How To Fix Dog Urine Spots in Your Lawn
Protecting Your Lawn From Man’s Best Friend
Doggonit, we can’t forget about Fido! Alaskans love their dogs and love to see them run free in their open yards. Unfortunately, Fido also loves to let his urine run free on your grassy lawn causing urine burn spots. Below you’ll learn why Dog pee can often times burn or kill your grass along with a few tips to keep your lawn damage free from your fury friend.
Why Does Dog Pee Burn or Kill Grass?
You’ll find that many people believe that Dogs urine is acidic and ‘burns’ the grass. This is why many home remedies have arisen to change the pH of the urine. These remedies rarely work though, because Dogs pee actually burns the grass due to its high Nitrogen content.
Dogs eat a high level of protein in their diet, they break the protein down and excrete it as nitrogen in the urine. It often kills the grass because of the extremely high amount of nitrogen. Its the same type of burn that can be caused when too much fertilizer is dropped in one spot. These urine burns will typically have a characteristic dark green ring around the outside edge where the urine was diluted enough to work as a fertilizer.
Urine Burns
Here are some tips to prevent the burnt spots from happening in the first place:
- Increase Water Intake to Dilute Urine- Adding water to your dog’s food or adding non-salted broth to the drinking water may help
- High Quality Dog Food- The protein is often times more digestible
- Diluting the Urine Immediately with Water- You’ll have to be at the ready with a hose
- Watering Your Yard Daily- Helps in some cases but it may not be enough & may also cause your grass to grow shallow roots
- Train Your Dog to Pee in Just One Spot in The Yard- This may be the most practical tip, long-term
- Supplements- These seem to be hit or miss & many times are not effective. Have you found one that works? I’d love your feedback!
How To Fix Burnt Spots In Your Lawn
- Remove dead grass as well as several inches of ground below the dead grass
- Apply a layer of Dirt/Compost Mix.
- Add grass seed & rake it into the soil along with a small amount of “Starter Fertilizer”
- Optional: Add a Top-Dress such as peat moss- A thin layer of no more than ¼ inch. Just enough to shade the seed from the direct sun & to hold moisture.
- Tamp down soil lightly
- Water the seeded area. Keep the seeded area moist at all times for at least three weeks.
- Grass seed typically sprouts in 7-10 days & will be ready to mow in 3-4 weeks
