dog urine burns lawn
I received more questions about dog urine and lawns following the last post, so here goes.
Yes, it is true, dog urine burns lawn grasses all the time. Everyone knows about it, it can be a frustrating experience seeing little burn spots pocking the landscape like bomb damage. It is indeed an unfortunate event, but knowing why it does this is a probable help in dealing with it. The current urban myth says that female dogs have an innate chemical which is especially detrimental, but it is simply not true. Male dogs tend to spread their urine out, busily marking shrubs and fire hydrants with all due diligence, thereby spreading their urine for functional effect. Meanwhile, while female dogs also “mark: certain things in a territorial way, they generally just unload their wastes in more decisive amounts, thus the myth of the Female Urine Problem.
The problem is in the nitrogen. Waste products include high concentrations of nitrogen as byproducts of digestion. What happens is almost as if you were “overfeeding” with a nitrogen fertilizer. In many cases, studies have shown that by watering within 8 hours of a dog urinating on your lawn, you can reduce the damage substantially. While no one is going to sit and hold a hose all day for owners who let their dogs pee in your grass, it is helpful to know that some consistent watering reduces the effects of dog urine enormously. Indeed, if you own a female dog, or a male, for that matter who trashes some poor shrub daily, just water those sots they most frequent and you might avoid the worst of the damaging effects of all that compressed nitrogen. The burnt out spots always have a ring of intensely green grass around them, which should give us our best clue. Water liberally if you spot it happening and avoid at least one of the spots Knowledge is forewarning. Using some common sense techniques to limiting the passage of dogs on your lots should be first and foremost in any prevention scheme..
