YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Can you keep a dog — and a green lawn?
Posted on April 5th, 2009 – 11:36 PMBy Jaime Chismar
There is a reason why dog parks are covered in mulch. Grass loves full sun, lots of water and a little fertilizer. It doesn’t tolerate shade — or active, curious dogs.
Fido needs a place to play, but a patchy lawn can be terribly problematic. This time of year, bare spots quickly become mud baths. What is a dog-lover to do?
Laura writes:
“i added a second dog to my family and its taking its toll on the grass in front of my deck steps. i’m interested in ground cover alternatives to grass as well. i’ve been struggling for three years to get different kinds of grass to grow in this super shady heavily trafficked area.”
How do you keep your dog and your grass happy? Have you switched to a tougher ground cover? Re-trained your dog? Or given up on your lawn?
47 Responses to "Can you keep a dog — and a green lawn?"
[…] Greengirls – […]
Given up on my lawn.
I tried training the dog to go on a wood-chipped area but the little prince didn’t like the way the chips felt under his precious feet.
So in our new house, I’ve ceded the back yard to him.
Yup, with one mutt and three St. Bernards, the back yard is mud. I’ve given up on lawn and plan to dig it out and go with pavers this year - to keep both their toes and my house clean! Grass is over rated…!
This is too funny! We sodded a spot in our back yard where an above ground pool used to be a few years ago. Yup, we loaded in the 25 cubic yards of dirt and put the sod on top. The next morning, I let the dog out and to my horror, watched as he started pulling up sod and sinking into the dirt below. (Yes, we did have to add more dirt and actually tampped it down that time, seeded and put a fence around the area so precious puppy couldn’t get to the dirt.)
For the most part, our dog just makes our lawn spotty, but we are lucky enough to have full sun in the back, so it makes the grass grow well.
Every spring, once the snow melts, yellow dead spots appear in our otherwise flawless backyard. They are places where our dog has done gone #1 during the winter. We have a large border collie. Those spots arise because they are left unchecked all winter, and really have a chance to “set in” to the underlying grass. We cut out those spots (literally, with a big hedge trimmer) and put down the seed stuff that comes in a bag and looks like insulation - you know the stuff. And then we water the entire backyard twice a day for two weeks. Those spots “heal” completely - to the point where you cannot tell where they were after 2-3 weeks. And to keep the lawn green going forward, we water every day (or twice every other day as watering bans allow). The thing that really kills our grass is when urine is on there for any extended length of time. If the grass is watered constantly, the urine will be diluted and wash away without a trace. I know some people that go so far as to follow their dog around with a garden hose to wash out areas where the dog pees. I have so far seen no reason to take it to that extreme with my yard.
Try putting down lime on your lawn every few weeks, it neutralizes the lawn in the dog areas. It works and it’s cheaper that any of the other products that are advertized.
Buy Gypsum (spelling?) pellets at Home Depot. Sprinkle on your yard once during the early spring, once during mid summer and once in the fall. It is a neutral and cancels out the effects of the dog’s acidic urine. That way you don’t have to water every other day.
As far as your dog creating mud holes, I can’t help.
I think yellow spots are just part of having a dog in the family. Boy dogs kill your plants, the girls kill the grass. Just water as often as you can and learn to live with it. The joy a dog brings beats the problems they create any day of the week.
I go to PETCO and buy GreenGrass pills. They control yellowing and protect your lawn; lower urine pH and prevent yellow spots; natural smoke flavored chews feed like a treat. There are other stores and other brands of “pee pills”, but the GreenGrass pills work for a Sheltie.
We have an area (20′ x 30′) fenced off for our two Border Collies. After replacing the grass year after year, we finally decided to put sand in that area. It’s easy to maintain. And it’s super easy to clean up after the dogs! Border Collies run hard and they were tearing up the sod every summer. Having the sand works wonders. The only maintenance is putting down Barn Lime once in a while to take away the smell of the urine.
We no longer have dirty, muddy, smelly dogs after the snow melts in the spring!
If you have an area you can dedicate to your dogs, I recommend giving sand a try.
If you want a green lawn that’s not necessarily grass, try planting white clover. It makes a nice low ground cover, and is resistant to dog urine. You only have to mow it a few times per year, too.
We have a fenced in area for the two dogs which gets cleaned weekly in the summer. Boy dogs are worse on the shrubs back there. The rest of our yard is a dog free zone. But our neighbors seem to deal with it by walking their dogs and letting them poop in our yard. Some clean up, some don’t.
Try the potty rock dog trainer. @www.pottyrock.com This will train them to go to one area of the yard every time
Dog urine essentially is super-strong nitrogen, which is why it burns the lawn. Lime doesn’t help. Gypsum will increase the ability of salts in the urine to wash into the soil, but doesn’t really help either.
