Anyone have a solution to my son's English Bulldog and French Bulldog killing my sod grass? I live in CA and love the green lawn next to my koi pond! Thanks in advance for any helpful ideas!
Dog pee killing my sod grass!
- Thread starter Jacque44
- Start date
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
I don't know of any cheap solutions, but you could try the same product that I use on my lawn when I have a really bad oil leak from lawn equipment or when an area has been sprayed too much with chemicals or whatever that could result into killing the general area.
It is called Brandt 52 Pickup.
It is a type of concentrated liquid carbon that is mixed with water and I buy this from a professional chemical store that primarily sells wholesale products to professional landscapers. Most of these type of businesses will do business with the retail "non-professional" (at retail cost of course) except you might have to wait your turn until they are finished with their primary clients, that is the professional landscape contractors. I generally go when they are not busy such as during lunch or right after lunch.
I have used it to save my lawn due to all sorts of spills such as someone accidentally pouring cleaning products or bleach on the grass or to remove the salt that gets dumped on grass due to shoveling snow or to remove oil spills on grass.
I bet ya it will easily work to remove dog urine.
However, there is one catch. For best effectiveness, the product needs to be sprayed within a few days or so of the incident occurring if you want to save the plants or grass. So, if you wait longer, then there is an increasing chance that the area will need to be replanted or to allow time so the grass runners will cover the spot if it is a type of grass with runners.
Simply just spray the area extremely well. You cannot apply too much. I essentially would spray the contaminated area until it turns incredibly quite black, that is blackest of black. Then, you have to lightly water it into the ground. Then, I would do a second application after this and let it sit for a couple days until it is thoroughly soaked with water for a few hours (such as just sitting a slow running water hose or sprinkler on the area). Also, I use a higher dosage of the product than what is recommended. It is great stuff. This might be overkill, but I like to ensure I do a good job at detoxifying the soil.
It is extremely concentrated. I got a 2.5 gallon jug of the stuff from the contractor store and it took me about a year to use only half of it.
I just used a normal hand held spray applicator.
The product is entirely environmentally safe except there is one disadvantage.
The disadvantage of using too much carbon could result into soil nutrient deprivation. So, after a couple weeks or so, I would then add a little lawn fertilizer to the area that was contaminated to rejuvenate the soil's nutrients.
Also, after mixing with water, still this stuff is blackest of blacks so it can easily stain your cloths and hands for a period of time.
Hope this helps.
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First female dog pee has much more acid so it is a lot harder on lawns than male pee.
A local nursery here sells a granular product that comes in a large bag and looks kind of like fertilizer. You spread out over your lawn and it neutralizes the acid in pee when a dog pees on your lawn so it does not kill a spot of grass. Not sure what it was but It worked, I saw it first hand. You just have to re-apply every so often. Maybe every few months or so.
A local nursery here sells a granular product that comes in a large bag and looks kind of like fertilizer. You spread out over your lawn and it neutralizes the acid in pee when a dog pees on your lawn so it does not kill a spot of grass. Not sure what it was but It worked, I saw it first hand. You just have to re-apply every so often. Maybe every few months or so.
Have your son walk his dogs somewhere else, like my neighbor who brings his dogs to pee on MY lawn? J/k...
If you want to be super vigilant, you could spray the affected area immediately with the hose - and by "you" I mean your son. Or, do like my sister and train the dogs to use only one spot in the yard. She took out the grass and put down a thick layer of mulch in an area about 3x6 and the dogs only go in that spot. She hoses it down daily to prevent odor. She had to use leashes to lead them to the spot initially, but they actually caught on rather quickly.
I will also tell you that we stopped this problem in our own yard kind of accidently. We had a vet convince us that our dogs needed to be on a higher quality dog food. We switched and soon after noticed that the grass was no longer showing burned spots. The vet confirmed that low quality protein in many commercial dog foods will affect the quality of the urine.
Good luck!
If you want to be super vigilant, you could spray the affected area immediately with the hose - and by "you" I mean your son. Or, do like my sister and train the dogs to use only one spot in the yard. She took out the grass and put down a thick layer of mulch in an area about 3x6 and the dogs only go in that spot. She hoses it down daily to prevent odor. She had to use leashes to lead them to the spot initially, but they actually caught on rather quickly.
I will also tell you that we stopped this problem in our own yard kind of accidently. We had a vet convince us that our dogs needed to be on a higher quality dog food. We switched and soon after noticed that the grass was no longer showing burned spots. The vet confirmed that low quality protein in many commercial dog foods will affect the quality of the urine.
Good luck!
The concentration of the urine, the ammonia (nitrogen) content and the alkalinitiy or pH all cause lawn scalding. The alkalinity or pH of the dog's urine is a factor which you can change. A pH of 7 or greater will burn the lawn and it is also not healthy for the pet. You should hope for a pH level between 6 and 6.5. I would ask your verterinarian to test the dogs urine for pH as well as urine and ammonia concentrations. The vet can also recommend a dog food brand and type which will help to bring all aspects into a normal and healthy range. Here it is not only a benefit for your lawn, but it is a benefit to the dog, too.
The nitrogen content probably does the greatest damage as it is akin to over fertilizing your lawn.
To treat the lawn after the fact, I have some ideas. One would be to rinse the area after the dog has done its job with the garden hose to simply dilute the urine and wash some of it away. Another idea would be to have some fine ground zeolite mineral available to douse the area and absorb the urine. The zeolite would absorb the ammonia / nitrogen and release it slowly over time which could actually be beneficial to the lawn, but you would have to catch rover in the act and spread the zeloite on the exact site immediately.
The chemical nature of female dog's urine is not usually too different from the males. It is the habits of the sexes that makes it appear so. The females tend to squat to relieve themselves in one location, that concentrates the problem. The males are out marking their territory and do their job a little here and a little over there and in many other spots.
The bulldogs may be more prone to relieving themselves in a manner similar to the females of other dog breeds due to their body design. this could be why you are noticing the problem much more prevalently.
The best strategy to preserve the immediate area around the pond is to do precisely what Dave suggests. Keep the dogs out of that area and provide them with some alternate area to potty.
Gordy
The nitrogen content probably does the greatest damage as it is akin to over fertilizing your lawn.
To treat the lawn after the fact, I have some ideas. One would be to rinse the area after the dog has done its job with the garden hose to simply dilute the urine and wash some of it away. Another idea would be to have some fine ground zeolite mineral available to douse the area and absorb the urine. The zeolite would absorb the ammonia / nitrogen and release it slowly over time which could actually be beneficial to the lawn, but you would have to catch rover in the act and spread the zeloite on the exact site immediately.
The chemical nature of female dog's urine is not usually too different from the males. It is the habits of the sexes that makes it appear so. The females tend to squat to relieve themselves in one location, that concentrates the problem. The males are out marking their territory and do their job a little here and a little over there and in many other spots.
The bulldogs may be more prone to relieving themselves in a manner similar to the females of other dog breeds due to their body design. this could be why you are noticing the problem much more prevalently.
The best strategy to preserve the immediate area around the pond is to do precisely what Dave suggests. Keep the dogs out of that area and provide them with some alternate area to potty.
Gordy
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morewater
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Use an invisible fence around the pond area. The dogs will get a little zap from the collar attachment when they get within a specified distance of the pond's perimeter. They learn quickly.