Brown Spots on Lawn

Dog urine causes dead patches and lawn burn due to the high levels of nitrogen that is released into the lawn through the urine.
 
I am not sure if this is more specific to larger or medium sized breeds as I didn't have this problem before with my smaller mix breed and I had her for 14 years, bless her little heart. But anyway, our lawn is atrocious now. We let it go too long because we were clueless to what was causing it ( thought hubby was cutting the grass too short... oops, i was wrong. They say crow is a dish which tastes best when served warm)[]
 
It is recommended that you water the area after they go potty. I now keep a watering can near by and have begun saturating the spot after she is finished with her business.  Can't say if it works since I just started, but water certainly can't hurt.
 
I have also read where there are a few different types of grass that are better able to handle the heavy levels of nitrogen if you are able to resod.

I used to run around with the water can when I first would let my dog out.  It helped a little, but there were still some problems.  My husband managed to train both of our labs to only potty in the planter areas where there's bark or dirt.  It actually wasn't difficult to do and they just go there automatically now.  They love to munch on the grass, so maybe they appreciate not eating what they did their business on []

I've never tried it, but there are these things called Dog Rocks- you put them in your dog's water and apparently it neutralises their pee? (apparently it's completely safe)
 
We have it here in NZ, but I'm not sure how easy it will be able to get in the States- I found this website, though it doesnt have much info on it:
 
[linkdogrocks.com/[/link]>http://www.usdogrocks.com/]www.usdogrocks.com/[/link][/size]
 
 

I planted kuntucky 31 grass in my yard because it doesn't seem to react to my dogs pee. Now I have a nice full green yard with no patches and my dog can still go on there. I was told kentucky 31 is what is used in parks. Before I don't know what I had but I would get brown spots with that kind.

kentucky 31 does well in any high traffic areas. it isnt a true turf type grass so it wont "choke out" weeds like bermuda, st. augustine, etc, so you will need to be vigilant with the pre-emergient weed control in the early spring. it is also a good idea to over seed with it regularly, especially if it gets dead/brown spots in it. also, it is minimally drought resistant. so if it is hot and dry for an extended amount of time you will probably get brown spots unless you water frequently.

that said, k-31 fescue is a great and inexpensive grass. it grows well in the red-clay we have around here (at least it grows better than many other types of grass). if your yard gets partial shade, it will probably thrive without much attention. right now we have bermuda sod in the front yard, and a fescue/weed mix in the back. we are trying to promote the bermuda to spreading to other areas of the yard, with some success. but right now our biggest concern is getting anything to grow in the back! there are many dirt spots in our backyard, but it isnt from a lack of trying to get anything to grow. []

Our Dane totally destroy our grass because of their urine.  I have tried different things that I have heard of,, including tomato juice on their kibble...but nothing works. I would NOT use what you can buy in the pet store, from what I understand it changes their PH and I don't think I would ever do that to my dog to not have brown spots.   
The big dogs do it especially bad because they pee so much at one time.  I keep water in a small sprinkling can by my front door,,, when we walk by it to go pee, I grab it and just empty it on where she goes..it works every time. I have only one spot on my grass right now and its from when we let her out thru the garage one day and didn't grab the water.  All you need to do is dilute the urine with water.

Yucca.  Yucca help nuetralize their urine and is also an anti-inflamitory, and helps with the breath.  Nutri-Vet makes a product called Green Grass.  It's all natural (mostly yucca) and from what I've heard works great.

Nutri-Vet Green Grass Liver Chewable
Nutri-Vet's Green Grass Formula was developed to neutralize the potential for high PH (basic) urine, which can cause nasty spots on grass.

I dont know,,,do we really want to change their PH?
I found this on the Internet a second ago just trying to figure this out.
 
How do I prevent it from happening?
There are food additives and supplements available that neutralize the acid in your dog's urine to help prevent grass burns. One of these products is [linkhttp://clk.about.com/?zi=1/XJ&sdn=dogs&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwarreneckstein.com%2Fstore%2Fbuygs.html]"Grass Saver" by NaturVet[/link]. Unfortunately, even though it's made of the same vitamins and additives found in most dog foods, altering the ph level of your dog's urine can lead to serious and life threatening [linkhttp://dogs.about.com/cs/disableddogs/p/bladder_stones.htm]consequences[/link].

WOW - thanks for all the great info.  I had called Pet Supplies Plus and asked if they sell something to help with this and he said something called G-Whiz (sp?) for $14.98.  Seems kinda high to me and like Dyan, I wasn't too sure about doing something to change the ph in their urine.  I think I'll try the watering can first and see how that works out.  If it doesn't, I'll talk to the vet about some of those products, but at least now I have some of their names. Thanks so much everyone. Christi

A few years ago I started giving one of my dogs the Grass saver tablets every morning. After a few days she started getting sick, not eating and just laying around. I brought her to the vet and they did some blood work. Her liver count was really high. I told the vet about giving her those tablets and she told me never to use them. She said they were not good for them. I took her off them and she started feeling better. I had her blood work done again a few weeks later and the counts came back normal. I will gladly live with the brown spots now.
 
I did buy some stuff in a bottle that you spray on those brown spots, it covers them with green. It is supposed to fix the brown spots, but basically just covers them so they are not as noticable.

Changing the pH of a dog's urine won't help your problem.
 
Essesntially, when a dog pees on a stop and it turns brown, your grass has fertilizer burn caused by excess nitrogen levels in the form of urea and ammonia.
 
Most grass is pretty pH tolerant... I would be willing to bet that it would survive having water with a pH between 5 and 9 dumped on it all the time without dying. Your dog, on the other hand, would be seriously sick if its urine was below 5 or above 9.
 
OTOH, your dog does urinate and deficate fertilizer. When a plant gets exposed to too much nitrogen, it's roots usually get burnt along with its foliage... so, in essence, it died from too much of a good thing. However, have you even noticed that on the fringe of the burt that the grass grows faster or is greener? That's because the nitrogen levels in that area are favorable to the plant's growth.
 
So, in conclusion, it is MHO, that there are only four solutions to the dilema. Learn to like the brown patches ([:'(] yucky), water the pee spot heavily and remove poo quickly (that's a lot of work, been there done that), have your dog pee in a less noticable part of the lawn (it's easier than lugging 1 gallon water cans everywhere)... or teach your dog to pee on your neighbors lawn when no ones looking [sm=evilfire.gif] (of course, I'm just kidding []). The other solution is to make sure that grubs aren't causing the brown patches.

ORIGINAL: pumaward
... or teach your dog to pee on your neighbors lawn when no ones looking [sm=evilfire.gif] (of course, I'm just kidding []). The other solution is to make sure that grubs aren't causing the brown patches.

LOL! I wish I could be that evil. Actually we are having this issue with Gracie in the back yard. I think the suggestion about giving her a potty area is a great idea. I'll talk to my BF about it and see how that works out. We both love having a nice lawn and the brown spots are an endless source of frustration.

[sm=tex.gif]Okay this might sound strange, but true.
Female urine kills grass, but a males does not.
My female sheprador drinks atleast 5 gal of water a day, and she kills grass. I don't know what it is, but I'm not alone in this, I've heard it before I witnessed it...

male and female urine will kill the grass. the difference is in the way they go potty. females are usually closer to the ground so their urine is concentrated in one spot, while males urine is typically more spread out. therefore the males urine is somewhat more dilluted, but it can still cause brown spots just like females urine.[]