The easist thing to do is to train your dog to go in one area of the lawn where you’re willing to sacrifice the appearance of the grass, or cover an area with woodchips. There is no tougher groundcover than grass unless you’re willing to go with woodchips or concrete!
Watering the lawn a lot also helps.
Me, I live with the lawn damage because the joy of having dogs is worth it.
This is an interesting, reserach-based page for folks to look at:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLN-Nov0199.html
We’ve always used a little tomato juice in with our dogs food to try to avoid the dreaded yellow pee patches in the grass. Seems to help.
I with Scott Hubbard…I have three large dogs (all female)…Every spring I dig up all the dead spots, put new black dirt in spots, sprinkle with grass seed, rake it in and water the spots twice a day for a few weeks….of course my yard looks like crap for about 2 weeks….but then it looks great until the next year….it takes me from dawn to dusk, on a two day weekend to get it completely done…well worth the work, for everthing my dogs give back to me, I wouldn’t have it another way
We’ve had herding dogs for years, and after sodding twice, we gave up and wood-chipped the central part of our backyard with free woodchips from the City of Mpls. Plantings line the perimeter, and a waist high wire fence keeps the dogs in their area. It works well, but you have to add woodchips at least once a year. We also have a raised brick patio surrounded by trees & plantings, again lined with wire fences. Why fight it? Dogs and grass just don’t mix, and exercise helps keep city dogs sane when you can’t get them to the dogpark.
We must just be lucky. Our Chesapeake/Chocolate Lab mix drinks over a gallon of water each day and has no affect on the lawn. Dillution must be the key.
We had an English Bulldog for 9 years. I put a double doggy door in the back of the house that led to a concrete patio and about 80 feet of lilacs, all fence in.
I fed him Iams and that dog crapped out in those lilacs for 9 years and I never had to pic up a single poop.. He’s long dead but those lilacs still just keep blooming away.
I’ve used some tomato juice with my dog on her food in the morning and night feeds.. it seems to help.. can’t say it’s fool proof, but she does drink a quite a bit of water as well so I think that helps dilute as well…
Teach the dog to use the bathroom toilet.
I do the work of digging and replacing too. It does make the lawn look good for the whole season. Last summer instead of putting in lawn seed I just used sod. Ah instant nice lawn.
We put a tablespoon of plain yogurt into the dog food once per day, it works a little–little being the key word.
We have a neighbor whose dog thinks our yard is its toilet and have lots of discolored grass spots around our lawn. We’re hoping it’s early enough in the season that the grass will grow back without having to reseed.
I have ceded the lawn to the dogs but like the “potty rock” solution. Must try that…
My question is this:
Do other people have lawns that are uneven, and bumpy (ankle breakers)?
I don’t know if this is from my dogs trampling it (45 lb and 70 lb on a city lot in Mpls) or the huge old maple tree and its roots.
Anyone?
Check Out K9Grass.com
There seems to be 2 different subjects going on here: 1 is the burnt grass spots caused by the dogs’ urine; 2 is the deterioration of grass due the dogs’ frequent running lanes on wet ground, tearing it up and causing mud. Being an owner of 2 5-year old mixed choc labs (they’re sisters!), I am very familiar with both. For the burnt-grass urine spots, try tomato juice, seems to work very well. I’ve been using it since late last summer and the burnt spots have drastically reduced; I just give them a 1/2 cup each daily or every other day, and they love it, too. For the mud, I just end up putting hay or dry leaves on the spots until it’s dry enough to remove it, and once it gets warmer in late Spring put down grass seed and water daily or twice daily; I’ve also cut out parts and replaced w/ sod. All the work is definitely worth it though, choc labs are the best dogs!!
I pretty much give up on the winter: tie her up out the back door. But in the summer (if it ever comes) I walk her to the park with bag in hand (good exercise for us both), rake the yellow oval in the backyard down to the dirt, put on gypsum, black dirt and seed. By June I have my lawn back for the year. Works every year.
We put gypsum doen in the fall just before it snows. There ia a little bit and i agree with Matt. I chose male dogs because of the female burning thing..but all and all as long as they stay out of my flower beds we agree to disagree on the grass part. {..dogs..}
Try K9Grass by Foreverlawn. It is a synthetic turf specificially designed for dogs with a flow through backing and antimicrobial built into the blades.
No more mud, awesome!
We have an active husky and find that wood chips covering the backyard (3-4 inches deep) work the best. No watering; just a little clean-up after him. It is like his own dog park!
I have 2 American Bulldogs and they used to destroy everything until I switched to synthetic grass in my backyard. Now they can run and play all they want and never get muddy and my backyard is green year round. I first saw the grass at the boarding kennel where I take my dogs when I am out of town and they love it there. Its the best thing I could have done for them and me after years of replacing the grass with seed or sod.
