First, clean all the messes up out of the yard and water, water, water to remove as much smell as possible. Move a couple of the messes to the area you want them to use so the scent is only in that area. Then take them out on lead, directly to that area, and stay there until they eliminate (1/2 hour after mealtime is best). When they do "go", praise them like they are the absolute best dog in the whole wide world and you can't believe how smart they are, let them off lead and have a play session in the rest of the yard for a few minutes before going inside. Do this everytime they need to go out for a good month or so, and they'll become pretty reliable. The trick is *not* to let them make a single mistake, and to always have play sessions no matter how short afterwards as a reward for them. This will also help them to eliminate immediately when you go out, instead of taking thier time, because they know as soon as they eliminate, they get playtime.

You need to make sure you keep "thier area" pretty clean - no letting messes pile up for days, and you will need to water if there's grass (put down rock or bark, and it won't be such a problem). Dogs will find a "new spot" if their favorite is too dirty. And Kim's right - diluting urine will help a lot, as long as you get it right after they "go".

Tomato juice, while good for a dog's general health, won't help. My dogs get tomatoes/sauce as a regular part of thier (home-cooked) diet, and it really doesn't help the lawn any. :-)

Hope this helps! :-)

Males, on the other hand, release small amounts usually against something, like a tree trunk or shrubs or the corner of the house, where there usually isn't any grass. They release only small amounts because it's their instinct to mark their territory, as much of it as possible.

I've known some males that lift their leg against the air and pee in the middle of the lawn. They do just as much damage as any females I've know.

Also, to help "heal" the spots that have gone brown, the bes solution is a pitchfork and water. Just poke holes in the brown area, then let the hose run on it till it's soggy. Repeat a few times and before you know it, new, green grass will follow.

A routine urine test, at a routine vet visit, revealed a urinary tract infection. Once cleared up, very little to no browning has occurred.

Ken

1 month the spot will be green again beside the spot will be six cupcakes

Is there anything I can plant here as a ground cover or otherwise that won't die from dog pee?

I agree that training your dog is the idea. But, you must put in the time to do so.
Julie

BTW, neighborhood dogs are only kept out with a fence or your vigilance with a water hose lol.

Try adding lime around the base of the ailing tree and maybe some frequent watering. That's all I can think of for that problem.
I had a customer a few years back that added a tsp of baking soda to his dog's water every time he filled the dish and he swore by it.

On a side note I am pretty sure that diet can effect how acidic the dog's pee is. So for those who say the male/female thing it may be true but it may just depend on the DOG, and its diet. I have always had male dogs and my parents yard never had a pee spot. Only today when i co-worker mentioned it i got worried because it was with SOD in particular we were talking about.

Some cleaner dogs NATURALLY will go along treelines and in the back of the yard. My sheltie in VA does that, he hardly ever goes inthe center of the yard, only if you rush him cause its raining or something.

I make my dogs' food myself and have never had a problem with their pee killing off the grass, even when I had as many as six female dogs using the same lawn. I didn't water their spots or take any other precautions.

Tomatoes in moderation won't hurt a healthy, normal dog. However, grapes have caused toxicity problems in dogs. The problem is most often associated with raisins (which are concentrated grapes) but dogs that eat large amounts of fresh grapes have also had the problem.

Remember the age-old human "cure" of cranberry juice for bladder infections? It works (somewhat) because it makes the urine more acidic, which reduces the chance of bacteria "sticking" around in the urinary tract. Acid kills bacteria (They use vinegar, of all things, to clean feeding tubes) Anything acidic, including tomato juice, would technically have the same effect to some degree - INCREASING the acidity. And know how sugar in the urine can encourage infections in diabetics? "Sweet" urine is very NON-acidic, thus INCREASING the chance of INFECTION. You DON'T want to reduce the acidity, either. Your dog's body works in much the same way as yours. You may be saving your grass and killing your dog in the long run. You MAY be doing him real harm by trying to "sweeten" his urine. Live with it, and quit trying to change your dog's internal chemistry. Dog's urine probably burned grass long before humans ever starting planting grass on purpose. Its the way it is for a reason. The post about high-protein diets is probably most correct of all of the above. You can safely reduce the protein content *somewhat* without harming the dog. Go for a mixed food, such as one with rice added as filler. (a note here... as a Low Carb fanatic, I can assure you that a high-protein diet DOES actually change the urine chemistry... might be good for us humans - *and I am not looking for an off-topic argument here* - but we pee those ketones into a toilet, not on the grass - I hope - but we also drink extra water to dilute it all) The watering can idea is good. The training methods are good. The designated area is good. Maybe even the lime, sugar or baking soda (don't know). If you can't find a solution in any of the above, then resign yourself to dead grass. What's more important, anyway? Man's best friend, wins over replacable grass anyday, I hope.

