Burned Grass Due To Urine

[jacqui835]

Hi, I'm sorry to revive an old thread but I don't want people to have to repeat themselves. I was just wondering Monelite, were you ever able to save your grass?

We are having the same problem now. Dog is finally used to our new house so he has stopped marking and now just squats to pee. Problem is, the marking was actually better because he didn't destroy patches of the lawn as he is doing now. Worse, he now just goes onto the closest patch of lawn, squats and then races back inside, so it's all in the same area and the dead patches do not have time to recover.

He is fed probably 3/4 raw and 1/4 dry biscuits. He already doesn't really like drinking out of his bowl and prefers water from a 'source', such as from a tap, the shower or best of all the toilet, so I imagine adding something to his water is unlikely to be successful. If that's the only way though, I'll work at it.

Has anyone been able to avoid this, except for by teaching your dog to pee on concrete areas (as I worked really hard to teach him not to pee on anything but grass after keeping him in terraces and apartments, so this might be hard to undo).

[dogfan]

Dog rocks worked here

Edit: Oops didn't realise it was an old thread :provoke:

Edited February 13, 2011 by dogfan

[sas]

Ooops old thread.

Edited February 13, 2011 by MEH

[Staranais]

Apple Cider Vinegar in the drinking water....it definitely works.

I had NO success with Dog Rocks whatsoever.

Had no success with Apple Cider Vinegar

In my experience, ACV and dog rocks can both work if the particular dog likes the taste of the acidified/mineralised water. Tastier water = higher water intake = more dilute urine = less grass burn.

[MonElite]

I was just wondering Monelite, were you ever able to save your grass?

No not really. Dogs rocks did absolutely nothing.

I have resulted in fencing off the whole grass area and not letting the dogs on it at all. Basically a weeks since I have started this thread.

So there were no dog on it until about 2 weeks ago. Grass started to grow back and it was doing ok, with some patches that were completely gone, but the rest was getting better. I watered it heaps at least twice a week and put seasol on it twice.

And 2 weeks ago I let a litter of puppies and their mother on it.

Mother has burned out new patches.

I have now decided to just let it go till the pups go. After they go I will be top dressing it with some new soil mixed with seeds of kikuyu. (the one I have is shademaster bufflo) and fencing it off completely from the dogs until the grass is very well established and growing properly. Even if it meas it will be moths before they get to go on it.

[Erny]

I did the turf thing and then along came my dog and combined with the (then) drought and his urine, pretty much (almost) lost the whole lot. I gave up on the idea of continuing to spend a heap of money on it (I did the top dressing etc etc etc) and whilst the drought period was on I allowed (to a degree) the weeds to hold my soil together (it was otherwise a dust bowl). With the breaking of the drought some of my turf revived but most of it was gone. I picked some Kikuyu runners from the vacant block next door, poked them in the ground and watered them in. The earlier ones I did have now spread out and formed quite a thick patch of lawn. I've since pulled up runners from that patch and am dotting those in, around and amongst some of the bare/needy patches still remaining in my lawn. They are beginning to take off and I have found that topping with a small amount of potting mix around them aids their speedy growth. I am finding this the least costly (ie has cost me almost nothing) and easiest/carefree way of bringing my yard back to a decent looking lawn. I'm also finding that my dog is not burning off the Kikuyu area of grass when he urinates on it yet other areas yellow and burn away very quickly and easily.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Erny

[MonElite]

I should have got kikuyu in the first place

[Erny]

That's what I regrettably thought too, MonElite. And it's awful when you've just spent all that money, put all the hard work in .... yada yada.

Here's a picture of a section of my lawn. I've marked the section on the side of the red line where I planted a runner or two of the kikuyu (right side of red line marked with "x"). Compare to the section on the left which is still patchy - I've only just in the past couple of weeks planted extra runners there. The lawn up the top (outside of the photo) is now thickening up like the thick patch in this photo.

So don't despair - it can be fixed :D.

ETA: I drew the red line incorrectly. You might notice that right where the "x" is drawn, the grass is a different colour. That's a section of my turf that miraculously revived itself. I tend to find it and the kikuyu are now intertwining.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Erny

[ozjen]

Apple Cider Vinegar in the drinking water....it definitely works.

I had NO success with Dog Rocks whatsoever.

How much vinegar to water ellz?

We have just moved and this yard is alot smaller and with 5 dogs weeing (often multiple times in one spot - boys marking girls) there is tons of little patches of burnt grass. I have purchased some Dog Rocks but it said it may take 5 weeks to work and would love something else to try that is more cost effective and allows me to completely empty and refill water bowls daily.

Very scientific amount....a good old fashioned "slosh"!

No seriously, you'll need to add it and increase gradually or they won't drink it. I start out with a couple of capfuls to a normal household sized bucket. My lot get a couple of cups per bucket now, dogs and cats alike. I drink it too, but in warm/hot water with some honey. Haven't had a UTI in years and I suffered badly from them for years.

There are other benefits too but you can google them....there are heaps, including anecdotal evidence that it improves fertility and conception rates. Can't say much about that for sure because I don't breed often, but my last Stafford litter was 9 puppies and all survived!

:D My family think I have shares in the Apple CIder Vinigar companies because I swear by the stuff for both humans and animals, always have a big bottle in the house. Never find I need to use much at any time, but it certainly makes a difference with alot of things. Bet your pets never have fleas either.