MY DOGS URINE DAMAGES GRASS

By Sunday, October 20, 2019 10 No tags Permalink

My dogs urine damages grass!…

Jaxson – the lawn killing canine

I first noticed it in Northern Virginia, Lee made it a point to tell me every time he cut the lawn, that Jaxson was ruining the grass!

Fast forward to Charleston –

Around the corner lives the loveliest neighbors. I walk past their home just about every afternoon. The front lawn has a little bit of a slope and for some reason, Jaxon loves to walk up and down the mini-mound. This past spring, they spent a mint (I’m talking the equivalent of a college semester) having their lawn ripped apart and transformed into a plush green oasis.

This makes my afternoon walks a little difficult because Jaxson has always liked to pee on their old lawn.

The other day, I had to drag Jaxson past this particular yard like it was a life or death situation. It could have very easily been one – mine! 

Our neighbor was outside on his porch, and I couldn’t afford (literally and figuratively) for Jaxson to squat and water a few blades of grass.

Dog pee – his pee – ruins the lawn…

No grass stands a chance…

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? – 

Some studies believe dogs need to drink more water to lessen the effects of the nitrogen on the lawn. 

Others stated perhaps the dog should be allowed to eliminate their bladders more often – reducing the amount of urine in the system.

Theses theories aren’t satisfying me because –

  • Jaxson drinks water all day
  • He and Harley are outside often

AND – 

I know I said my dogs urine damages grass, but interesting enough, this is a curse that only Jaxson carries. Harley’s urine has never changed the color of anything – ever!…

Harley never leaves a trace of where he’s been #stealthurinator

COULD IT BE THE GRASS? – 

Check this out – 

While nitrogen is an essential component of healthy soil, high concentrations of it can cause patches of grass to turn yellow or brown. Urine is naturally high in nitrogen, and nitrogen alone can cause grass burns. … Salts and other compounds found in dog urine also contribute to grass damage.

The Spruce Pets

This explains why some lawns leave a spot after Jaxson has paid a visit and some do not. 

In the Spring of 2020, we plan to start our beautification backyard project. I was super excited to tell Doodle Dad all that I’d learned while researching dog urine. 

I couldn’t wait to share that we needed to look for a more “urine-resistant grass” like “Ryegrass and Fescue.”

After rambling on and on about this, he waited for me to pause and catch my breath to then ask – 

Are you allowing them to pee of someone else’s lawn? Cathy, that’s illegal.

#whatinthedoodle

IS IT ILLEGAL FOR JAXSON TO PEE ON SOMEONE ELSES LAWN? – 

I looked glared at him for a few minutes, told him he was crazy wrong and then defended my dog walking habits. 

“As we head to the park,” I said, “on occasion – Jaxson will pee on someone’s lawn. Most of the time he relieves himself on the strip of grass that’s between the sidewalk and street.” #thatwasalie #Ifeltpressured

And so our debate ensued.

Later that evening I sat down and keyed up my boyfriend “Mr. Google” OhMeOhMy – Lee was somewhat correct – 

It’s trespassing! You can go on people’s lawns to deliver your paper route or to ring their doorbell or to say hello. You can’t go on their lawns to deliver piss. and you certainly can’t after being told to stay off.

It’s considered rude and inappropriate!

Did you know this?

Am I the only one who didn’t know this?

SUPPLEMENTS – 

There are a gazillion neutralizing agents on the market filled with various complex vitamins, amino acids and such. I’m personally not interested in giving them something else to swallow.

Neither one of the Boys has an offensive strong urine odor, which lets me know their urine is fine, so I’m not messing with it. 

Perhaps, I will look into an oriental rock garden motif for the backyard. This will solve the issues of the brown spots, keep me out of jail AND save my marriage!

