Lawn Damage Prevention: Remove Dog Waste
Punctual poop pick-up is the best way to avoid a proliferation of patches on your lawn, but it’s not the only way to prevent poop-related grass problems. If your pet’s waste has caused serious damage to your lawn, consider hiring a lawn care service near you to help you repair it.
Scoop the Poop
We get it. No one relishes picking up after their dog, but doing a daily poop inspection is the best form of defense for your lawn. And these days, there are plenty of hands-off poop-scooping tools to use if you aren’t a fan of the customary bag.
Train Your Dog Where to Potty
Setting up a “poop zone” in your yard means training your dog to do their business in a gravel, paved, or artificial grass area where your dog’s waste won’t cause damage. This method requires patience, perseverance, and plenty of tasty treat rewards.
Take Your Dog For a Walk Instead
Before letting your dog out into the yard, you could take them for a walk around the block to do their business and pick up the poop while they are on the leash. That way, there’s less chance of them pooping on your lawn when your back is turned.
Hire a Poop Picker-Upper
If daily poop pick-up is something you dread and you live in an urban area, you might be able to hire someone to do the duty for you. Look for a professional pet waste removal company that disposes of the poop in an environmentally friendly and approved manner. Failing that, you might find a house cleaning company near you that offers this as part of their services.
Can Composting Your Dog’s Poop Benefit Your Yard?
There are many easy ways to pick up your dog’s poop. And after gathering it up, instead of sending it to a landfill, why not create a garden-friendly, beneficial compost out of it? Once it has broken down, it won’t emit a putrid stench, and, providing your dog is up to date with treatments, you don’t have to worry about parasites.
Following studies, the USDA created an in-depth guide for safely composting dog waste. It makes a fantastic fertilizer for your lawn and non-edible, ornamental plants in your garden.
Whether you add the poop to a traditional composting pile, vermicompost in a small bin filled with worms, or opt for the on-trend Bokashi method (using anaerobic, oxygen-depriving techniques), there’s a compositing technique to suit everyone.
Is Dog Urine Harmful to Grass?
It’s true that if your lawn doesn’t get enough nitrogen, it can turn yellow and suffer from spotting diseases like anthracnose. But, too much nitrogen also leads to brown patches—even on the best types of grass for dogs. This is why you’ll often see these ugly dead spots on your lawn when your pooch pees on it.
Your pup’s urine contains high volumes of nitrogen, and the concentrated stream directed right at your prized lawn invariably burns the area. You might even see a more lush ring of green around the scorched patch, where the more diluted nitrogen leaches out, having a more desired effect.
Thankfully, there are ways to stop dog urine from killing your grass. These include regularly hosing the pee away, training your dog to go in a particular spot, and picking urine-hardy grass.