Yellow Grass And Dog Urine

We have a 1 year old german shepard, and when it goes to the bathroom outside, it turns the grass yellow. How can we prevent this? Is it something he can eat or drink to help? It is ruining our yard! (Kristen Soares - Texas)

Dog urine causes dead patches and lawn burn due to the high levels of nitrogen that is released into the lawn through the urine. Every dog owner who has a yard will be familiar with this.

Nitrogen is actually a lawn-growth stimulant that encourages lawn growth when properly applied as a fertilizer. The problem presented with dog urine is that since most dogs urinate in one spot, then will introduce large amounts of liquid nitrogen (urine) to that spot thereby causing a burning reaction and even a dead-spot in the lawn. Often the effected spot will show vigorous grass growth around the spot due to the nitrogen levels that stimulate growth around the edges. Since larger dogs usually produce larger amounts of urine, there is a direct correlation between the size of your dog and the changes of developing lawn burn and dead spots in your lawn through urination.

The best way to help prevent urine burns and dead spots is to saturate the spots with water. This will allow the excess nitrogen to leach or dilute through the lawn and reducing the concentration in one area. It is usually best to treat the areas up to 9 hours after urination and to apply at least three-time the amount of water to urine to the area. Dead spots can also be reseeded. Most lawn grasses will eventually repair itself to cover the dead areas.

Among the many reputed cures for dead-spots from dog urine are also to apply sugar to the affected areas, with the thinking that this somehow balances out the nitrogen overkill. If you have old unfinished bottles of soda this can be liberally applied to these areas, or apply a handful of corn syrup. This particular remedy is often reported to work!

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