Ok gardeners with dogs... our yard is starting to green up nicely, as Chris fertilized in the fall, aerated a couple of weeks ago, and waters with the hose a couple of times throughout the winter... but as spring is starting here, we're noticing a portion of the back hard where Nikolai consistently pees and it's pretty splochy/burned. We've seen supplements at the pet store for "lawn savers" but I'm not committed to giving my dog something every day to help with our lawn... there's got to be another way to salvage things out back. Any advice?

I seem to remember reading that you can add apple cider vinegar to his drinking water and it will help with the problem. I can't remember the amount however so maybe someone else will chime in.

Apple cider vinegar might help. I give my 3 dogs ACV about 3 times a week and my grass actually grows faster, thicker, and greener wherever the dogs pee! My hubby keeps telling me to collect the dogs' pee so we can use it as fertilizer for the lawn...the sad part, he's not joking!

My 6 lb chi girls get 1 tsp of ACV, and my 55 lb sibe gets 1 tbsp. While I only give ACV 3-4 times a week, you can give it every day if you want.

Apple cider vinegar is the best, you want to use the pure, unpasteurized product with the mother in it (you can find it at most health food stores). ACV really is such an amazing product and has so many benefits. ACV is antibacterial and anti fungal; it improves the immune system, liver, bladder and kidney function; helps with itchy skin and allergies; balances digestive enzymes; normalizes the pH of the body; repels both internal and external parasites like fleas and worms; provides potassium for tissue and joint health; makes a great ear cleaning solution; reduces inflammation...the list could go on and on! Don't take my word for it, look up more info on ACV yourself. It's benefits not only work for us but our dogs too. You can mix ACV directly into your dogs food or put it in their water. If you are trying to get rid of fleas or combating skin issues you can make a 50/50 mix of ACV and water in a spray bottle and spray it on their coat or you can give them a bath in the 50/50 mix. I hear that ACV also helps eliminate or lessen the incidence of gas in some dogs too if you have problems with that.

Huskyluv wrote:

Apple cider vinegar might help. I give my 3 dogs ACV about 3 times a week and my grass actually grows faster, thicker, and greener wherever the dogs pee! My hubby keeps telling me to collect the dogs' pee so we can use it as fertilizer for the lawn...the sad part, he's not joking!

*LOL* Totally sounds like something my darling hubby would say... if we could turn Nikolai into a lawn "bettering" being instead of a lawn destroying being, we'd be SET.

Do you know if ACV is safe for cats, too? I'd add it to Nikolai's water, but I know Cosmo drinks from it too...

Would it maybe help if we just mixed up a solution of water and ACV and applied it directly to the lawn spots? Hmm... I can't imagine Nikolai willingly eating or drinking ACV, he's just SUCH a picky eater anyway...

Yes, it is safe for cats as well. I don't know how ACV would affect the lawn if you were to spray it directly on. I know that it affects the pH of the urine so that you are less likely to have the burn spots. I personally mix ACV with my dogs' Honest Kitchen dinner.

I think I may need to do this too!
Hubby wants to rip out the grass just because it has some brown spots! Basically, he wants to spend more money to rip up the grass than to spend a little money to lay mulch to promote grass growth....UGH!

Can I have some of your dog's pee?

Huskyluv wrote:

I personally mix ACV with my dogs' Honest Kitchen dinner.

I may have to do this in the coming days...

If Nikolai still goes for his THK with ACV, I think Ginger will too!

So what do you do when the damn small dog across the street comes over and uses your front yard as a potty spot? front yard is unfenced and no fences are aloud...

jbealer wrote:

So what do you do when the damn small dog across the street comes over and uses your front yard as a potty spot?

Send out Sierra!

Thanks for the info, Val! With my own yard now, I might have to try that!

It's great for the backyard but I wouldn't let them go in the front yard to urinate. Having multiple round patches of bigger, thicker and greener grass in the front yard just looks weird.

Huskyluv wrote:

jbealer wrote:

So what do you do when the damn small dog across the street comes over and uses your front yard as a potty spot?

Send out Sierra!

you have no idea how many times i have wanted to do that!

jbealer wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

jbealer wrote:

So what do you do when the damn small dog across the street comes over and uses your front yard as a potty spot?

Send out Sierra!

you have no idea how many times i have wanted to do that!

I wouldn't hesitate one iota

Here4thePics wrote:

jbealer wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

jbealer wrote:

So what do you do when the damn small dog across the street comes over and uses your front yard as a potty spot?