Besides, one issue that has not been addresses here... urine contains ammonia compounds... ammonia is nitrates... EXCESS nitrates (as in concentrated urine) BURN PLANTS - including the indestructable stuff we call grass. Overfertilize your yard and see what happens. Have you tried giving him more water? Could be that the urine is too concentrated due to inadequate fluid intake? Ever noticed how much darker and stronger your own urine is when you have had too little fluid intake? Your dog's body works the same way. If you are peeing yellow, and it has an ammonia-type odor, you haven't had enough to drink and EVERYTHING your kidneys put out is VERY concentrated... every compound your body sees as "waste", that is. - which is reduced to an ammonia-like compound, in principle. Fido's urine is the same. Just a thought.... Is his water dish always full, or do you "ration" his water - by refilling it only at mealtime? Do you not give him water while you are at work so he won't have to "go" before you get home? Again, do you leave him an empty dish at night so he won't wake you up scratching and barking to go out? Not good, not good. Leave him unlimited water... you might have to take him out a little more often, but he (and your grass) will be heathier for it. Oh, and don't make him "hold" it any longer than necessary. If you can't handle taking the dog out on a regular basis, get a cat - LOL - they'll pee anywhere (except the litter box)

MY 2¢

1. Pour water where they have urinated
2. Sprinkle plain sugar where the urine spot is. The sugar will add back to the grass what the urine has taken out.
3. Try to contain the dogs to a limited area to eliminate in.

The sugar and water tricks work! Yes it means you have to know where the dog went, but try it where the grass has yellowed and watch it turn green and lush again!

Kathie
Forest Hill, Maryland

C.J.

The horticulturists did testing. The results were (given no other changes):
- tablets do nothing
-liquids do nothing
- dilution works, which is why 'liquid remedies' sometimes seem to work. More liquid in the dogs diet dilute the urine and incourage multiple eliminations, spreading the nitrogen (the true 'burning agent.') You can try adding water to dry food or using some canned food to incourage liquid intake. That worked too.
- overwatering works, but only up to a few hours following the spotting, after which watering can actually hurt. Watering-can afficinados are correct.
- things like tomato juice merely add water and salt to the diet of the dog. The acidity does nothing, as it isn't the acidity burning the lawn, but nitrogen.
- bluegrass and bermudagrass are easily killed by this (as they are by overfertilizing), fescue is better
- switching to a lower-protein diet can help, as the protein is what is eventually converted to nitrogen, but talk to your VET before changing the dogs diet and don't do it for pups, preggies or special diet dogs or hard-working dogs. These dogs use that extra protein. And lawn isn't worth it!
-best solution; pick a spot, set it up with a durable substrate and train the dog to go there.
This is my takeaway from the research I was able to do. I would LOVE a pill to solve my problem, but I believe that they tested them and nothing happened.

They tend to use the same spot. When you first let the dog out in the morning or when you come home, lead the dog to the compost pile and praise him/her for the nitorgen contribution.

The current Sunset shows a dog-friendly garden w/a piece of sculptural driftwood as a designated marking spot. Has anyone had success with this approach?

"I thought that the neighbors were harvesting my tomatoes while I was at work until I came home one day for lunch and let my dog out......she ran over to the tomato plant and started picking and eating the tomatoes as fast as she could while looking at me with a guilty look....I have never had a problem with brown spots, and I now use cherry tomatoes as a training treat!!! She also loves grapes!"

Yours too, huh? :) Our female Lab has even figured out a way to increase the harvest: she stands right in the middle of the tomato plants, and while she's scarfing tomatoes off the plants in front of her, her tail is going a mile a minute and knocking tomatoes off the plants behind her. She then turns around and eats the "windfalls." However, she does brown the lawn, so we've set aside a spot for her to use and just put a few inches of woodchips there every year. Nitrogen from the dog urine accelerates the chips' breakdown, so there's usually an inch or so of fresh compost there every spring.

As for grapes being toxic to dogs: it's not grapes per se, it's the chemicals grocery-store grapes are treated with. (I can't remember the source off the top of my head, but there was an anecdotal report of toddlers and young kids with insatiable grape habits developing kidney and liver problems as a result of pesticide ingestion. I'll try to find the report.) Drying, of course, concentrates the nasties. Organic grapes and raisins - no problem.

We walk him twice daily (over a mile total) so the majority of the pee is spread around the neighborhood, and he's more inclined to drink more water - continuing the cycle. That's good for our health, his heath, and the lawn's health.

