My In Laws are getting concerned...

[Chels*Claud*Midas]

Hey guys! i live in an apartment in my in laws house.. and Midas is out 10 month old goldendoodle who they love...butttt their lawn has gotten destroyed.. so my husband suggested some pills he heard about that supposedly help the lawn not get burned... or just us to try training midas to pee only in a designated area.. then i started looking online for what people said about those pills and supposedly they can only be used to 4 weeks at a time..i then came across "dog rocks" which is a rock that is all natural that goes in the dogs water..and it seems people swear by it... has anyone used them? or pills? or training? what is ur approach if any? also the grass is torn up from midas running like a nut.. am i supposed to try and stop him from running in his backyard??? please help if u can.. thanks xoxo

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Perhaps think about moving????

[Chels*Claud*Midas]

Can't move, we re did the whole apartment and put so much money into it.. We hardly pay rent and we hope to buy the house from them in a few years, I am just going to try and keep him peeing in 1 area and not running like a total nut in the yard. I always bring him to dog parks but I recently heard of an attack on this woman's dog at the park, and Midas was already attacked by my neighbors pitbu when he was 4 months old, I always get nervous about it happening again.. My in laws are going to re seed so I hope it looks better at least for most of the summer :)

[Jen and Annie]

I wonder if changing his diet or water source will help the problem? Urine is a by-product of what "goes in" so I just wonder if that has something to do with it. It's just a guess... None of my dogs urine have ever burned our grass... Maybe ask your vet?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Unless you don't feed your dog protein you will have nitrogen in the urine. My dogs urine certainly burns the grass.

[Jen and Annie]

Hmm they definitely eat protein.... Maybe it's because it's Florida which is like sand, and it drains quickly enough to not destroy the grass..  

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Is there anyway to section off a part of the yard and that is the dogs part and the grass takes it's chances?  Grasses that grow by runners stand up better to dogs in my experience, although they still show wear areas. 

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Everything I hear about burning the grass with urine also suggests watering the area immediately. We also have a sandy soil, it does not hold water well so as soon as moisture hits it pulls it in through the roots, so possibly if the lawn was watered regularly??   We also are trying to find something to strengthen the grass in Meg's yard, she tears it up worse than a horse running through there.  I am sorry I don't have any answers for you but will be following this post for any possible help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Fescue is your best bet for grass that will stand up better to wear and tear from dogs running on it. But it's still going to get torn up somewhat. I've resodded three times, lol. 

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

I think we're going to landscape with plants and shrubs in our yard.  I may try and design a pathway to take the dogs where I want them to go and not the other way around......three times you say. 

 

Well, at least I think my dogs are worth the extra work.

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

I posted about this issue last week and found that unfortunately fescue does not hold up in our climate.  Our yard "wear and tear" is from the dogs' activities and not the urine.  I think what we are going to do is lay pine straw down where the grass just doesn't have a chance and maybe try to bring the rest back slowly but surely.  Looks like landscaping plants instead of grass is going to be our best option.

 

Chels, I would say offer to purchase the seed and seed the yard for your in-laws, show them you care and will do what you can to help bring the yard back.......if you can.  Good luck!

[Pam & Trixie]

I dont know if this would work in your yard/situation being it is not your house (yet)
We have a small area that is about 10 x 20 on the side of our garage that is filled in with pea rock (perfect for peeing- LOL)
All of our dogs have always been tought that this is the area to go potty. While they do go once in awhile in the back yard- it is not often.
immediately pouring water on the area does work good for my step mother...She does that when dogs visit that dont know they are not supposed to pee in the front yard :o

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Well as you are finding out from all the posts dogs and lawns dont mix.  I had a beautiful sod lawn that was like a gold course.  I had a shih tzu who was blind before the doodles so when she peed I would just hose it down  And in the winter I would just let her go but in spring I would seed and everything was good.  Well then came the doodles... and my lawn is a mess now, my Sasha is a very hard runner so she kicks up pieces of lawn when she runs fast and with two big dogs peeing all over I could not keep up so I gave up.  At least I have a nice front lawn !!!