too.

Hi, N.,

Because the dog is female, the urine contains hormones. No diet change,is going to help.

You can "put down" fake grass in the spot she uses. If its the
whole yard-then that's a problem, even for lawn products.

Try to have a designated, small area-- I had a special box made, with wood, and put grass clippings, soil, mulch, etc., and trained the dog to just go in one area- I think pet stores
have something available now.

From a lover of dogs-
L. P.

Hi N.,

I am going to be honest with you there is nothing that is going to help your lawn. Unfortunately, female dogs urine kills the lawn and so does male dogs. My male dog's urine burned through the door of his kennel.

My suggestion would be to make her a kennel so that she only burns a small portion of the lawn. You may try replacing the soil. I don't think anything you do to the damaged grass area other than replacing the soil and starting over will help.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Former female dog owner

P.S. I was serious about the male dogs urine burning through the door of his steel kennel.

We have had the same thing too. Seems to happen more with female dogs than male dogs. We use "Green Grass" pills. I know Petco in DeKalb carries them. We use that for our female dog and it works. Give all year round. She had surgery this winter and was taking enough pills so I didn't give her the Green Grass pills. Wish I would have. Even through the snow it will burn the grass. Sometimes you can also find it in beef flavored chews. Hope this works for you.

Or you could do as my neighbor does to us - take your dog to pee on the grass in front of your neighbor's house and keep your's lovely and lush. :) Driving me nuts....

someone recently told me to put some ketchup on their food and that's supposed to help stop the urine from burning the grass. We haven't tried it yet the person who told me this said it worked with their dog. Plus their dog loved the ketchup!

Our male dog did the same thing. We no long have Bear but the lawn has not grown very much grass 3 years later. We even have a lawn service that fertilizes. It is a problem with dog owners of any size.

Good Luck

Unfortunatly not - we have two golden ret and yes the female is the culprit. The salt in her urine creates the burn. We ended up creating a pea gravel area in our yard for both dogs. This way they do their business where we do not see the burn.

good luck!

Hi N.;
I feel your pain. We have two female dogs, (8 & 2 yrs) and both over 60 pounds. They're very much a part of the family & have the run of the yard & house. They're great about staying out of landscape beds (well, one never goes in & the other will look for bunnies.) As for the lawn, we're in the process of having our front re-sodded, weather cooperating tomorrow & trying to repair the back from drought like weather (watering ban) & grubs over last few years. At this point, urine spots are the least of our problems. If it continues to work, once the lawn greens up this year the urine spots will no longer be a problem. We've had lots of luck in the past with something called Green-Um (non-prescription.) It really does help. We asked the vet about the product before giving it to them & she said it would be fine. Check with your vet just to make sure. I believe we bought it at Alsip Nursery in Frankfort.
Marian K.

This is what you should do... 1) Goto your nearest tool rental and rent an aerator, aerate the lawn, then over seed it, water it daily, and for the dogs, put up a fence... this is the only solution to the problem I have found over the years. http://www.compactpowercenter.com/

Try putting about a tablespoon of vinegar in your dog's water. I've used both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar (whatever I happened to have at that time). Because it's only a little bit, it doesn't affect the taste of the water -- it has something to do with changing the acidity of their urine. The acid is what's burning your lawn.

I know some people who this has helped, and some where it's made no difference at all -- it won't hurt your dog, and it MIGHT help your lawn!

Good luck!

~~T.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but putting ketchup on the dog food HELPS with the yellow lawn. It doesn't necessarily go away, but it definitely lessens the effect. We also finally gave in and got a lawn care service to come treat the lawn a few times, and that has quickly improved the spots

Hi N.,

I was going to suggest the pills they sell in the pet store - Petco has them.. i can't recall the name off hand, but if you ask, they will know.

Also, if i may suggest... when you go for your walks - bring a water bottle with you - dilute the urine with the water after she pee's. I have urine burn in my lawn up and down the sidewalk... and I don't HAVE a dog so this is a little irritating...

As I said, I do not own dogs - though I would love one.. my husband is allergic :( But I grew up with dogs - a LOT of them (8 at one point) and we would do this with the hose at the end of the day.. .we also trained them all to go in one area of the yard so that it wasn't highly noticable throughout the whole yard.

~Jenn~

my dog was terrible at this. I was told to make sure you water the area immediatly after she pees. It worked for us. I just kept a bucket of water near by and poured it on the pee spot afterwards. Give it a try!

Give her a tums or generic version daily , this will solve your problem and the calcium is good for her bones. Its much cheaper.
K.

My parents have 2 huskies and their vet told then that there is a certain vitamin, that lowers the acidity in the urine. but my mom said it didnt work. It might work better for small dogs. So now they put in an inground pool. The dogs only have a little spot to go to the bathroom. I guess you will have to just keep dealing with it. I dont think there is anything else to do. good luck

My parents for years have been using tomato juice. They mix a little bit (1-2 Tablespoons) into their dog's food and have a beautiful lawn and no problems. Our golden retriever would burn their lawn until we put tomato juice in her food. The tomato juice acid dilutes the acid in the pee or neutralizes it somehow. Try it! It really works, just give it a little time. Hope this helps.