Dog Urine Killing Grass

[golden]

I tried this on another forum but didn't get any responses from people who actually knew the answer.

I have two female dogs (yeah, I know, I can't use the real word or it will get bleeped out). We are at a campground for four months. We have a site that has probably 5,000 sq ft or more of bluegrass.

I have been giving my dogs a product at home called G-Whiz I put it in their water bowl) and while it helps a little on Bermuda, it doesn't do anything on bluegrass so I'm ruining the grass all around my site, even though I move the x-pen every other day.

Short of immediately flushing out the grass with water after the dogs urinate, does anyone know of a product that I can use?

[Jack R]

Depends

[TXiceman]

HERE is a lot of reading on the subject. I would be very careful and talk to my vet before giving the dog anything to "sweeten" the urine..

ken

[emeryts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack R Depends

Depends on what?

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack R Depends

Since Depends are for humans, what size do you wear?

I had thought that all of the smart butt posters were on the "other" forum. Obviously I was wrong.

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXiceman HERE is a lot of reading on the subject. I would be very careful and talk to my vet before giving the dog anything to "sweeten" the urine.. ken

Thanks for the link. I've seen most of them before and, of course, all want to sell me a product or type of grass. None of them will work as far as I can determine. I guess I'll have to live with the problem until we are kicked out of here.

[JimM68]

my experience has been it's what you feed them that determines the PH of thier "ouput" Some dog foods will kill grass, others will fertilize it.

We feed our dog's science diet.
It's the most neutral dog food I've seen, it neither kills nor overly fertilizes the grass.

[Jack R]

Golden, since you didn't like my attempt at humor, I guess I should give you a better answer. Go to the JUST ASK web site, and ask a veterinian what might help.

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68 my experience has been it's what you feed them that determines the PH of thier "ouput" Some dog foods will kill grass, others will fertilize it. We feed our dog's science diet. It's the most neutral dog food I've seen, it neither kills nor overly fertilizes the grass.

What kind of dogs do you have and are they females?

Just for a point of background info, I bred, raised and showed Shelties for 20 years, so I'm very familiar with canines. However, in the places that we showed dogs, we rarely had grass, so no problem. We lived in the country most of our adult lives, had large fenced areas for the dogs to play and never experienced a grass burning problem there either. This is fairly new to me and I'm stumped.

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack R Golden, since you didn't like my attempt at humor, I guess I should give you a better answer. Go to the JUST ASK web site, and ask a veterinian what might help.

Jack - sorry that I was short with you. If I hadn't seen the same answer several other times, I probably would have laughed. I've asked my, and other vets, and we all are unable to come up with a practical answer.

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68 my experience has been it's what you feed them that determines the PH of thier "ouput" Some dog foods will kill grass, others will fertilize it. We feed our dog's science diet. It's the most neutral dog food I've seen, it neither kills nor overly fertilizes the grass.

I recommend that you "Google" dry dog food ratings and see what you get for Science Diet. For years it has not had good ratings. You will almost always find it in vet offices, which most people would think is a recommendation.

This is a subject (dog food) that will evoke a diverse number of opinions. However, if you will do your research and discover the importance of ingredients and where they are placed on the ingredient listing on the bag,
you will find that there are several brands that are consistently rated at the top (mine isn't one of them, however), you may be surprised. I would suggest that the dog layperson has not heard of the huge majority of them.

[Jack R]

We have a dalmation/whippet mix (female) and a little male Westie. My wife thinks your dog might be an older dog. Older female dogs increase the acid in their urine. Maybe??

[golden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack R We have a dalmation/whippet mix (female) and a little male Westie. My wife thinks your dog might be an older dog. Older female dogs increase the acid in their urine. Maybe??

Nope, both are young (4 and 3). I'm not sure that both are killing the grass as one is a big dog (Golden) and the other is a Sheltie. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Golden that was causing the problem. The bigger the dog, the more the output, the bigger the problem. However, separating the two at this time is impractical.

[JimM68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golden What kind of dogs do you have and are they females? Just for a point of background info, I bred, raised and showed Shelties for 20 years, so I'm very familiar with canines. However, in the places that we showed dogs, we rarely had grass, so no problem. We lived in the country most of our adult lives, had large fenced areas for the dogs to play and never experienced a grass burning problem there either. This is fairly new to me and I'm stumped.

Ben was a male norwegeian elkhound, he died just a few months ago at 13.
Gerry is a female sheltie, she is 9 years old now.

For the first few years, we tried a lot of different dogfoods, some made the grass grow real tall, others killed it dead. Then Gerry was diagnosed with some sort of skin disease. The vet prescribed a steriod, recommended science diet food, and said the disease was incurable and would eventually kill her. She would break out in these "bumps" mostly around her eyes and ears, but also on her back and hips. It was very painful for her.

We switched to the science diet "sensitive skin" formula. After a year or 2 the sores went away, as did her obvious pain. After five years or so, we forgot to renew the steriod, and found that she didn't break out.
That was 3 years ago. She is still perfectly fine and healthy. She's still fed science diet sensitive skin formula.

And just as an added bonus, my acre of kentucky blue grows smooth, green, and even.

Obviously one person's experience does not "The bible" write, but when I asked the vet about it, he said it had to do with the PH and chemical content of the dog's urine.