Help, our dog is destroying our grass!

[Mickey'sMainMami]

We have a 10 month old Doberman male puppy. He is my baby doll, and we love him very much, but, our back yard grass is all dead from his urinating. My husband in the summer put lime down to help with the smell of urine. We also tried putting seeds down, but he keeps peeing and killing the grass. What should we put down to help it back to life? Can anyone tell me step by step what to do? I would really appreciate it!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We have a small kennel area in the yard with a stone bottom. It's accessed from the house so we can put the dog right out to do her business. It's easy to clean up and then we spray it down using a spray cleaner/disinfectant. Once business is taken care of, the dog can go out in the rest of the yard, but this way it stays clean.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have a 10 month old Doberman male puppy. He is my baby doll, and we love him very much, but, our back yard grass is all dead from his urinating. My husband in the summer put lime down to help with the smell of urine. We also tried putting seeds down, but he keeps peeing and killing the grass. What should we put down to help it back to life? Can anyone tell me step by step what to do? I would really appreciate it!

The only thing you can do is watered down the area each time the dog pees or you leash the dog and have him pee in a certain area.

Now some people have some remedies to put in their food and such however I am not going to go that route. My dogs have sensitive stomachs. Some say they work and some say they don't.

I have 2 dogs that are killing my backyard.

 

[Sleepy]

The only thing you can do is watered down the area each time the dog pees .....

I would go with this advice. Take a few minutes out of the day to spray down the lawn.

 

[momo3hods]

Try sprinkling a little baking soda in his water. It helps neutralize the acid in the urine and helps protect your lawn

 

[damren]

you didn't say if you let him go on his own or walk him out, but if you take him out on leash each time to the same area you can teach him to go there.

Our dog was 2 when we got him and I don't know what his previous owner taught him but to this day he won't go in the yard he runs to the edge of the woods to do his buisness

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I would go with this advice. Take a few minutes out of the day to spray down the lawn.

I honestly don't know how practical this is, day in and day out, with each elimination. I know I wouldn't be able to keep up with it.

 

[honugirl]

We used the grass saver tablets for our dogs and they worked pretty well. We got them at PetSmart.

 

[kacaju]

what are you feeding him? I have 2 big male dogs and they go in my yard and they do not kill the grass.

 

[shrubber]

Lawn care guy here.

The idea of a dogs urine being acidic and therefor burning the lawn is a bit of a wives tale.
DO NOT use lime on your lawn until you have the soil tested for it PH level.
You may be doing more harm then good.
Depending on where you live/soil types...lime is usaully a waste of time ( most people put down the wrong type anyways )

The grass is dying out because there is an abundance of nitrogen salts from the dogs urine where he pee'd. It is the same damage as when you spill lawn fertilizer on the grass and it dies.
Usually this is more common with female dogs because they tend to empty the bladder in one spot, all at once where a male dog 'marks' around.
I'll hazard a guess and a solution.
My guess is that you have a rather heavy clay type soil that is 'holding' the nitrogen ( from the urine ) in one spot. IE not draining away very well.
Solution? Get the lawn/soil to drain better. Use lots of peat moss,lawn clippings, encourage earthworm activity ....to promote a more porous lawn.
Quicker fixes? Water. For any type of concentrated spill , dilution is the solution. Water the heck out of it.
Also, try using Gypsum in those spots. Gypsum, not Lime .
You can find gypsum in most garden centers, look for a bag called Soft and Soil. It makes all kinds of outrageuos and false claims on the bag, but it does bind salts. Dust the areas where you are trying to reseed as well as the entire lawn.

 

[LuvOrlando]

HEY! We're in Pa too. You're noticing the mess because the ground has thawed so the grass is soft and easier to pull up. We had the same trouble as you when we first got our Border Collie. I tried everything but the only thing the worked was:

I had to buy some movable lawn stakes and a roll of wire fence and cut 2/3 of my lawn off from the dogs while the new grass settled in and had a chance to grow. After a few months when I was satisfied the grass was strong enough to stand up to the dogs I switched the side they had access to and began to treat the now utterly destroyed side. It was a very long process but the following year I had less mud and less repair to do.

I'd like to say that was the end of it but in the end my very beautiful dog cost me quite bit because I had to put in a patio that ran the length of my yard because the mud was destroying my carpets which also needed to be replaced (well the carpet was partly due to the orange clay/mud we have around here and partly due to an aging kitty cat). Yep, this is the stuff the breeders don't tell you. Still, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my big goofy messy dog.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Thanks for all the advice, and the suggestions. Just to answer a few questions, we feed our dog Innova brand dog food for large breed puppies. It's all natural and holistic and very expensive, but it's worth it. We were actually feeding him a different brand at first, but it was making his stool very loose. We took him to the vet who suggested feeding him boiled rice and ground meat and it immediately binded him back up. As soon as we we went back to the dog food, same thing again. It wasn't like diarrhea, it was just very soft that when you tried picking it up, it would just smear in the grass. Yuck. So I did a google search for what could make a dog have loose stools, and they said it could be flaxseed in certain dog foods. I looked for foods that didn't have it in it and Innova was one of the few. As soon as we switched him over, he hasn't had that problem again, which makes poopin' scoopin' the yard much more pleasant!

