Dog Urine Burning Your Grass? Here’s the Cure
Dog urine burning your lawn? How about those dark green spots from the urine? Is there any way tofix or prevent that dog lawn damage? YES!
Dog Urine Lawn Burn is worse with female dogs that usually have stronger urine, and also squat in the same spots, but happens with male dogs too.
Your dog’s urine is highly acidic and can kill the grass it comes in contact with, similar to burning a lawn with over-fertilization. Imagine dumping a handful of granular fertilizer in one spot: One of two things will happen, either the spot will turn dark dark green, or worse, it will turn brown from burning. This is what the dog’s pee does to your grass.
4 Ways to Combat Dog Urine Burn in your Lawn
- The most common treatment is to saturate the urine spot with water. Enough water has to be used to dilute the urine or even completely wash it away. If you don’t use enough water, you may save the lawn from burning, and instead have lots of very dark green spots where the urine was diluted to the point of actually helping the grass… just not evenly!
This approach to control dog urine problems takes a lot of time and is difficult to get right, but I have many many customer who use this method will moderate success.
- Another way to combat urine burn is to train your dog to do his business in one area of the yard that has been designated as his personal bathroom. It’s a good idea to segregate that spot with river pebbles, sand or even artificial turf. This way, you can clean it up easily. This one shouldn’t be too difficult; afterall, you trained the dog not to pee in the house, and this is just another step along those same lines.
- Another method is to alter the pH of the urine, which can be done by modifying your dog’s diet. Brewers Yeast is found in most dog food, but it’s not at a level that has enough effect on their urine acidity. Some say an additional teaspoonful of Brewers Yeast added to the dog’s daily diet, can reduce the pH of the urine enough to prevent lawn damage. Some folks purchase Brewer’s Yeast in tablet form as well. You can get Brewer’s Yeast for Dogs at many safe online retailers.
In addition to altering the pH or the dog’s urine, you can help alter the pH in your lawn soil by adding lime. 
If there are common areas on the lawn that are affected by the dog’s urine, sprinkle them with lime. If you are unsure, you can perform a soil test prior to utilizing lime as a neutralizer.
Just remember, if you can train the dog to go in one central area, the lime idea works well. Many folks have asked me if it is possible to burn your lawn with lime, and the answer is “no” you can’t burn your grass with lime. A 25lb bag of lime is available at Menard’s for $2.98. It’s cheap and works! You just have to stay consistent.
A final note, a friend of mine actually installed a “pee post” for her dog and taught him to life his leg on it each time he had to go. This keep all th urine in one spot. I just wouldn’t want to have to clean that post!