Every year, the springtime reveals new flowers, butterflies, leaves, and–if you have a canine companion–more than a few dog urine patches. Even if you are dog-free, you may still find a couple of brown spots in your front yard here and there from a passing pooch. However, fear not; with a little knowledge and some grass seed, you can often easily repair this damage and return your lawn to its former glory! Here’s how to get started:
What is a Dog Urine Patch?
Like all mammals, the water that dogs drink has to go somewhere, and our lawns are often the most convenient receptacles for this “waste,” resulting in those pesky damaged spots. While you may think this means that dog urine is inherently toxic to plants, its rich nitrogen levels actually make it an excellent fertilizer. If you look closely at your dog’s urine patches, you’ll likely notice the surrounding grass growing tall and lush. The real issue is the concentration: When your dog pees on your lawn, a ton of nitrogen is deposited in a very small area, burning your grass and creating those tell-tale brown patches.
Who Causes Dog Pee Damage?
There is a myth that only female dogs can burn grass; however, the truth is that both male and female dog urine has the same effect. The only difference is the female squatting posture, which tends to better concentrate the urine on a smaller area of lawn, creating a more damaged spot.
Can You Prevent Dog Pee Spots?
We often think that damaged lawns are an inevitable part of dog ownership. In theory, you could train your dog to use only one part of your lawn. However, that may not solve the problem, as more concentrated urine means more burn spots. While it would be great if we could train our dogs to fertilize evenly, that idea may be a little far-fetched. So, let’s look at a few ways to repair dog damage after the fact.
How Can You Repair Grass Damaged By Dog Urine?
Okay, let’s get to the good stuff. You’ve already got the brown spots, so now what can you do about them? Here are three simple steps to help you repair the damage:
- Water is the first remedy for any pee spot. Flush the area out with an ample load of H20 to rinse away the excess urine salts and help your grass come back to life. Adding gypsum also helps neutralize the urine.
- At this point, you could leave it and wait for the grass to return, but it may take a while. To give your lawn a hand, rake aside the dry grass, add a little topsoil, and overseed it with new grass seed.
- Finally, to ensure the new seed sprouts, remember to water it diligently for two weeks. If you give it a drink twice daily for the first week and once daily after that, you should have new blades emerging after just 2-3 weeks.
There is a myth that only female dogs can burn grass; however, the truth is that both male and female dog urine has the same effect.
Will Grass Grow Back After Dog Urine Damage?
Yes, your grass will eventually grow back, even if you don’t do anything about it. However, flushing it out with water and reseeding will speed up the process tremendously. If you don’t want to reseed, you can also aerate the soil in the affected area to speed up the regrowth.
How to Repair Dog Holes in Your Lawn
Dogs definitely don’t make things easy when it comes to lawn maintenance. Not only do they use our yards as their private bathroom, but they also love to dig. While it’s possible to train this digging habit out of your dog, you may still have the odd divot or–even worse–an entire trench to repair if they’re young or particularly rambunctious. No need to worry, though; most kinds of patches in your lawn are as easy to repair as a pee spot! Here’s how:
- First, depending on the size of the hole, add some topsoil to level it out.
- Next, overseed the area with grass seed.
- Water the damaged area diligently, twice daily for the first week and once daily for the next. In 2-3 weeks, you should see sprouts coming up. Wait until the new grass is at least 3-4 inches high before mowing it.
- Finally, you’ll need to keep your pooch away from the spot under repair. This can be the most challenging part of this task, as it may be hard for them to resist digging in that fresh soil. Consider fencing off the area temporarily or training your dog to stay away until the patch regrows.
How to Re-Sod Other Damaged Areas in Your Illinois Lawn
While overseeding is the simplest method, it’s by no means the only way to repair damaged spots in your lawn. You can also use a small piece of sod to repair dog damage with these steps:
- If necessary, pour some topsoil into the damaged area to level out the ground.
- Cut out a piece of sod to fit into the damaged spot. Make sure the new sod is level with the lawn around it and that all of the sod is in contact with the soil below it.
- Fill in any cracks around the fresh sod’s perimeter with topsoil so that it grows together with the surrounding grass.
- Water the new sod twice daily for the first week, and once daily the following week. Keep watering it diligently until it blends seamlessly with the surrounding grass.
From unconditional love to motivation for exercise, our canine friends give us lots of gifts. However, along with these gifts come some of their less savory offerings, and while a compostable baggy often does the trick for the more solid of these, there is no perfect way to deal with dog urine. Fortunately, if your dog ever over-fertilizes certain areas in your landscape, those patches are easy to repair!
For any more advice, or to stock up on the supplies you’ll need to repair dog-damaged lawns, please stop by and visit us at any of our garden centers in Bloomingdale and Carpentersville!