Brown stains on grass from dogs

[Ian]

As you may have seen from Becky's posts on the other site, we've recently moved house and now have a garden to tend to .

The previous owner had a couple of dogs and it appears that they've made a bit of a mess around the garden! In the patches where the dogs have urinated, there are big brown spots in the grass. I thought that these may have disappeared after a few weeks - but it's been almost a month and they are almost as bad as when we moved in.

Is there anything I can do to speed up the grass returning to normal? I was about to add some lawn thickener (seed + feed) and see if that would help, but thought I should check in for some expert advice first .

 

[Ian]

The brown spots are now covered in some lawn thickener, so hopefully they'll come up good as new in a few weeks time... if we get some sunshine!

 

[Tmann]

Ian a bit late but I did find this on the web.

I'm Bill Elzey with Showplace Lawns. How to rid your grass of dog urine spots. Well, the acidity from the urine is definitely going to put some little brown circles in your yard wherever the dog decides to go. Probably not once, but the spots will appear in areas where they go more than just once. And the best way to remove those would be to use this product called Medina Soil Activator. What Medina does... it helps to reduce all toxins that are in the soil, and clean it out, flush out all the bad things that are there. It's a really good product for cleaning the soil so to speak. So I would do that first with the Medina spray. One spray, maybe two sprays or so to make sure that you get the area really clean. Probably won't work the first time depending on how built up the urine is in the soil. After that I would come through with a rake and rake the area out with a regular leaf rake. Coming back to then apply some nice compost. In this case, this is a revitalizer brand, a very good compost for lots of different applications. After the compost is worked into the soil, I would come back with a little bit of top soil from either another spot in your yard or from some place, from some nursery, not a bagged top soil, but a real top soil that's good stuff. Bring it over and spread a little bit of that across the top and water that in as well. Depending on the type of grass you got and its growth patterns, this should help to cover that area with new grass growing across. And that's the best way to remove urine spots... dog urine spots from your lawn​

​

​

Read more: Video: How to Rid Your Grass of Dog Urine Spots | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/video_4755106_rid-grass-dog-urine-spots.html#ixzz1ztCnJkJz​

 

[Ian]

Thanks Tmann, I've not heard of this product in the UK, but I'll do a google and see if I can find something similar.

I hosed the grass down a bit before re-seeding to see if that helps rid the area of any "leftovers".

 

[loopyloo]

You can feed your dog things that will level out the acidity the leave behind. It is supposed to stop the brown spots. My dog doesnt leave brown spots so I havent tried them. They are kinda spendy but if you dont need to spend money to fix it up then it might be worth it. I saw some at my local pet supply store but here is a link to a product just like them.

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/searc...=13468521059&gclid=CKHWp7XairMCFSmCQgod0yoAGg

Has anyone tried an item like this? Does it work?

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Also late to the party, but here's my two-cents worth...

My understanding is that only female dogs cause this problem. If you have both sexes, the males will tend to come by and pee on the same spots as the females, and this balances out the acidity. Of course I have two female dogs, so I constantly have brown spots.

One thing I've heard of, but never tried, is making a mixture of water and baking soda, and spraying that on the affected areas to neutralize the ground. Since I've been more focused on larger areas dying in my yard, the smaller spots haven't been of concern lately...

 

[Tmann]

Also late to the party, but here's my two-cents worth...

the males will tend to come by and pee on the same spots as the females, and this balances out the acidity.
..

So maybe you need to go behind your female dogs and pee on the grass!!!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

So maybe you need to go behind your female dogs and pee on the grass!!!

I'm guessing the neighbors might not appreciate the attempt at going 'all natural'...

 

[SamClemensMT]

The brown spots are now covered in some lawn thickener, so hopefully they'll come up good as new in a few weeks time... if we get some sunshine!

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That doggy may be back, so what you need to do is mix two cups of water, three tablespoons of olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper in a spray bottle, shake it up well. Next spray it on any area of the grass our four legged friend might likely visit in the future and that should ward him off. Also repels squirrels and other creatures with wet little noses.

 

[Ino]

I can definitely say that this is not a female dog issue as I have a 90 pound male dog and my backyard is all brown spotted up from his urine. I tried some gypsum last year as I was told that it would help but I did not see any evidence of improvement.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Old post, but since you brought it up, try this type product. Gypsum is calcium sulphate, so no sulphur ok? You are trying to raise the pH. Calcium nitrate is a fertilizer that is one of the only water soluble calcium sources that is immediately available to plants or soil. The mineral form has to break down over a long time. There are also liquid product used to raise pH rapidly like the pic below.