Stop Dog Urine from Ruining Your Lawn: Our Lawn Care McLean VA Experts’ Guide

Fido is man’s best friend indeed, but it can easily turn into your lawn’s worst enemy overnight. How? Just by urinating on it. Dog urine is rich in nitrogen, a nutrient your turf badly needs but not in such large quantities your four-legged friend likes to supply. Check out our lawn care McLean VA Pros’ guide to stopping dog urine damage in its tracks before your lawn turns into a barren wasteland.

Why Dog Urine Burns Grass

Dog pee is not healthy for your turf because of two reasons. It is too alkaline, depending on your pup’s diet and hydration levels, and it is rich in nitrogen, which acts as a natural fertilizer but in large amounts it just kills off the grass.

Especially female dogs and large dog breeds are more likely to dot your lawn with unsightly “dog spots” since they tend to produce more urine in a single location than male dogs and smaller breeds. Dog spots are easier to tell from regular brown spots, since they have a yellowish tint and usually have a dark green ring along their edges, which is nothing more than healthy turf grass that has received a good dose of nitrogen (from your pup’s pee).

Our Lawn Care McLean VA Experts’ Guide to Dog-Proofing Your Lawn

To curb the negative impact your dog’s bathroom habits on your lawn, stay vigilant and water the area where your pet has just urinated to help dilute the urine and prevent nitrogen buildup. Another way of dog-proofing your yard is to train your dog to relieve themselves in a single spot. Mark that spot with mulch, cobblestones, or other hardscaping elements. You may also use a product that contains special pheromones which prompt your dog to urinate nearby them.

Another way to offset the impact of dog urine on your yard is to train your pup to drink more water or to give it special dog supplements that make its urine more acidic. However, while acidic urine is more lawn-friendly, this type of supplementation may work against your dog if it already has liver or kidney disfunction.

You can also make your lawn more resilient by planting turf grasses that are naturally resistant to dog urine, such as tall fescues and Ryegrass. There are also special lawn treatments to fix this issue but those can be harmful to your dog’s skin and digestive tract if ingested.

Brown spots spurred by your dog’s urine can be repaired, but it takes some time and effort. Use a special lawn treatment (look for a product that contains gypsum), add it to the problem area, water it in, wait for a few days while keeping your mutt away, gently tilt the soil, and reseed the turf. You may also consider hiring a team of lawn care professionals for a full recovery.

Give Us a Call Today!

Has Fido damaged your lawn beyond repair and your turf needs a complete makeover? Don’t hesitate to ask our lawn care experts for help. We at Green Hill have been in the lawn maintenance business for more than a decade so we have the tools, people, and techniques to restore any lawn to its former glory. You may also want to tap our landscaping services while you’re at it. Give us a call or request a no-obligation Free Estimate of our services today! Your lawn and pup will thank you for it.