I wonder if the tomato juice "cure" is just so they ingest more salt, making them thirstier.

Amazing - such a simple solution - I mean, you feed the dog anyway, right?

Never ever had a brown spot. Not one.

The first dog, the shi-zu, had some serious health problems and could only eat lamb and rice dog food. As the other dogs came along, there was always an older dog who only ate lamb and rice, so they always had that.

You could still tell where the dogs peed, because you could see it was greener there, but that's not a bad problem to have, eh?

I was going to try the tomato sauce, but after reading all of this I'm just going for the mulch. My dogs would probably like the tomatoes better!!!! LOL

Thanks for all the tips!

I do soil agronomy/disease research for a living and my fiancee is in the animal care field.

Let me clear up some misconceptions:

1. Nothing you feed your dog will solve the problem of it's urine burning your grass.
2. It's not acid that causes the burning, it's UREA (same thing that burns your lawn if you apply too much high-nitrogen fertilizer)
3. There is no difference in male and female urine; at least in ways that would affect the burning of your lawn. Females pee in one spot while makes spray it all over which is why females tend to burn the grass easier.

There are three easy ways to prevent this:

1. Train your dog not to pee on your lawn (heh! Good luck)
2. Dilution. The ones who suggested dumping copious amounts of water on the pee area are correct. Dilution is the solution.
3. A healthy lawn. A lawn with a high concentration of microbes will not only break the urea in the urine down to ammonium - nitirite - and then nitrate(which is bliss for your grass), it will allow for your lawn to bounce back easily from any stress at all.

Fertilize your lawn with compost. Use store bought fertilizers high in potash and phosphate and water often to achieve this (there's enough nitrogen in the compost).

Tuff turf is a good strong grass consisting of (I believe) Kentucky Bluegrass, creeping red fescue and one other type of hardy grass.

So to recap: Spending more time on keeping your grass healthy or dilution of the pee area are the ONLY ways to keep the urea from your male or female dog's urine from burning your grass.

Hope this helps clear up any confusion.

Do you think dogs that show or compete go when or where they want? Nope, they are all trained to go on command. Either on pads the owners bring or a designated area.

Many dogs that go RV'ing are also trained to go on command in designated areas.

Male dogs marking isn't relieving themselves, it is marking territory and you don't have to let them do it when you are walking them. Doesn't hurt them one bit to pay attention to you and walk at your side.

My grandmother lived in a mobile home park in the 1970's in Phoenix and at the back of the park was a gravel area with a scoop and a garbage can. Every dog in the park was trained to wait to go until they got to their area.

You can easily have an area of gravel or wood chips in your yard and train your dogs to go there.

1) All plants require a nitrogen source to be able to grow. This is why fertilizers contain nitrogen. Nitrogen is often the limiting factor in plant growth, and so therefore is the most important component in fertilizers. Just simply "nitrogen" does not exist. Nitrogen is found in the natural environment (and fertilizers) in the form of ammonium, nitrate, urea, and the atmosphere contains nitrogen gas (which is harmless to humans).

2) Plants convert nitrate and ammonium into amino acids (which are the building blocks for protein). Fertilizers most commonly contain "ammounium nitrate" but also contain urea.

3) When we URINATE, our bodies are getting rid of excess UREA (the end-product of protein metabolism). All of us, humans and animals alike, excrete urea in our urine. Bacteria in the soil (bacteria are present in ALL soil, and sometimes bacteria are referred to as "microbes") breaks down urea into ammonium and nitrate, which is fertilizer for the plants. SO THEREFORE, UREA (UNINE) IS GOOD FOR PLANTS.

4) So why does some urine kill plants, while other urine causes plants to flourish? Urine, by nature, is acidic. Too much acid will "burn" your lawn and kill it. Have you ever noticed how when you urinate yourself, sometimes it is dark yellow and sometimes it is clear? If you drink a lot of water and are well hydrated, your urine is dilute (diluted). But if you haven't been drinking much water and you feel somewhat dehydrated, your urine is often dark yellow (concentrated). I am not a veterinarian, but I have had several dogs in my life. Based on my own observations, dog urine seems to always be concentrated. This does not mean your dog is dehydrated - it just means that dog physiology is different than human physiology. If you pee on your grass when your urine is concentrated, it will burn the grass (female dogs tend to let it all out in the same spot; burning the lawn with their concentrated urine). If you pee on the lawn when your urine is dilute (male dogs tend to spray a little here and a little there), it will not burn the grass, but a day or two later, after the microbes break down the urea into ammonium and nitrate, it will fertilize your grass and cause it to flourish.

