Reviving your lawn, any possiblities?

[Aimee Santa Monica]

We've had our pup for 12 wks now (newest one for 4 wks) , they've been potty training in our front lawn.  Winter has been good ,in that,  i don't notice any strong smells coming from our lawn. I am clean up after pups , so i am hoping to wean our dogs away from our front  (small) lawn and head straight to our nearby walking trail.  Is it possible to revive our lawn?   Is there something to pour onto area to revive the grass and take away smells?      We have 3 small children, and with spring and summer coming , i would love to have our children play on the grass as they once did, pre- dog days.  :)    Am i asking for a miracle?  Yes, i am a germ a phobe. :)   Would love to get advice on this.  Thanks!

[shelly]

Well... it WAS a beautiful lawn! just kidding... You must have female puppies??? It is the female urine that destroys the grass. We actually looked into the artificial grass, but we just didn't really want to scrub down our 'lawn' to get rid of the pooppy spots. So now, we just walk Tori in a certain spot on the back/side of our house away from the play area and it is now 'her spot' to go potty. we do plant seed - usually crab grass- in the spring and just keep reseeding. there are brown spots, but at least it keeps the dirt and mud back. I'll be watching this to see if there is anything new that someone can suggest.
I was VERY particular about a lot of things about my home and cleaning and YES! I too am a germ freak (as my siblings and nieces and nephews call me). There are just some things that I had to let go of (as difficult as it was) with 2 boys and a dog. (you should search for a forum about how you expected you would act pre-dog vs present... like letting the dog up on furniture... funny.... Good luck with your pups! They are adorable!

[Aimee Santa Monica]

That's right, i heard about the female urine , that it destroys plants, no wonder my lawn looked bad after we got Ayla!  :)  

You're lucky Tori has her spot away from a play area. We wanted to have the pups "spot" on the left side of our house, but our neighbor's (late teen) son is always on his cell phone there and pups are always barking at him, and distracted.  

Yes, things have changed alot with pups now in our lives,  i now can hold my breath longer .   :)

 

[Adina P]

Well if the dogs are weaned off the lawn then it will, generally revive itself.  You might need to overseed in areas of dead grass.  It's not so much that female urine destroys grass more but that is usually said because male dogs will 'mark' more and pee a little here and a little there...whereas females tend to let it all out in one spot.  Ultimately urine just kills grass because it OVERfertilizes it with its nitrogen content.  Once the dogs are done using the lawn on a regular basis I would just water it well and that should take care of most of it.  The sun will do the rest.

 

Our dogs use our fenced backyard and I'm a germaphobe too so I only let Natalie wander around if I KNOW the poo is cleaned up.  Even then it's a little gross to me.

[Aimee Santa Monica]

Thanks Adina!   I am looking forward to bringing our lawn back to a healthy, more child-friendly state!   But i am not looking forward to our manual weeding of  our lawn in the spring  :(   

Gone are the days of carefree stepping in our green lawn-   :)

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I raised two healthy children on a two dog lawn.  Tried to keep the poop picked up.  Didn't worry much about germs.  Everyone stayed well, mostly.  Children got the usual people viruses from friends and infections from small ear canals.  Only a few dog illnesses are viable in humans.  Worry less, play more.  You will be glad you did. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Sounds good to me but for many easier said than done.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

My husband makes me walk around the yard with the leash in one hand and the water can in the other...they say you can pour water where they peed immediately and the nitrogen won't be so concentrated! They did a number on our lawn and he's been working on it for weeks in hopes of the seed grwing back in.