Burn spots in the lawn

[Roxanne Ochs]

Now that the snow has melted and nice weather is on the way we have some burn spots in the lawn from CeeGee. Is there a dietary supplement that is safe that reduces the nitrogen concentration in the urine?

[Ginny Nightingale]

I've got the same problem with my doodle--or ONE of them . The other drinks a lot of water and doesn't cause burn spots. My smaller doodle doesn't drink much and there are spots all over the place! i hope someone has an answer for this!

[Adina P]

I think you know the key...dilution. You can't make your dogs drink more but if you soak the spot that was peed on with water right away...that will dilute the nitrogen so it is not all concentrated in one spot. I tried that when we first got sod...but it was just too troublesome to keep up with it.

[Diane Dolphin Rocker]

Here is an interesting article on the Dr. Foster and Smith web site (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2085&aid=1493) I found the part about the high quality food interesting! Here is a link to thier product (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11874). Hope this helps. Has anybody ever used this? I'd love to hear if you've had any success with it. Thanks!

[Teresa]

Hello all. I do want to jump into this discussion because I had a bad experience several years ago with a product marketed for the same purpose. As it was at least 6 years ago, I don't remember if it was this particular product, but it was called Lawn "something". I started giving it to a male dog that was detroying my lawn when I moved across the country - I at first thought it was something to do with the change in water :-) he was drinking so tried the product. The reason I tell you it was a bad experience is that when I did his yearly wellness testing, his liver enzymes were greatly elevated to the point where my vet was very concerned and wanting to do more tests. I mentioned this product and she suggested I take him off for a month and lets retest to see what happens. When we retested, his enzymes were almost back to normal. I waited another month and retested again and they were back to normal. No idea if it was a coincidence or not, but I would not recommend using the product. With my new dog, I just trained him to go in one area of my back yard that I have covered in cedar wood chips and for the most part, that has completely solved my issue. There are a couple of small spots each year but I just rake them up and use lawn patch to fix them.

[Mommy2Max]

Thank you for sharing! I'm so happy your dog is now better.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I remember reading something recently that said to add something like a little vinegar to the dog's water. I will try to find it but hopefully in the meantime the person who wrote it will answer.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I don't know about the specific supplements listed but I saw one a while back that changes the ph of the dogs urine. it sounded like a bad idea to me since I thought it might lead to urinary tract infections. My vet also thought it was a bad idea. i wouldn't try to change the dogs urine but the behavior (that is where the dog urinates) if the lawn is important enough to you.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am sure that is a better idea. I am glad that you were able to give some input because I just remember reading about it but not if it was a good thing to do or not.