Help! Lawn burn spots from dog urine.

I wasn't sure where to post this. I hope this is okay. Does anyone know what to do about these? Maybe someone knows how to train them to only go in a designated area like say a potty area filled with just river rock. I was making progress with training them but my roomate wasn't enforcing it with me. I was fighting a losing battle. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Tell ya what Bug, I wouldn't want to walk on river rock to take a pee, and I can't see my dogs wanting to do it either.

I have 2 dogs in a small yard. I have to go out daily to wash down the piles with the hose. If you watch your dogs, you already know where their favorite spots are. Urine of course is highly acidic and that's whats burning the grass. Make the spot they've picked out, into their pee spot. Section it off and lay down pine needles/straw. I have that. They always use the pines needles to pee and go in the grass for the other jobs.

If you were wanting to train them to use river rock, give them pine straw instead. They will be more inclined to use it.

Good luck.

:^) Molly

This message was edited Feb 7, 2004 8:04 AM

Molly has some good suggestions for you and I'm sure there would be more people to discuss this with you in the Pet's forum. Might want to give it a shot and see what they all come up with for you.

Thanks Brugie and Molly. I really like the pine straw idea. I don't know about making the area they select into their designated potty spot. This house has sod all around it and it seems that they have selected the center of the back yard to be their pee spot. I can't have that. As nice and easy as it sounds to let them select it. I'll have to try something different. The pine straw will be a sure thing. I think they will like that too. The entire lawn is pretty much dead looking right now as a result of winter but as soon as it starts greening up all the burn spots will show. I really dread this. I know that there are topical things you can apply to the burn spots to neutralize the acid in the urine to help bring back the green. There are also oral suppliments that you can give your dog so their urine isn't so acidic but my roomate who is a nurse says that there is a biological need for us and dogs to have acidic urine. He went into more detail than that but too much to get into here. To make a long story short, he didn't think it was a good idea and was concerned about the health risks associated with this oral suppliment.

I have a section of the area behind the sodded lawn cleared out for them that is sand but for some reason they don't really want to use it. The male used it when there was a little bush suddenly growing in it during the summer. He used this bush as his make-shift water hydrant so I was even thinking of finding an old water hydrant to put there just for him. It seems like I have to be there giving them a scornful look for them to use it. And the male does his kicking and scratching with his hind feet/paws. This really does a job on the sod. He just tears it up like nothing. He also likes to follow the female around and trace all of her urine spots.

You know, when I moved to Colorado from Texas I took my little 3 pound chihuahua with me. Having moved from 3 acres in Texas, I was all of a sudden living in a town house in Colorado and "Lulu" refused to go outside if God forbid it was cold or snowing. She just would not go out. So what do I do. Where does she relieve herself? I resorted to litter box training her. And it worked out quite well. You would think that if I could litter box train a chihuahua I should be able to teach 2 English bulldogs to go in one designated spot. Strange how things work out. Anyway. Thank you both for your help. You have given me some new ideas.

I found that unaltered dogs seemed to affect the lawn more than spayed or neutered ones. I was happy when I got my female spayed to find the spots disappeared. then she had a urinary infection and had to be put on a diet that increased the acid in her diet for the urine. So now back to square one. They do have a coloring agent in some stores for this. Sounds like a bandage, but if you have sod you might be able to use it. Try a google search also for solutions.

The problem we have is that one of the neighbors around here (we don't know who, though) let's their dog loose in the wee early hours of the morning while we're sleeping. We wake up to see spots or landmines in our yard almost every morning. Bee Bee gun? lol

Hey Bugfreak!
I've read that if you feed your dog tomato juice everyday (1 tablespoon per 10lbs of dog ((up t0 8 0z.))) it keeps the urine from burning the grass. I haven't tried it and you might want to call your vet to make sure it is okay for your pet (some people says it may give the dog urinary tract infections but I can't tell you for sure). My dog has kidney problems so I can't give her anything not on her diet. Some people says it works for them, others say it didn't.