Well my 90 lbs Black leaves my lawn in the backyard spotty for the most part not to bad, it was really bad when we lived in a Townhouse, I had to burn the dead grass out, till up the soil and either seed or re-sod, not doing so would leave us with a hefty association bill.
My biggest problem now is what used to be a level perfect backyard has turned in to an uneven tunnel ridden ankle twister, no thanks to the moles/voles and a godforsaken muskrat. Anyone have any ideas for taking care of that problem?
You have a 90# black lab AND a muskrat problem?! How is that possible? =^]
Anyone care to verify that a lumpy ankle twister lawn is due to moles/voles and not the trampling dog/dogs?
I have several very active huskies. They are trained to go in an area at the back of the yard that is filled with pea gravel. Every spring with the wet weather my backyard gets torn up from them running and playing. I put down grass seed in the spring and fall. This tends to keep a fairly nice yard, but I have thought about a tough ground cover.
It is possible to have a beautiful green lawn and a dog at the same time! I promise!
Pet Smart (and probably all the pet stores) sell dog wafers called “Grass Saver”. You give them to your dog daily. Dogs love them. They are like treats. (check the label and give them the correct amount according to their weight). Takes about twenty days or so for it to completely get into their system. It changes the yellow factor in their urine, and in a couple weeks- no more yellow patches! Seriously- this stuff is da bomb. Works good in winter, too if you find yellow snow revolting, like myself.
And I did check with our Vet. He said it’s perfectly safe.
A ankle breaker for a yard can be from both dogs and tunnel digging varment. If you have an unpacked soft top soil you can bet a 50+ pound dog will do some damage, but to the degree that it makes your yard unenjoyable is hard to believe. You would need the soft top layer and a good rain to make the soil soft enough to sustain notciceable uneaveness. On the ther hand I do have first hadn experience with tunnel digging pests. Have you ever been golfing in the spring or walked in a yard that felt like every few feet the ground sank 3″. Well if you have, you just crushed the winter tunnel for a local rodent. I’ve seen yards so bad I thought I was in the moonwalk at the state fair. I would much rather deal with my dogs pee spots than a pitted yard from wintering rodents.
Add ketchup or tomato juice to the dog food!
One (or is it two?) word: Patchmaster.
I’ve alway’s thought the dog would dig down into the dirt where the soil is cooler,and then just lay in it.
I’ve been using a local product from East Grand Forks, MN called Dakota Peat. It is a natural product that I use in place of Fertilizer. I don’t worry about my dog eating it an getting sick. It acts as a filter for my dogs urine and is really helping with the brown spots. All I have to do is apply a thin later once a month. It not only helps with the spots, but also makes watering go a lot further than it did without it. Just a suggestion.
I was introduced to the Potty Rock last year at a pet expo. Let me tell you …. This thing works! The gentlemen at the M & B products booth explained to me that they have developed a synthesized dog urine & feces scent mixed in with the Potty Rock that makes dogs think another dog has been “invading their turf”. Pretty cool idea. My 2 canine buddies almost urinated on it before I could place it the ground. They are now used to going in one spot reducing damage to my yard. Check it out at http://www.pottyrock.com
jmerk - it’s not the dog, the lumpy yard is filled with tunnels, I go out and stomp them down almost daily. I also have sink holes within the first 10 feet of the shore of the pond. I had read the urban muskrats will tunnel in banks and not make mounds like rural muskrats. The ground is pretty stable as far as the dog trampling goes, I see a little bit of what he has done but mostly tunnels. I do live on the great sand plain in Anoka county and that certainly doesn’t help.
my problem with my lawn and my dogs doesnt have to do with pee or poo spots, its the mud and uprooted grass left by their racing around at top speed and skidding to a stop.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/yesididit/plants/3-25-08048.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/yesididit/plants/4-6-09023.jpg
k9 grass looks interesting, and expensive. i’ve also considered pavers, but they’re also an expensive solution and i’d be paving around a tree trunk and an in-ground sprinkler head, neither of which seem like a good idea.
sorry, the first picture link was incorrect, i meant this one
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/yesididit/plants/4-9-07054.jpg
I’ve done a bit of research on this topic due to having an old dog who picks the closest grass spot to the house and does her thing there all winter long. Once the grass has greened up a bit, I pour a few buckets of water on the spots to wash the nitrogen out. It seems to help and by mid June the grass has filled in most of the spots (in the summer the dog travels a bit further afield to do her business) — though digging up the individual spots and using the fluffy green seed stuff works, too. I posted about this last season at:
http://mynortherngarden.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/a-piddling-problem/
@Dog and Rodents - we too have that problem - a 100# labrador and still, we have tunnels all over our yard. Supposedly if you put grub/insect killer on your lawn it will keep these rodents at bay - one neighbor DID do that and ironically the tunneling DID stop at HIS property line while two of us had tunnels all over. Live traps didn’t work next door as they keep coming back…wish I could help but I too am searching for the answer!
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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