Someone also suggested putting baking soda in the dog's water. I don't know if this is a good idea. I work for a hospital and I remember in my orientation a story about a pt coming in extremely sick because he was mixing baking soda in his water to help with his heartburn. This can really throw someone's PH out of wack.

I might look into the pills they sell as Petsmart as well as the advice of the lawn doctor on here who gave his advice! Thank you all again.

I also think it's from him playing, have my yard is just a muddy mess. As for the chicken wire, good call, but he jumps over that easily, even the taller stuff. We tried that when we had our pool up, didn't keep him out, lol. My husband just wants to cement our entire back yard, I told him he was crazy.

 

[All American]

As far as the watering goes, I just keep a watering can by the door, and when the dog goes out (it's only a couple of times a day), I pick up the watering can and follow. I don't do this every time, but it has made a huge difference. It's a pain, but it has been easier than re-seeding each spring. Some day we will have that fake grass, and I will be able to throw away the watering can once and for all.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Also, try using Gypsum in those spots. Gypsum, not Lime .
You can find gypsum in most garden centers, look for a bag called Soft and Soil. It makes all kinds of outrageuos and false claims on the bag, but it does bind salts. Dust the areas where you are trying to reseed as well as the entire lawn.

Gypsum worked for us for our doggie spots.

 

[minkydog]

We solved this problem a long time ago by erecting a fenced pen within our fence. Nobody goes into the pen but Minky--it's his bathroom. We've left that part of the yard natural so there are plenty of bushes, weeds, and logs for him to decorate. At first we took him out there on a leash. Eventually he got used to that and now all we have to do is turn him out and say "Go to your pen" and off he goes.

I would never just let my dog walk around peeing and pooping at will. Who wants to step in that stuff? Worse, who wants their KIDS stepping in that stuff and tracking it into the house?

 

[IDoDis]

We solved this problem a long time ago by erecting a fenced pen within our fence. Nobody goes into the pen but Minky--it's his bathroom. We've left that part of the yard natural so there are plenty of bushes, weeds, and logs for him to decorate. At first we took him out there on a leash. Eventually he got used to that and now all we have to do is turn him out and say "Go to your pen" and off he goes.

I would never just let my dog walk around peeing and pooping at will. Who wants to step in that stuff? Worse, who wants their KIDS stepping in that stuff and tracking it into the house?

We also have a fenced in area on the side of the house for the dogs to do their business. All we had to do was put up a small gate to close them inside which we rarely use anymore. Train your dog to go in that area by having a designated word that you use when you let him out to pee or poop. Our word is "potty." When I let the dogs out sometimes they'll immediately start running around and chasing each other, but all I have to say is, "Go potty" and they stop dead in their tracks and then they make a bee-line for their little dog run. They do their business in there and then they start playing again. Usually we don't even have to say anything, and they just go to that spot automatically.

When you are first training him, it helps to have a gate so you can keep him inside the designated area. Until he learns where you want him to go, sit outside of the gate and watch him. Do this in the morning at first so you know he'll have to go right away. Keep saying, "Go potty" or whatever word you want to use. When you see him start to pee, say, "Good potty! Good Bouser!" and then give him a small treat. It won't take long before he learns where you want him to pee or poop.

 

[minkydog]

Train your dog to go in that area by having a designated word that you use when you let him out to pee or poop. Our word is "potty." When I let the dogs out sometimes they'll immediately start running around and chasing each other, but all I have to say is, "Go potty" and they stop dead in their tracks and then they make a bee-line for their little dog run. They do their business in there and then they start playing again.

Not to mention,it's a great party trick! "Go to your pen!" "Minky, COME!" He won't even eat until I say "Eat your food!" And for those moments when he just *has* to bark too much--"Go get a baby!" and he runs off & comes back at a trot with his 10yo pink bunny in his mouth. My siblings think he's a genius!

 

[DisneyBeagle]

We found that the first time our dog pees in the morning is the worst for our lawn because the urine is the strongest from being held all night. We tend to let the dogs out at approximately the same time every morning around 7:00am. We programmed the sprinklers in the back yard to automatically come on around 7:30am for a few minutes to water down the areas that the dogs go potty. This made a huge difference in the quality of our lawn.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

See, I like the idea about him going in one spot, we TRIED to do that since he was a baby, but one thing with our Doberman, he is very stubborn! I swear his whole purpose in life is to just torment me. We are taking him to training classes, but he is so strong willed. Don't get me wrong, he is a good dog and trained really well in some areas, and other's not so much. I will keep working on this with him.

The house we grew up in my parents had built. We had a room off the side of our kitchen that we called the mud room. Off the mud room was the door to the side of our house that our parents had a rectangular area fenced off for the dog to strictly use to potty. Oh how I wish we could do that to our house. It was so convenient. Our yard isn't that big, so there really is nowhere for us to pen him off in. I will keep trying with the watering and other suggestions. Thanks again!

 

[kacaju]

I also think it's from him playing, have my yard is just a muddy mess. As for the chicken wire, good call, but he jumps over that easily, even the taller stuff. We tried that when we had our pool up, didn't keep him out, lol. My husband just wants to cement our entire back yard, I told him he was crazy.

As I said, my male dogs don't kill the grass from peeing on it (reading the other posts, we do have great drainage so maybe that is why)
BUT, our younger dog has made a huge mess from playing!!