http://www.tdog.com/html/health/vitaminc.htm

Mobi

Well, Thank you all for your suggestions. Windy, I didn't know this about altered dogs. We were recently forced to alter our female as a result of a bad uterine infection. I guess the acid in the urine keeps it sterile so no infection can take place since you mentioned that you had to suppliment you dog to make acidic urine. I have never heard the tomatoe thing either. I might try that too asuming it's okay with the Dr.
Mobi. Denver?! Cool. I just moved from Aurora CO. I loved Colorado. One of the few states that you can take dogs just about anywhere and people see it as a normal thing. It's what I call a "dog lover" state. Heck, we had a directory of Colorado hotels that allowed dogs for when we went on extended road trips trying to see as much of Colorado as possible. Colorado has many "dog" car owners. It's really neat too because the have human scoffers too. Thanks for the link. I'll have to check this out after this reply.
Kerrie, I want you to know that I feel your frustration. Anything that dog owners do or don't do that gives other dog owners a bad name just kills me. We always clean up after our dogs and keep their leash short when on walks. So close infact that my male has lifted his leg a little too close to my feet a time or two. Needless to say, that was the end of that walk. The are not allowed to wee on other people's mailboxes, lawns or bushes. They know that they aren't supposed to but still sometimes feel the need to test us to see if we're watching. Cleaning up after our dogs was a habit learned in Colorado. The lack of responsibility on a dog owner's behalf in Colorado was really obvioius when it was there. You had to tip-toe through dookie slush during the winter snow. I know it's cold and people don't really want to bother but my roomate always says that if you pick it up fresh (like you're supposed to) you can actually stick it in your pocket as a handwarmer. Never tried it. I'll just take his word on this one.

I found this product on the "Vermont Country Store" web site. If it works, it sounds like an answer to your problem. If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is!
Pati
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/prdSell_tentSale.asp?ProdGroupID=25122&DeptID=24593&CatID=26828

This article has a lot of good information, including the causes and warnings about home remedies administered to dogs causing health problems and other complications. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/Dog_lawn_problems.html

Bugfreak,
I didn't know you moved from Aurora (You emailed a few weeks ago, Tina in Colorado). I have lived many places and liked CO the best. Florida is one of my favorite places as well. Due to the drought here, I no longer have a lawn so I can't tell you how to stop the urine from burning the lawn. Right now I have dirt and weeds where the lawn used to be. This year I'm planting flowers and leaving a small area for a herb lawn for my dogs.
I have two great greyhounds and am crazy about them. Gardenwife has a greyhound mix and she can tell you as well, how great they are. And living in Florida you can easily adopt... LOL I am always trying to convert others to adopt these hounds. I convinced my mother and now she has her own greyhound girl.

Mobi (Moby)

Greyhounds are wonderful, big, gentle dogs. I'd like to get a retired racer some day. We're not sure what sight hound Emma has in her mix, but considering her height and weight, it's probably greyhound rather than whippet.

I buy a dog treat from Drs. Fosters & Smith called Lawn Gard. You give so many treats per day based on dog's weight. My dog only needs one per day. They are peanut based and seem to work. My dog likes them.

LimeyLisa Kay

Thank you all for your contributions/suggestions. I will read up more on the links (Thanks Pat and GW).

Mobi,
I loved Colorado. We did bike rides through the San Juan Mountains every year. These bike rides were anywhere from 400 to 480 miles each year. I got to see many beautiful parts of Colorado that even locals have never seen. My favorite places were Ouray and Glenwood Springs. They are absolutely breath-taking. I also remember the droughts and the water police. I don't miss that for sure. Here I have a well pump and I live backed up to a water shed so I don't really ever expect a shortage of water. I recall many people in certain parts of Aurora were even putting up astro turf for lawn grass. Humm.. I think I'll pass. I would much prefer the weeds you have over some astro turf. I love dogs. My dogs are so spoiled. They have a toddler bike trailer that we attach to our bike and take them for rides. They love it. They even try to get inside of this little trailer when it's parked in the garage. We got the female bulldog from Grand Junction. I do miss Colorado. I miss all the bike paths. We have none here. Colorado had so much are to bike. Well, now I can garden though. I couldn't in Colorado because I lived in a town house. We lived next to a German lady with a thick accent and a cat named Mickey. She always made sure to remind us that there was a leash law. At one point I made sure to point out to her that all "pets" must be leashed... Meaning Mickey should be on a leash too. She didn't like that too much. We've moved now so that's one thing I don't miss at all. Town house living is not for me.