Thanks so much for reading, gotta go – it’s dog walking time! #takinganewroute

Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today! ❤️

10 Comments
  • Madison
    October 21, 2019

    One thing that helps is regular watering or pouring water over the area right after a dog pees as it dilutes the urine. Gypsum sprinkled over the pee area also helps to neutralize the urine. There are three of us, and we have spots here and there, but we certainly haven’t ruined the lawn. As for the neighbors, well Mom’s rules are no peeing on mailboxes or other man made items, and if we pee, not in the middle of the front lawn, it has to be somewhere less conspicuous. That strip between the sidewalk and street is ideal is it isn’t really someone’s lawn in our minds.

    • Cathy Bennett
      October 21, 2019

      I’ve read where girls pee is worse than boys. Doodle Dad is the one having a fit over the brown spots – not me. I will forward your comments to him and see if he wasn’t to get some Gypsum. Thanks Madison, you’ve got good information to share!

  • Cheryl
    October 21, 2019

    It’s so good to read this, our lawn looks polka dotted! It’s only our yard, not his own yard at his home. We have/steal our granddoodle a lot, and our lawn shows it, not that we care. So I wonder if it’s a combination of the chemical make up of the dog and the dirt/grass? I’ll be interested in what your research discovers.

    • Cathy Bennett
      October 21, 2019

      The nitrogen levels in your grass and/or chemicals that you use to treat it could very easily be the combination along with your grand-doodle’s urine. Not sure what the correct “level” of nitrogen should be to make it stop turning brown, that I cannot say. Like you, I really don’t care either, but I really don’t want Jaxson leaving his calling card in the form of a brown spot on my neighbor’s lawn either LOL Thanks so much for reading 🙂

  • Kimberly Gauthier
    October 21, 2019

    Have you checked the pH of your dog’s urine? There are test strips you can get that’ll do this for you. You can order them on Amazon. Before I switched my dogs’ diet eons ago, Sydney’s pee used to burn the grass. They say that it’s more common in girls than boys because girls tend to squat and pee in one concentrated area. My boys lift a leg and their pee spreads out a bit more.

    In our city, it is “illegal” for a dog to poop on someone else’s property and the owner not clean it up. But this is usually handled between people. I think that it can also be a problem if someone had golf-course beautiful grass and my dog kept burning spots in it. But I would personally put up barriers to protect my grass because it’s not easy to control a dog – a dog just sees a place to go.

    Looking forward to your solution.

    • Cathy Bennett
      October 21, 2019

      Hey you! Yes, Jaxson’s urine is fine, that’s what made me research this – only this neighbor’s lawn turns brown. Interesting, I watched a dog pee on it this evening, can’t wait till tomorrow to see if the spot turned brown. I really do need a life- I’m searching out dog piss on other people’s lawn LOL I also never knew about the peeing and pooping on someone else’s lawn being an issue especially when they clean it up. I could see if they left the poo there – which I never do. Having dogs really do afford you very interesting conversations doesn’t it?

  • lisa
    October 23, 2019

    Sometimes we get brown spots where Cabo pees, but sometimes we don’t. The grass always seems to recover. As for walks, I believe–technically–the strip between the sidewalk and street belongs to the city. 🙂 We live in a rural area and do not have sidewalks so we try and stay as close to the street as possible, or in the unmanicured areas of the neighborhood between the lawns. But, sometimes, pee-mail is just too tempting! Unfortunately, Cabo will not be taking long walks for a while. 🙁

    • Cathy Bennett
      October 24, 2019

      Why won’t Cabo be taking long walks? Is everything alright?

  • Jan K
    October 27, 2019

    My hubby used to be bothered by the brown patches on the lawn, but a beautiful lawn has never been important to me! I couldn’t even tell you which dogs caused it and which didn’t. Hubby finally got over it too (or at least shut up about it – LOL!).
    Luckily here in the country most people don’t care about their lawns either, not where we walked anyway. Now Luke and I just mostly walk in the woods or along our dirt road, so no worries there! 🙂

    • Cathy Bennett
      October 27, 2019

      Doodle Dad has decided he doesn’t really want a back yard with lawn, so we are going to do some serious renovating this spring. As for the front, Jaxson rarely tinkles on it, so we are good to go!