5) Your compost pile will be GREATLY enriched if YOU urinate on it, or train your dog to urinate on it, concentrated or not. Since the compost is not alive, you do not have to worry about it being burned by the acidity of urine.

6) I was laughing my head off when I read the comment above where the guy said he started peeing himself on the lawn every day. (It reminded me of a cartoon) I am not going to lie - I have urinated on my vegetable plants and fruit trees in my backyard before. Try to not urinate on the leaves though - they burn easily. For those of you that aren't afraid to pee in a bottle or watering can, yes it will fertilize your plants. (I've never tried that, but logically, it isn't any different from just peeing on the plants yourself). Again, if the urine is not diluted, keep it away from the leaves!.

Good Luck everyone!

If you can housebreak your dog, you can teach it to go when and where you want to.

-- But as Diane (see above) might have written, I'd be interested in how one can teach a neighbor's dog when and where to urinate.

Do you think dogs that show or compete go when or where they want? Nope, they are all trained to go on command.

-- What about their handlers?

Either on pads the owners bring or a designated area.

-- Maybe dogs can also be trained to dig up ruined sod and plant new sod in its place?

Many dogs that go RV'ing are also trained to go on command in designated areas.

-- My dog doesn't have an RV license, but he does use rest stops whenever he drives long distances.

Male dogs marking isn't relieving themselves, it is marking territory...

-- Um...maybe that's why it's called "marking"? That said, who's to say a dog isn't killing two birds with one stone during any one urination, both relieving himself and marking while he's at it?

...and you don't have to let them do it when you are walking them. Doesn't hurt them one bit to pay attention to you and walk at your side.

My grandmother lived in a mobile home park in the 1970's in Phoenix and at the back of the park was a gravel area with a scoop and a garbage can. Every dog in the park was trained to wait to go until they got to their area.

-- Maybe mobile home park residents can achieve this level of organization and discipline, but it may be a bit much to expect such enterprise from a typical homeowner.

You can easily have an area of gravel or wood chips in your yard and train your dogs to go there.

-- I'm not sure the homeowners association will allow such a gravel or wood chip area by the street, which is where the neighbors' dogs urinate on my lawn.

I recently got an email from this article and I had completely forgot about it.

brenten: Go out a pour some table vinegar on your lawn and let me know what happens (hint: nothing). Table vinegar(ph 2.4) is more acidic than urine (ph 6.0 in healthy individuals) and you would need a ton of it to kill your grass the way urine does.

You are correct about the dilution statements though, however as I said in my post above, it's the dilution of the urea that determines whether the grass burns or not.

All the other methods (sugar, cupcakes, feeding your dog yeast, etc) won't do anything very helpful for your grass, it'll just attract ants or increase the amount of protein in your dog's urine.

A healthy lawn with a good root system and a large amount of nitrifying bacteria (found in compost)is the only solution to this annoying problem.

---

Try this: Apply a compost-based fertilizer and water your lawn more. Those with problems, post back in 6 weeks and tell me how your urine burned spots are doing.

---

Not so practical alternative: To increase the amount of nitrifying bacteria in the soil in your lawn you can apply a cheap brand of dog food to it (yes, I said dog food).

Cons: (many)
- your dog will spend too much time outside in your yard
- Your dog will become fat
- More dog poo to pick up
- it's expensive
- it will attract wild animals to your yard
- your grass will grow so fast you'll need to cut it twice a week

Pros:
- You will only need to apply it once a year (slow release)
- Dog food (especially the cheaper stuff)contains lots of meat by-products which are the ground up parts of chickens and cows we don't eat like feathers, bones, etc(yuk). These contain proteins and amino acids which are harder to break down. Since your lawn is a mini ecosystem, it strives to maintain a balance, more complex nitrogen sources means more nitrifying bacteria to maintain this balance. More nitrifying batteria means that the burning forms of nitrogen in uring will be converted to nitrates faster and not get the chance to burn your lawn.

A better method that dog food would probably be meat-and-bone-meal. But it would be expensive to put it on an area as big as your lawn.

---

If you don't believe me:
I work for the largest brewery in the world now, but when I made my original post I had worked for a federal government research facility in soil science for 6 years. I worked on a side project for two of those years developing ways to stop the burning of grass by fertilizer over-application and, you guessed it, dog urine spots. One of the products I had a main part in developing was patented and sold in the market as a once a year product that would reduce dog urine spots. Last I heard the parent company had downsized the division responsible for this product (product was called "Renew"), and I'm not sure if it's available still or not.

So I'll leave it up to you if you want to consider me an "expert" or not, but I have extensive and thorough knowledge on this subject.

Whew! That was too long

This thread is so old, I wonder if the original poster's dog is still alive and peeing on his lawn?