Lawn burn from dog urine - HELP !

[Gull Lake Guy]

My 17 month old male Golden Retreiver is the greatest thing since Mertens' Power Tiller Steering, except for the urine burn in the yard. I replaced 33 rolls of sod this spring prior to a big get together, and while our efforts to pour water on the spots immediately after he goes have helped, we still miss from time to time. I know there are pills available thru Foster and Smith, but I am not sure if they work, and am concerned about long term effects. A neighbors friend said that about 10 years ago he was given something by a vet at the University of Minnesota that was a liquid, and he simply put a couple of drops in the dogs water. Lawn burn stopped almost immediately, and after a year, he no longer needed to treat the water. We have noticed that we had no lawn burn at our place up north, but we do not fertilize that yard, and I know that makes a huge difference. Any advice would be appreciated. THANKS

[cyber16]

I would suggest take a little time and teach the dog to go in one area.
With our springer she will only go in that spot.
The upside is any damage is confined and no bombs hidden in the grass.

Our dog will mostly never defecate on walks, she holds it till she gets home and runs to her spot, in our case it is a smaller 6'x6'chain-link kennel that we did not even place the gate onto.
We just line the ground with dried leaves to cover the sand within the area.

This was the same case with our prior springer at our previous home, just open the door and she ran to her spot and then ran back to the house when done.

[Javelin360]

Had the same problem with our Golden. Vet told us to put tomato juice on his dog food. It seemed to help a lot but is a pain in *** to always remember!

[lacywbosu]

Make a scent post at the corner of your property. 3 ft 2 by 2 or something similar stuck in the ground deep enough that he can't knock it over. Dribble some fox pee or some other canine on it once a week. He will go to it first thing and use most of his urine to try and cover up this invading canine scent.

They and you need the exercise ! Otherwise, train them to go in a specific section of your yard. Replace lawn with pea gravel.

[jeff hefter]

You can buy 50lbs bags of lime and put it down just like fertilizer.

What will a build up of lime do to the dogs feet?

[TIGHTLINER]

I had the same problem we raised Britts and it seemed like all the males would burn the lawn. Three times a year I would put down lime in the pellitized way and 99% of the burn was gone. I noticed also that during the summer months when the weather was hot and dry it would be brown within two days. I never had a problem with it doing anything with the dogs feet.

[sean_steiner]

Originally Posted by Gull Lake Guy

My 17 month old male Golden Retreiver is the greatest thing since Mertens' Power Tiller Steering, except for the urine burn in the yard. I replaced 33 rolls of sod this spring prior to a big get together, and while our efforts to pour water on the spots immediately after he goes have helped, we still miss from time to time. I know there are pills available thru Foster and Smith, but I am not sure if they work, and am concerned about long term effects. A neighbors friend said that about 10 years ago he was given something by a vet at the University of Minnesota that was a liquid, and he simply put a couple of drops in the dogs water. Lawn burn stopped almost immediately, and after a year, he no longer needed to treat the water. We have noticed that we had no lawn burn at our place up north, but we do not fertilize that yard, and I know that makes a huge difference. Any advice would be appreciated. THANKS

I assume this is a male, since you said he. As someone who works with dogs at the local shelter as well as through training and dog behavior, This can be an easy problem to remedy.

If you have any trees, you can get him to mark those easily, and they wont be hurt. If you don't have any, you could try some bushes that you don't particularly care about. If all else fails, take him away from the lawn to pee each time. It won't take long for him to form a habit and routine of not peeing on the lawn anymore. Give him a piece of kibble each time he pees in an area you want him to. How far north is the place where you don't have this problem? It could be an area that has more acidic soil and therefor more hardy grass.

[eriksat1]

I have been through this and read every fix on the internet. The only one that works to fix the lawn is dig up the spots, put in fresh black dirt and re-plant grass seed.