Dog Rocks to lower nitrogen levels in urine. Do they work?

I'd be concerned about something messing with your dog's urine content. Urine is the body's way of getting rid of wastes from the body. So if no nitrogen in the urine where does it go? Secondly, does it increase the pH of your dog's urine? If so doesn't that put your dog at risk for oxalate crystals, etc?

Paula

We just had sod put down about a month ago and it is pretty much a disaster with urine burns. Why our boy doesn't get the leg lift is beyond me, but.... a call to the vet confirmed what Paula said about messing with the PH. It can open your dog up to crystals and kidney problems.

Our local nursery suggested putting gypsum on the lawn and then watering. Supposedly it nuetralizes the acid in the urine after the fact.

I'm going through the same thing.  New sod a month ago.  We have been going on a lot more walks....watching where he pees and immediately watering (I've read you can wait up to 8 hours to water) to dilute the urine.   I've put down pea gravel behind the shed and installed a post for him to use.....REFUSES to pee back there....  [:@]

The website says that the rocks are put in the water dish and the nitrogen binds to the rocks. The rocks are some kind of igneous rock from Australia. It sounds like the change in nitrogen levels happening in the water bowl and not in your dog's body.
www.dogrocks.org is their site. I'm so curious but don't want to commit if I don't get a review from someone.

I know about the other solutions recommended by folks, but I like to check out all possibilities.

So the water binds to the nitrogen in the water - I would hazard to say that the majority of the nitrogen your dog gets does not come from water.  So how does that exactly work?

Paula

There shouldn't be any nitrogen in your water.  At least in the US there are regulations against nitrate levels because at certain levels it is toxic and there should be no nitrites in any type of water because they get turned into nitrates.  I know from fish forums a few places have low nitrates of around 10ppm or less in the tapwater.  This is not a noticeable amount to most mammals but does make keeping fish and frogs a little more interesting.  Nitrogen is released from processes in the body and most anything organic breaks down to create nitrates so it would have to be doing something after ingested to actually be useful.  I thought these rocks were just zeolite or similar material that binds up ammonia, nitrite, small amounts of nitrates and heavy metals found in the water.  That's what it's used for in fish aquarium and it doesn't cause a ph change.  It's also sometimes used when filtering water for drinking.  Not sure if this product has anything else added though.

Please don't give your dog any of the anti-urine-burn supplements and mess with their kidney function.
 
Best thing to do is take a gallon jug of water and dump it over the spot where your dog pees when you let him/her out.  Or water your lawn regularly.  Or adjust the mixture of your fertilizer. 

The nitrogen in your dog's urine is in the form of urea. This in NO way comes from his drinking water. It is a by-product of the animals kidney function and no rock on the planet will change that. Sounds like you would be better off buying a "PET ROCK" LOL.

as to why it is burning now my guess is that it is just more concentrated.  Sort of like ours does when we drink more.  Sometimes my dog's urine is very yellow sometimes its pretty much clear.
We have been having evening thunderstorms and we now have spots of darker, taller grass where he has been fertilizing.
I wish he'd pee near my tomatoes []

Sorry I knonw some people really want a perfect lawn - we live in the south and have way too much grass to worry about a circle here or there.  We have several kinds of grass in there, weeds that just won't die and go through dry heat spells that brown the whole thing out.  Its only grass!

Personally, I wouldn't give my dogs anything systemically to deal with a cosmetic problem on my lawn.  I like the suggestion about diluting the spots with some water.  

dog rocks do not change the Ph in the urine. They reduce the nitrogen which is a by product from the protene in their diet. Of you fertilize your lawn it will grow but if you give it a little too much it will die. Good luck they do work www.dogrocks.co.uk

nitogen in the dogs urine is a by product of the protene in their diet. Dog rocks reduce the amount of Nitrogen by a small amount which is whay they do work. If you fertilize your lawn the grass will grow if you give it too much it will die.

dog rocks are 100% natural straight from the earth and are a compleatly natural way of solving a problem

 Just dilute the area with water. I'm not going to change the pH level of my dogs urine (too risky) just for some green grass.