Lime,
I too buy most of my things from Drs Foster & Smith. I want to do a koi fish pond and you can bet I'll be getting more things from them since they sell pond stuff too. I can't wait.

Thank you everyone. I got my dogs trained to go in their new "potty spot". The're such babies. Thanks again everyone.

Bug.

Cool - how'd you do it? We need to train ours, too. We have landmines dotting a lot of our precious yard real estate and need to get the pooches to consolidate.

Gardenwife,
I used the instructions on this link.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/dog_lawn_problems.html
I imagine that training a dog that lives indoors would be much easier than training one that lives outside. When you read and apply this you will see what I mean. My dogs live inside. They are English bull dogs. They wouldn't be able to live outside if they wanted to. I have a chihuahua that lives in and outdoors but she only weighs 3 pounds and hardly urinates enough to matter. The lawn has never been affected by her. And she thinks she's the alpha so she does a bit here and a bit there so it's not all concentrated in one area. She sprinkels here and there. Good luck with training yours. I still stand at the door when I let mine out and instruct them to "show me where you go potty." They run out and know that if they do it right I'll be waiting by the door with a treat and nothing if they don't. If they start to sniff off course I'll remind them with a stern "no" as I watch and they know what I mean. I'll start weaning them from the treat soon but it's the least of it at this point. I just keep the treats by the sunroom door so I have them for them when they return after their potty break. I've trained both male and female English bulldogs. I think for urinating it's been easier for the male. He strives to use thesame saw palmetto as his pole to urinate on. The female was easier to train for #2 if (if you will). She was getting lazy at first and would not go pee in her area and would go right outside by our door instead. Especially when it's raining but when that happens it doesn't really matter because the rain dilutes the urine anyhow. She'll also do this if we have company or if my roomate is coming home right about at her potty break. She's in a hurry to come back inside (cause she's afraid some might miss something I guess). But for the sake of keeping them trained I still don't treat if she/he fails to go in the designated area rain or no rain excited or not. I think the male is afraid of the dark. The area selected is kind of far from the house and dark after the sun sets so I think I'm going to put a lamp on a post out there for them and have a switch by the door. This way I can watch them even at night and he can use the lamp pole as his pee pole. I think my lawn will appreciate it as much as the male will. The treats I use are some that look like mini hamburger patties made by Alpo in a resealable mylar bag that smell good enough for me to eat. They absolutely love these. As long as it's something that they really like a lot it should work. My dogs are highly motivated by food. Highly! Sorry about my long windedness. I hope this helps.

No longwindedness -- great info! When we get a fence for our lot someday, I'm going to do this. Right now, we take Emma out on a long, retractable leash and take the dogs to a certain area. Sarah we need to start using a leash with, because she's been off chasing things two yards off - something she didn't used to do that much, but she's getting more bold and stubborn. Oh for a fence!

Garden,
A lack of a fence is part of the reason my guys don't spend more time outside. I think I'm better off that way since one of them thinks she can actually garden and the other thinks he helps me pull up weeds. He actually watches me and starts pulling them out with his mouth. There's a small patch of lawn that was trampled by the crew that built our sunroom and I'm trying to keep the weeds from growing in it so the grass fills it up. Sidney (male bulldog) watches me pull these weeds out and will try to do thesame.

Have you considered a radio fence? This is what I'm going with my dogs. The reason for me doing this is to keep the yard open. We live backed up on a water shed and don't really want to take away from the natural jungle back there. It's quite a sight. We have wild magnolias large pine and oak trees back there. I think we even have some stagghorn sumac. The radio fence really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. The dogs quickly get the hang of it and know not to approach and the property line and get too close to it. I will have all of my toxic plants like castor bean etc. on the other side of this radio fence. Can you imagine one of my babies getting a hold of a castor been plant. I think I would end gardening for life.