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6 Tips for Restoring a Lawn Burnt by Dog Urine
Homeowners who own dogs are familiar with the dreaded lawn burn patches caused from dog urine. It seems that Fido has an uncanny knack to never pee in the same place twice. If Fido urinates three or four times a day, you can bet your lawn will have three or four new burn patches to add to your collection.
What's an owner to do?
Resolving the burned lawn isn't as difficult as people make it out to be. Here are a few tips for restoring your urine burned lawn:
- Train Fido to pee in one spot. This is the first and most important step. Do not proceed to step two until you and your dog have mastered this task. No sense in reviving your lawn only to have Fido burn it out again. Dogs are smart. With consistency; Fido will learn were to and not to pee.
- Rake your lawn thoroughly. Whether or not to rake the entire lawn depends on the time of year and the condition of your lawn. If you live in an area of the country where lawns requires clean up after the autumn leaves and harsh winter, then raking the entire lawn is a good idea. If your lawn is in good condition, except for Fido's urine burn marks, then rake only the burnt portions of the lawn.
- Apply lime to the lawn. Putting lime on your lawn, especially in the parts that are burned, serves to raise the pH to a level that promotes grass growth. Remember, the reason dog urine burns the grass is because it's highly acidic. Lime serves to combat the acid levels. For more information on your soil's ph read Adjust Your Soil's pH.
- Put down grass seeds. If the remainder of the lawn looks fine, only place grass seed in the areas of the lawn that are burnt from dog urine. If the entire lawn is in need of sprucing up, then place grass seed accordingly.
- Keep your lawn watered to help the grass seeds to do their job.
- Fertilize your lawn with a pet friendly fertilizer to help promote stronger and healthier growth.
Keep the lawn adequately watered for the next four to six weeks. Within that period of time you'll begin to see your grass grow. The dog's urine burn marks will begin to disappear and your lawn will look much healthier.
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Felicia A. Williams is a freelance writer and webmaster of this website, Visit Hudson Valley.com and No Job for Mom.com. She also blogs about Living Green one choice at a time.
Last Modified: Saturday, 28-Jun-2008 14:00:07 EDT
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