6 Ways How to Protect Grass from Dog Urine
Want to know how to protect grass from dog urine?
While dogs bring us so much joy, they also can cause damage to our homes, although it’s totally worth the cost.
One thing you may inevitably have to deal with is unattractive brown or yellow spots on your lawn from dog pee.
Luckily, you can do a few things to protect your grass and eliminate those unsightly spots.
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Table of Contents
Why Does Dog Urine Damage Grass?
Dog urine contains nitrates which can kill your grass in high doses. Grass already contains some nitrates. When your dog pees on your grass, it increases the amount of nitrogen in that spot.
Also, as you likely know, dogs tend to pee in the same spot repeatedly. Therefore, these pee zones get a significantly higher dose of nitrogen, killing the grass and leaving the formidable brown mark.
Can Dog Urine Be Good for Grass?
The ironic thing is that many fertilizers and other lawn care products contain nitrogen. In some cases, yellow spots might even mean a lack of nitrogen in that area.
Nitrogen is actually good for your grass, so why doesn’t dog pee help your grass grow?
Your lawn needs the proper nitrogen concentration for the grass to receive the benefits. When you use the correct amount, your grass will look lush and green.
When your dog just pees a steady stream of urine in one spot, this overloads that area with nitrates.
If you want to see greener spots instead of pee spots, you can dilute the urine with about a gallon of water. This theoretically could lead to greener grass in that area.
But are you really going to collect your dog’s pee to try and use it as a natural fertilizer?
6 Ways to Protect Grass from Dog Urine
Your best bet is to keep grass from turning yellow from dog urine in the first place. Yellowing grass means unhealthy grass, and if the grass goes brown, it’s likely dead. Check out these tips to banish the yellow and brown spots and win your lawn back.
1. Pay Attention to Your Dog’s Favorite Pee Spots and Limit the Fertilizer
Dogs typically have their favorite places to pee. Don’t fertilize as much in these areas since these spots will receive extra nitrogen courtesy of your dog’s urine.
Otherwise, these particular areas will receive more nitrogen than they can handle at one time.
2. Dilute Your Dog’s Urine
You can dilute your dog’s pee in two ways to help keep your grass green. First, make sure your dog drinks extra water to help dilute the concentration of nitrogen. This tip can help your grass and keep your dog in tip-top shape too.
Also, when your dog urinates on the grass, have a bucket of water handy. Pour roughly a gallon of water over the pee spot to help dilute the pee. Doing this can help reduce brown spots and might even make that patch greener.
Alternatively, use a hose and spray the area after your dog urinates. Incidentally, this is why when you put down fertilizers and other lawn products, you typically need to water them in. You’re helping activate the fertilizer.
But you’re also making sure it doesn’t sit on one spot for too long and burn your grass or plants.
3. Can You Train Your Dog Not to Pee on Your Lawn?
Another top recommendation on how to protect grass from dog urine is to try to train them to pee elsewhere. Or create a designated pee area.
Then you only have to worry about the grass in a small section of your yard.
Bring your pup to that spot and when they pee, reward them with praise and treats. You’ll likely have to accompany them several times until they get the picture.
You can even use a fun marker to designate the spot, like this fire hydrant pee post. Some posts contain scents similar to dog pheromones to encourage your pup to pee in that spot.
4. Try a Dietary Supplement for Your Pup
You can talk with your vet about adding a supplement like Grass Guard to your dog’s diet. These types of supplements adjust your dog’s urine in a way that can reduce the effect it has on your grass.
Before giving your dog any supplements, make sure to consult with your vet.
5. Use a Product to Repair Your Grass
Some of the above tips can help prevent dead spots in the grass, but what if you already have yellowing areas?
You can try a product like Scotts EZSeed Dog Spot Repair. It surrounds the seed in a protective layer and helps repair pet damage to the grass.
6. Replant Your Dog’s Pee Areas with Urine-Resistant Grass
Despite your best efforts, it might be hard to prevent dead spots in your grass from dog urine. Depending on the type of grass you have, it could be that it’s simply very susceptible to burning.
In this case, your best bet at preventing yellow and brown spots in the grass from dog urine might be to replant. Choose a grass that is more resistant to dog pee and plant it in your yard.
If you don’t want to redo your whole yard, at least replant in the area where your dog pees.
What Grass Types Are Best for Preventing Dog Urine Damage?
Starting with grass that can stand up better to dog urine is helpful. A few types of grass that work best at preventing damage from dog urine are:
- Fescue Grass
- Kentucky Bluegrass
- Zoysia Grass
- Perennial Ryegrass
- Bermuda Grass
Conclusion
Well, I hoped I’ve given you some things to try on how to protect grass from dog urine.
Preventing damage in the first place is your best course of action. You can try putting less fertilizer where they pee, having them drink more water to help reduce nitrogen in their urine, or diluting their pee by pouring water on the lawn spots.
You could also consider training them to pee in certain areas or even give them a supplement.
However, if you your dog damages the grass with pee, it doesn’t mean all is lost. If you have reseeded your lawn with urine-resistant grass with a deep root system, your grass will likely recover within a couple of weeks.
However, if the spot is still brown after two weeks, you likely need to reseed the area again.
By the way, once you clean up the spots, consider using a pet safe weed killer to make your lawn even more perfect.
Keeping these tips in mind should help end your lawn care frustrations when it comes to your dog’s unsightly pee spots. Have you had to battle with brown or yellow spots in your yard?
What are some things you’ve tried?