Dog Spot

Description: A burnt or damaged spot or several spots on your lawn resulting from your pet's urine or feces.

Dog spot is a common problem for homeowners who are also pet lovers. Your lawn is the perfect playground where you and your favorite animal could spend some quality time, but it is also inevitable for your pets to do some damage on your precious lawn. Dogs are territorial creatures and love to mark their spots by urinating on them. Unfortunately, an animal waste, urine specifically is quite acidic and has very high nitrogen content. This chemical is good for fertilizing, but too much fertilization could cause damage to plants. So when a dog urinates, it's like pouring liquid fertilizer on the soil which is absorbed immediately compared to solid wastes.

Peak Season: Dog spots or Lawn dog damage regularly appears during spring. Those round brown patches on your lawn become clearly visible when the snow disappears.

Treatment: The main problem we are dealing here is the high nitrogen content in animal waste which causes over fertilization in plants, resulting to nasty brown burnt patches. If you already have Dog spots all over your lawn the first thing you have to do is to saturate the urinated spots with water. After the pet urinates, pour water three times the volume that of the urine on the spot to dilute it. This has to be done in less than eight (8) hours after the dog urinates. So it appears that your routine watering of the grass in early mornings would not be sufficient to prevent dog spots.

When will I see Dog Spots?

Dog spots are inevitable in homes with pets. These are often seen during summer and spring, when homeowners usually spend more time in their lawns playing with their pets.

How do I get rid of Dog Spots?

There are many ways of getting rid of those Dog spots which give your lawn a nasty dry look. But first thing?s first, you have to keep the cause from doing the same damage all over again. Putting a leash on your pet would be quite convenient, or training it from urinating all over your lawn. As for the already-damaged spots, here are a couple of remedies to make your lawn picture perfect again:

• Saturate the urinated spot with water. As stated above, spot has to be poured with water three times the volume that of the urine, and has to be done in less than eight (8) hours after the dog urinates.
• Replant your lawn with more urine-resistant grasses. The most resistant grasses tend to be perennial ryegrasses and fescues. Sensitive grasses tend to be Kentucky bluegrass and Bermuda, but also consider your geographical location and climate.
• The use of Gypsum or lime has been advocated and it could also benefit soil quality, but it is still uncertain exactly what mechanism this would have in helping prevent urine damage.
• Sodding can be a quick way to fix severely damaged areas in your lawn that would otherwise be invaded by weeds.
• If your neighbors' dogs are causing the problem, you may advise your neighbors of the leash laws. Using a fence or motion-activated sprinkler may be helpful in keeping these dogs off of your lawn.

Lawn burn or Dog spots, when mild, will often repair itself over time, especially in the case of the warm-season turf grasses.

How do I prevent Dog spots from infiltrating my lawn?

Now that you are very much aware of the pressing problem your pets may cause to your precious lawn, it is better to start acting on preventive measures to safeguard your lawn from those nasty dry patches. Here are some ways to prevent your turf from having Dog spots all over:

• Encouraging your dog to drink more water. This will help dilute the urine, minimizing it?s nitrogen content and decrease the risk of lawn burn. Small amounts of non-salted broth in the drinking water may help increase your dog's water intake.
• Feed a high quality dog food that does not exceed the pet's protein requirement. High quality foods have more digestible protein sources that are more completely utilized by the pet and create less nitrogenous waste in the urine.
• Training your dog. Have a designated spot for your pet that would serve as its personal bathroom and train it to do his business there.
• Put a leash on your dog and try to take frequent walks outside. It would be healthy for you and your pet.
• Do not over- or under-fertilize and not to do frequent watering in order to reduce stress on your lawn.
• Surround your lawn with fences so that unwanted animals could not freely spoil your lawn