Pet spots / grass seed
 

Hi,

Can any of the fellow AO members recommend a strain of grass seed that stands up to pet stains (or is at least a known tough strain)? I laid sod in the backyard last spring - was fine all last year - but this summer looks like a mine field. I do the usual fertilizer and seed every spring. I have tried the dog rocks but no change.

Second question - any of you have a way to get rid of the current spots other than topsoil and reseed?

Thanks!

Not the help you are looking for. But I have had very good success using rocks you can buy from a pet store, that adds a mineral to the dogs water that really helps to prevent this problem. You simply put the rocks in the dogs water dish.

Have heard clover is pretty resilient to pet urine. Haven't tried it yet, it's not true grass, but it's green!

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BAKING SODA , same stuff that you put on your batterys to clean the terminals , deacidation.
Watch where puppy doe the job , sprinkle baking soda on that spot , then water well , baking soda will neutralize it , and grass wont die , you can also get a patch fix from crappy tire for pet spots , likely the same makeup.

Thanks for the responses!

Cheers

Astro Turf

I trained my dog to potty behind the garage, like a cat's litter box, no poop in the yard and the grass is green

Get a real smart dog like these :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj-Ecw0Vdak

What are you feeding your dog? That's number one for increasing pH of urine. Buy some pH strips and test the urine - 6 to 6.5 is ideal but if it's higher, they can end up with stones - which equates to $$$.

Mine is raw fed, doesn't burn the grass - but that's not a magic bullet in itself.

EZseed from CT, grass repair for dummies and it works but not cheap

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/sc...6344p.html#srp

Been using these for several years now, works great!

Cheers

the rocks don't release anything into the water - the claim is that it absorbs nitrogen and ammonia from the water. Have to ask, how much nitrogen and ammonia is in your water?

Food is the biggest culprit.

I feed my dog Acana. Not sure there's much healthier off the shelf.

Cheers

Just realize that not all food is equal - even from bags over the same manufacturer. Some are designed for high energy working breeds - others for low energy dogs.

Get some ph strips, cheap and easy to test. I do checks on my pup periodically.

He's fed raw, pees in the same place every morning, no burns. Yet, that one patch of grass has many burns from other dogs.

I'm not sure why - I put rocks in the water and all is good ;)

Cheers

No sweat, if you believe putting pieces of granite in your dogs dish helps, have at it.

However... It's high protein foods that are the culprit.

https://acana.com/wp-content/uploads...-11th-2012.pdf


When did you last fertilize your lawn, and what did you fertilize with? ;)

You may be right and I have never tested my water.

I have an acreage and 2 female Great Pyrs. I have fed them the same UFA dog food for as long as I can remember. The difference since I started using the rocks is night and day.

Male dogs also have less effect on lawns than females....

We feed our goldens raw and they still burn the lawn, dog rocks have reduced it. As for high protein being the culprit well we'd rather feed them high protein and have lawn spots than to feed them low protein/low quality diets.

Buy this, mix it with good black soil and throw in some extra seed and spread it over the affected areas after you rip up the dead grass.

Hey play.soccer you're right about low-quality dog food.
There were times years ago when we gave ours the cheapest....uh...."stuff" available for a while.
I won't go into boring details, but it sure didn't do them any good.
Now its either the best on the market, or meat; raw or cooked.

I don't 'believe', I see the results.

I don't fertilize, or water, my back grass. It's for the dog.

Cheers

Me too. I see amazing results. No way you can tell me there isn't a huge improvement.

Training then to go where you want them to is the easiest and cheapest. Plus, your yard doesn't look like hell.

x2

I just buy roll or two of new grass, cut out dead areas and cut the same piece of new grass, fertilize and water it. That works best for me

As I said earlier, if putting a few pieces of granite in the dogs water dish helps...

I just bought a bottle of that 2 weeks ago !

I'll let ya know how well it works, just seeded the patches last week...

:budo:

x2 on the EZseed, love that stuff

Thanks everyone - might be a bit late for training her to pee elsewhere, will look at the ezseed or try cutting up a piece of sod (never thought of that before...)

It is never too late to teach a dog to use a specific spot. Just walk her to where you want her to go each time you let her out. Don't allow her to go anywhere else. She will quickly figure it out. If shelter dogs can be trained to do this no reason yours can't

Your dog has to acidic a diet and it will eventually cause issues. Add some baking soda to the dogs food to help bring her PH back into balance. Will reduce the PH a whole lot better than rocks will.

As to getting the grass to come back, put used coffee grounds on the dead spots, grass seed and keep well watered. It will grow back fairly quickly.