Dog Urine Effects On Grass

[LillyBelle]

I know it is not a pleasant subject to talk about, but I have noticed a few spots here and there in my yard where the grass looks dead, yellow and is simply gone in some areas. Could this possibly be damage caused by taking our dogs outside to potty daily?

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Are they nice little round areas that look dead ? it would mean you have a female dog. most of the time the grass will grow back. If you water the area right after you dog goes out and does its thing your grass won't burn as bad.

 

[Durgan]

Some dog urine makes dead round spots on grass. Usually there is so little urine that this does not happen unless the first evacuation of the morning. Big deal ignore it.

 

[darkrebelchild]

The great thing about grass is that if it gets enough water and is grown on good soil, there is nothing to worry about. No matter how much the dogs urinate there, it will still grow back especially at wet season when all patches will fill up with new growth.

 

[Corzhens]

Our front yard is the toilet of our dogs in the afternoon and the backyard is for their morning ritual. Although we call it garden, the front yard is concrete but our backyard has grass and we noticed that dog urine tends to kill the grass. That's why we have instructed our housemaids to pour water on the grass where the dogs urinated. The vet said that the dog's urine has a strong acid that can really kill grass.

 

[Beth_B]

Female dog urine tends to be more acidic but that said i think it's a combination of the type of grass and the individual dogs (chemistry, diet, etc). In a previous house I seeded the back yard with turf designed for athletic playing fields and such. I had two extremely large dogs at the time, one male and one female. That grass was indestructible.

I have three dogs now who spend plenty of time in my back yard and I've yet to see a yellow spot. The lawn is a combination of whatever grass was originally planted and various wild groundcovers that have invaded over the years and my dogs eat a mostly "natural" diet. Maybe that makes a diffrrence? I agree watering after potty breaks would help.

 

[IcyBC]

My dog has to be some sort of an alien dog! We have big dead yellow area in the back of the condo, and it has been raining a lot. I also put some grass seed down in the area that he used during the snow season, and I haven't seen anything growing back yet. I will be in big trouble with the condo!

Any other suggestions? I need to revive this area in a hurry!!

 

[maxen57]

The burned spots in the grass of your lawn is a good indication that your dog are not eating right. Depending on the alkaline PH in dog urine can either burn the grass or fertilize it. Meat-based diets for dogs that are carnivores in nature make their urine naturally acidic and you'd want that for your dog instead because it is healthier for them (more acidity in the urine equals lower risk of UTI). Alkaline diet therefore creates kidney stones causing renal failure.