Studies have shown that the nitrogen content and concentration in your dog’s urine causes the yellowing or burning that results in dead patches in your lawn. Female dogs are the major culprits, as they tend to urinate in the same place in large volume puddles. Whereas male dogs will mark their territory in several places, and tend to pleasure trees and vertical objects with their waste.
How do you overcome lawn burn?
The best way is to train your female dog to urinate in a specific area, if this isn’t possible then dilute the urine with water by hosing the area. Try and do this in the morning, that’s when her urine is the most concentrated.
There is also a product called ‘Dog Rocks’. The Dog Rock company claim that ‘Dog Rocks’ filter out impurities from water such as Tin, ammonia and nitrates. These impurities are usually passed out through urine, and when your grass comes in contact with these elements it is burned, resulting in a dead, yellow patch on your lawn. We encourage you to visit their website for more information dogrocks.com
Finally, there are a new generation of ‘family proof’ lawn types now available such as Sir Walter Buffalo. We would not completely guarantee these lawns will endure constant urination but from our experience they do survive better than other traditional lawn products.
For more information on urine marking please feel free to contact one of our friendly healthcare team members.