{"id":3296,"date":"2019-08-14T00:13:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T07:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-936\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T09:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T16:29:38","slug":"lawns-and-dog-urine-damage","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/lawns-and-dog-urine-damage\/","title":{"rendered":"lawns and dog urine damage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What can I do to repair the unsightly patches left in my lawn by the neighbor&#8217;s dog, which urinates there daily? Should I reseed or patch with sod?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First of all, if the dog&#8217;s person cannot encourage it to &#8216;go&#8217; elsewhere, this will be a perpetual issue. That makes me think that it&#8217;s best to take the easiest route, which is to saturate the spots on the lawn as soon as you notice the dog has been there. A University of California, Davis publication entitled <a href=\"https:\/\/anrcatalog.ucanr.edu\/pdf\/8255.pdf\">&#8220;Lawns &#8216;n&#8217; Dogs&#8221;<\/a> suggests prevention by flooding the small area where the dog has urinated as soon as possible after the event&#8211;keep a watering can at the ready! They recommend that you only repair the lawn if the grass is significantly burned, covers a large area, and is a cool-season non-creeping grass variety&#8211;other types of grass will regrow on their own quite easily.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado State University&#8217;s Garden Notes published an article entitled &#8220;Dog Urine Damage on Lawns: Cause, Cure and Prevention.&#8221;<br \/>\nExcerpt:<br \/>\n&#8220;If the affected spots are brown, (the turf may or may not be dead):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase irrigation amount and\/or frequency to help dilute salts that have accumulated in the soil. This may help still-living turf recover, and will dilute salts in those areas where the turf has been killed (allowing for more effective re-seeding).<\/li>\n<li>When turf has been killed, the dead sod and some soil (0.5-1 inch of soil) can be removed. Re-sod the area with new grass.<\/li>\n<li>Individual dead\/damaged spots can be re-seeded as follows:In a Kentucky bluegrass lawn: Spot seed with Kentucky bluegrass (marginally effective) or perennial ryegrass (more effective). Tall fescue, K31 tall fescue, dwarf fescue, or annual (Italian) ryegrass should NOT be used for spot-seeding a bluegrass lawn.<br \/>\nIn a tall fescue lawn:Spot seed with turf-type tall fescue (sometimes called dwarf fescue). Perennial ryegrass can also be used, but it has a finer texture and the newly seeded spots will look different from the rest of the lawn. Do NOT use K31 fescue or annual (Italian) ryegrass for spot-seeding a tall fescue lawn.<br \/>\nFine fescue lawns: Seed with fine fescue seed. The use of perennial ryegrass or tall fescue is NOT recommended, as the spots will have a different color, texture, and growth rate.<br \/>\nZoysiagrass and bermudagrass lawns: Patch using sod from a sod farm, or by transplanting sod from an inconspicuous area of same the lawn.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>David McDonald&#8217;s guide, <em>Ecologically Sound Lawn Care for the Pacific Northwest<\/em>, has recommendations on the best grass varieties to use in our area:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For conventional lawns west of the Cascade Mountains (the region covered by this report), most turf professionals say that mixtures of turf-type perennial ryegrasses and the fine fescues (such as chewings, creeping red and hard fescue) offer the greatest flexibility and adaptability to local conditions. A mixture of species and varieties will withstand diseases and adapt to various sites much better than a monoculture.<br \/>\n&#8220;In general, ryegrasses like full sun, whereas the fescues do well in sun (and are more drought tolerant) but are also among the most shade-tolerant of Northwest-adapted species. Ryegrass stands up best to heavy wear, much better than fescues, so it is the choice for sports fields. But most ryegrasses have a higher nitrogen requirement than the fescues, and so are is less appropriate for low maintenance turf. Seeding a blend of several species and varieties will allow each to thrive in the lawn area that suits it best.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can I do to repair the unsightly patches left in my lawn by the neighbor&#8217;s dog, which urinates there daily? Should I reseed or patch with sod? &nbsp; First of all, if the dog&#8217;s person cannot encourage it to &#8216;go&#8217; elsewhere, this will be a perpetual issue. That makes me think that it&#8217;s best to take the easiest route, which is to saturate the spots on the lawn as soon as you notice the dog has been there. A&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/lawns-and-dog-urine-damage\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">lawns and dog urine damage<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[985,231],"class_list":["post-3296","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-dogs","keyword-lawns-care-and-maintenance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3296"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}