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Q: My older dog doesn’t like going for walks anymore, so we just take him out to the front yard to take care of his business. He always urinates in the same spot next to the front walkway. The dog pee is killing grass in the spots where he eliminates. Can you explain how to repair grass from dog urine?
A : Dogs belt down Gunter Wilhelm Grass with pee can be a real problem for many homeowner . We work severely to keep our lawn watered , mowed , and fertilize , so it can be frustrating to see brown spots in the areas where our dogs take over themselves .
fortuitously , this problem is avertable , and heel pee does n’t have to ruin your lawn . Get a Cornell veterinarian ’s perspective on why dog urine kills grass , and what you could do to keep it from pass to your lawn again .
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Why does dog pee kill grass?
Before explore how to stop dog urine down grass or how to define jaundiced grass cause by dog pee , allow ’s talk about why dog piddle causesgrass to turn brown . blackguard urine incorporate urea , a nitrogen - plenteous waste mathematical product beget from the breakdown of proteins . Because domestic dog eat a high - protein diet , they have high-pitched levels of carbamide in their weewee .
Nitrogen is a fertilizing food for lawn and can help your lawn deform lush and gullible . However , the concentrated levels of nitrogen in dog urine can have the opposite effect when they are all fix in one area of the lawn . “ It is specifically the nitrogen in the carbamide that kill the grass , ” says Karen J. Hirsch , DVM , prof of recitation atCornell University College of Veterinary Medicine . Just as too much plant food can causefertilizer burn , when your andiron urine in one smudge over and over again , the atomic number 7 from its pee will burn the grass and do it to rick brown .
While some may believe that distaff hotdog piddle has a unlike chemical substance make-up that cause it more likely to vote down grass , there is n’t any significant difference in bounder water by sex .
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“ [ Grass damage ] is more of an issue for owner of distaff dogs but is not relate to any built-in departure in the nitrogen content of the urine between the sexes , ” Hirsch says . “ Rather , it has to do with how male and distaff dogs posture to make . female person squat to take a leak and that results in a very hard area of atomic number 7 that ‘ burns ’ the pasture . Whereas , males parent a leg and either urinate against a upright object or outwards so the weewee ends up being spray over a large area . The dispute boil down to concentrated consortium versus more widely distribute spray . ” This is why brownish spots are more likely to be a female dog ’s doing . And anytime a dog pees in one area repeatedly , it can kill the pasturage .
So , if there ’s no conflict in the chemical war paint of weewee from male or distaff dogs , are there differences in nitrogen content from breed to breed ? “ The stock has no bearing on the nitrogen concentration of the urine , ” Hirsch say . “ Smaller breed will urinate less , so the country of harm will be smaller , but that ’s the only difference breed would make . ”
Dog urine spots typically have a dark green ring.
It ’s comparatively sluttish to spot grass killed by dog piddle from scathe induce bylawn fungus , pests , or other sources . In most display case , dead grass from click urine will look like a browned spot surrounded by a dark gullible ring . The brownish smirch is where the mellow levels of nitrogen in the pee killed the Gunter Grass . Sometimes the spot may be yellow , an indicant that the grass is not yet dead .
Remember thatnitrogen is used in fertiliser . While the brown ( or yellow ) pasturage was hit with enough nitrogen to kill it , the drab green band receive just enough nitrogen to fertilize it , defecate that bit of pot greener .
To fix green patches, start with a soil test.
If you have dog piss put down eatage around your home , you may note fleeceable spots on the lawn rather of browned spots . This can indicate that the soil has very low spirit level of nitrogen . Rather than killing the grass by overfertilizing it , your firedog ’s weewee is really raising the nitrogen stratum in the pissing - soaked blot , making those patches riotous and green .
If you think this may be the case for your lawn , begin with asoil test . do the test away from the sphere where your frump pees . If the soil test point that nitrogen level are too dispirited , apply a atomic number 7 - rich fertiliser to meliorate the health of your lawn and make it match the dark green spots triggered by the hot dog pee .
Once the soil ’s atomic number 7 levels are where they should be , be careful with where your click urine . Any fresh urine daub could turn the grass brown from redundant nitrogen .
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Brown spots caused by dog pee will require reseeding.
icteric spot from dog pee indicate the grass is not yet dead and might be able-bodied to regrow with tearing . However , if a patch of your lawn is brown , thegrass is deadened , and that area will require to be reseeded .
To compensate browned grass , start by raking the domain and murder drained dope and other debris to reveal a clear speckle of soil . good soak the area with urine . You want to rinse off as much of the N from your dog ’s urine as possible .
After watering , look for the water to become absorbed into the soil . The spot should be dampish , but not so smashed that water is pooling . Then , cultivate the soil using a trowel .
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Next , spread a 2:1 mixture of garden topsoil andpeat mossover the field , and unify it in with the loose land . pitter-patter a generous amount of grass semen over the smear . Try using Bermuda green goddess , tall meadow fescue , or zoysia grass , all of which are insubordinate to damage from pawl urine .
Water the seeds daily and avoid walking over the region for several week . Keep your wiener away from the semen and Modern gage as it uprise .
How to Prevent Dog Pee From Killing Grass
Now that you screw how to revive numb pasture damage by dog urine , consider the following tips to forbid dog weewee from damaging your grass in the future .
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