Dealing with animal urine damage on your grass

IDAHO FALLS — When the snow finally melts, and the grass starts to green up I can see the damage done by “man’s best friend” over the winter. My dog does his business outside and once the snow is gone, I always have a big mess to clean up. The obvious mess lays on top of the grass, but it’s the less obvious mess that can cause a bigger issue.

When you see dark-green spots or dead, straw-colored spots three to six inches in diameter with a dark-green perimeter, you can be certain of the cause. Animal urine can damage turfgrass in any climate and at any time. Animal urine has concentrated salts that dehydrate the lawn and elevated levels of nitrogen that can burn the lawn.

We can rule out common turfgrass diseases like dollar spot, brown patch, fairy ring, or spring dead spot as leaves with these diseases tend to appear water-soaked and mat down. In addition, these fungal diseases tend to have cottony mycelium present during the early morning.

True or False

Only female dogs cause spotting in lawns. False. While it is true that female dogs squat when they urinate, depositing a large volume of concentrated urine in a small area, young males will often squat as well. Urine spotting occurs when the urine is concentrated in a small area. Males tend to mark their territory on the edges of landscapes and on vertical objects in the landscape.

Spotting is more common with certain breeds. Mostly false. Larger breeds are more likely to deposit larger amounts of urine, causing more urine spotting. However, smaller breeds can cause spotting as well, especially if they tend to urinate in a specific area of the lawn.

Urine spotting occurs because urine is alkaline. False. Urine spotting occurs because of the high concentration of nitrogen and salts deposited in a small area. Browning is caused by the concentrated nitrogen deposit in the center, which burns the leaf tissue and may or may not cause tissue death.

Urine spotting can be prevented by using supplements that acidify a dog’s urine. False. Once again, spotting is caused by nitrogen and salt content, not the pH of the urine. Many supplements are intended to increase water intake for the dog, thus diluting the salt content in the urine. As a word of caution, if you decide to supplement your dog’s food, a veterinarian should be consulted. Altering the pH of food may cause other problems with your dog. There are no dietary supplements that have been proven to reduce the incidence or severity of urine spotting in lawns.

Dealing with Urine Spots

The best solution for preventing urine spotting is to train your dogs to urinate in a specific area of your yard. An area that is covered with mulch or gravel is ideal, and if trained while young, urine spots will never become an issue. Training needs to be consistent and can be accomplished with most dogs in just a couple of months.

Once you have urine spots in your lawn, the only way to get rid of salt is washing it down through the soil. Increase irrigation amount and/or frequency to help dilute salts that have accumulated in the soil. If the turf has been killed, the dead sod and some soil (between one-half and one inch of soil) can be removed. Re-sod the area with new grass. Individual dead spots can be reseeded as well. Try to use the same type of seed as the rest of the lawn to prevent having unusual color or texture spots in your lawn.