How to avoid burned grass from doodley pee?

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Hi all,

Ok, so after a ton of back-and-forth e-mails with a cottage owner, we secured a cottage rental for a week in August! Their policy is "no dogs" (hence all the e-mails), but we were able to talk them into letting Lola stay (she's basically a human, after all :) ) I'm a little nervous about her pee. Our backyard is covered in burn stains, and I'm thinking if their flawless land has burn patches at the end of the week, we might get charged a repair fee.

I've looked at previous posts about this, but the last one I could find was from 2010. Are there any new products out there that can help us out? Or are we going to be stuck chasing her around with a watering can all week? I'd rather not put chemicals into her body, but if there was some natural way to decrease/neutralize the nitrogen in her pee, just for a week, that would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance!

Sue & Lola

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Is there an area near the cottage that would not have grass? If there is, that could be Lola's designated potty area. I don't think changing the pH levels of her pee-pee with some pills is a good idea either. How about taking a pack of training pee pads for puppies and putting them down on the grass before she goes?

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Is there a lake at the cottage? why not get her to pee near the water? Or else take her for a walk down the road. I've been in my house for less than a week and the back yard already has a bunch of burn marks. I'm back to walking the doodles three times a day for the sake of saving the grass! I wish there was a magical fix.

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Thanks for the tips, guys! Unfortunately, Lola is deathly afraid of those training pee pads. She sees it, gasps, and runs away with her tail between her legs! Also, Lola pees about 50 times a day. I've unfortunately gotten her into a bad routine since I work from home. Oh well!!!

Sherri, the cottage is right on the water. I'm hoping to be able to heard Lola towards the beach every time she pees, or at least off to the side so the burns aren't front and centre. I'm not sure, but I'm hoping they have a garden hose, so we can get someone to hose the area down after every pee...there are 4 couples going with us, so plenty of us to keep on top of it.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

There you go! Keep the people busy. :-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's a pain in the neck, but if you can hose down the grass whenever she pees, it's surefire and you won't have to give Lola anything. And, not only will the urine not burn the grass but the grass in those areas will look better than anywhere else in the yard. A little nitrogen is a really good thing!

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Exactly. I'm thinking we can bring a few buckets, fill them with lake water, and keep them scattered around the property....I'm thinking the women will be a lot more helpful than the men with this task.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

right on the water eh? and where exactly did you say this cottage of yours is?? *Just wondering* [grin]

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

LOL Sherri...it's about 5min from Gravenhurst...I'm SOOOO excited! Haven't been to Muskoka in a really long time!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I agree with Jarka and Sherri. I don't like tampering with their natural pH levels and there has to be some type of road or driveway even that she can be trained go on before she learns to go on the grass.  I'm with you though as the burn spots are rather unsightly, but I can live with them in my own yard, Wouldn't want to leave spots in someone elses though.  

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Thanks, Sue! I agree too, I really don't want to mess with her system, especially since she's so sensitive, and any change to her environment leads to an infection/problem of some kind. We'll just work on it the first couple of days, and hopefully she'll catch on! :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

The only thing that we found that worked was to pour a full watering can over the spot right after they go.  When our guys were puppies and couldn't make it to the "designated potty spot" that's what we had to do to avoid being fined by our condo association.  A pain but it does work.

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

Take a bucket with you and pour water over the spot where the dog urinates. Problem solved.