Send out Sierra!

you have no idea how many times i have wanted to do that!

I wouldn't hesitate one iota

All you would have to do is send out Sierra once, and that'll keep those little things away once and for all!

Well I don't want blood on my lawn either! It must do it during the day as I never see the damn thing doing it!

I took a picture of part of my backyard. This is the section where the dogs pee the most. Wherever the grass is darker and thicker, that's where the dogs have urinated! (That's Glory laying there in the midst of it all.)

I started giving 1/2 tablespoon of ACV in Ginger's water a couple of days ago. We hubby will be taking stats on the lawn this season to see if the grass grows greener.

I'll post back here in a couple of months to let ya'all know how this is working for us...

i've started doing this as well. hope to see less brown spots in my back yard! how long does the effectiveness usually take to kick in? i give it about 3-4 times a week. 1 tbsp per those days

I don't know how long to give it before noticing results since my dogs have been on ACV before we moved to our new house and noticed the effects it was having on our grass.

Funny thing, I got an email yesterday from a pet supply company about treats and liquid additives to prevent lawn burn spots. I guess if the ACV doesn't give you the desired results then you could maybe try the products on the market sold for that purpose. I can't say if any of them work as I've never tried them and I don't know anyone who has.

I'm interested in knowing what results you ladies get with the ACV.

Oh the joys i have of not having grass in my back yard everything is brown

i am thinking of adding it to the water just for health reasons though. so since it is a shared water between our two and i refill the bowl a few times a day should i just mix a jug of it and use that to keep refilling in hopes they are both getting the right amount or i guess i could just give it to them in the food. my concern with the food is either they will not like it and not eat, or like it and only eat when i have added it to the food....

That was also my fear of adding it to their food but mine love it! I was very surprised

My concern with adding to food is the acidity and its effects on tooth enamel over time. I think adding to water results in a more dilute solution and would be safer. Good suggestion Jennifer to make it up in batches and add to water bowls. Think I will begin doing this. Mix up in a gallon water jug. How much per gallon? Suggestions anyone?

After the hubby put down fertilizer in the yard a few weeks ago, all of a sudden wherever Dakota was peeing it was now burning the grass unlike before putting down the fertilizer. Sooooo...I started doing a little extra researching. Turns out this is normal as the grass has recently been fertilized with nitrogen so the added nitrogen in Dakota's urine is overloading the grass with nitrogen and therefore killing it...a case of too much of a good thing is a bad thing!

I did some more research on what else I can do to prevent further burns as the ACV is not cutting it now that the lawn has fertilizer down. I looked into those treats and pills like "Green Um", "Grass Saver", and "Dog Rocks". After more digging around for info on these products, what they do, and their ingredients, they are not something that I would feel comfortable giving my dogs or recommending whether they work or not.

That meant back to the drawing board and looking for a safer, more natural alternative. So what I've decided to do is a multi-step process that I'm sharing with you folks in case any of these ideas might help you out.

1) I am working on training Dakota to use two different areas of the yard to urinate. We started this training on Saturday and he is doing amazingly well and learning very quickly to urinate in the designated spots.

2) I have increased his ACV from 4 days a week to 7 days a week mixed in his food. Hopefully the increased ACV will help reduce the chances of burn spots.

3) I am adding a small amount of sodium free chicken broth for flavor to the water bowl to encourage him to drink more water. The increased water intake will help dilute the nitrogen in his urine and therefore reduce the chance of burn spots.

4) If he does happen to urinate in the grass outside of his designated pee areas I am thoroughly hosing down the grass in that area to dilute the nitrogen and prevent a possible burn.

We just started implementing all these changes this weekend so here's hoping the combination yields good results for us. I will be sure to update after several weeks on how well (or not) this is working.

I just went out and bought lawn patch for a big burn spot by Storm. Then the guy at Home Depot showed me something else specifically for pet burn spots. We used to hose down the areas Ginger peed last Summer/Fall, and thought that was silly. Well, little did I know...after all, she's my first dog ever!

Hubby is going to patch Storm's burn spot, but the rest of the lawn seems to be doing pretty good so far. Some of the grass didn't come back after winter, and hubby has patched those areas and it seems to be filling in OK.

Hopefully, now that both are on ACV, it'll be lower maintenance, and less burn spots.

I'll keep watching here for updates in case there's anything else we could be doing to save our lawn!