Lawn care for pet owners: urine patches, wear and safe products

A dog and a good lawn can live together. It takes a few changes: fixing urine spots quickly, choosing grass that can take the wear, giving the dog somewhere of its own, and being careful with lawn products, baits and mulch.

This guide covers the common lawn problems pets cause, how to fix and prevent them, and how to keep pets safe while you look after the lawn.

Urine patches

Why they happen

Washington State University Extension explains that dog urine contains concentrated nitrogen and salts. In one spot, that’s too much for the grass, and it burns, much like spilt fertiliser. The result is a round brown patch, often ringed by darker green grass where the urine was diluted enough to act as a feed.

The damage is worse when the soil is dry, because there’s less water to dilute the urine. That’s why patches often appear in summer.

Fixing them

1. Water the spot deeply soon after your dog goes, if you see it happen. Diluting the urine is the single most effective fix.
2. Check the patch is urine. Tug the grass. If it’s firmly rooted, the patch is likely urine or dry soil. If it lifts like carpet, look for lawn grubs.
3. Wait for recovery. Grasses that spread by runners, such as buffalo, couch, kikuyu and zoysia, often fill small patches during the growing season once the urine has washed through.
4. Repair larger dead patches. Flush the spot with plenty of water, loosen the soil, and patch with turf of the same grass, or topdress and let the runners grow over.

Preventing them

• Keep the lawn well watered in summer, within your local water rules. Moist soil dilutes urine.
• Make a toilet area. Mulch or gravel in a corner of the yard, trained with rewards, takes the pressure off the lawn.
• Spread the load. If there’s a favourite spot, hose it after each visit or make it part of the toilet area.
• Talk to your vet before changing your dog’s diet or giving supplements to “fix” urine. Many products promise to stop patches; your vet can tell you what’s safe for your dog.

Wear, paths and digging

Fence-line paths

Dogs patrol fences, and their runs wear bare paths along them. Options:

• Accept the path and make it a feature with stepping stones, gravel or mulch.
• Move the fence-line activity with a visual barrier, such as a low hedge planted a little inside the fence.
• Rest the area while it recovers, with temporary fencing.

Mowing and edging with pets around

• Check the lawn before you mow for toys, bones and droppings. A mower can throw small objects hard enough to injure people and pets.
• Keep pets inside while you mow, edge or use a blower.
• Pick up droppings regularly. They smother the grass beneath them and make mowing unpleasant.

Play areas

Where dogs chase balls and wrestle, grass wears faster than it grows. Rotate play areas, move toys and water bowls regularly, and give worn areas time to recover in the growing season.

Digging

Dogs dig out of boredom, heat, to bury things or to chase grubs and insects. A dog that suddenly digs in one spot may be following lawn grubs, so check under the turf. Otherwise, more exercise, a cool place to lie, or a designated digging pit help more than anything you do to the lawn.

Choosing grass for a dog yard

The Turf Growers Association of WA rates the wear and recovery of the main warm-season grasses:

Sun matters as much as wear. A hard-wearing grass in too much shade will still thin out. Use the Grass Type Picker to compare options for your climate, sun and wear.

Using lawn products safely around pets

Read the label first

Every weed killer, insecticide and many fertilisers have directions about keeping people and pets off treated areas. Follow them exactly. If the label says to keep pets off until the spray has dried, or until granules have been watered in, keep them inside or in another part of the yard until then.

Plan treatments around your pets

• Treat part of the yard at a time so the dog still has somewhere to go.
• Spot spray weeds instead of treating the whole lawn, where you can.
• Treat when the dog can be kept away, such as on a day they’re at daycare or inside.
• Pick up toys, bowls and bedding before you start.
• Sweep granules off paths and hard surfaces where dogs walk and lick their paws.

Fertilisers

RSPCA Australia notes that fertilisers generally cause gut irritation if eaten, but some contain toxic insecticides. Store bags sealed and out of reach, water fertiliser in as the label directs, and keep pets off until the label says it’s safe.

Weed and insect control

Keep pets off the treated area for as long as the label says. If your pet walks on a freshly treated lawn, wash its paws with water and check the label’s first aid directions. If you’re worried, call your vet or the Animal Poisons Helpline.

Garden dangers to watch for

RSPCA Australia’s list of garden dangers for pets includes several that lawn owners commonly have on hand:

• Snail and slug baits. Baits containing metaldehyde can be fatal even in small amounts, and symptoms can start within an hour. Dogs often find baits tasty. Use alternatives, or keep baits where pets can’t possibly reach them.
• Rodent baits. Many cause internal bleeding. Keep them in bait stations where pets can’t reach, and pick up dead rodents.
• Cocoa mulch, which contains a substance similar to caffeine and can poison dogs.
• Fruit stones and seeds, which can cause blockages.
• Toxic plants, such as lilies for cats.

Prickles and pests

• Bindii. Its prickly burrs form in spring and hurt paws. Deal with bindii in winter, while plants are small, by digging them out or spot spraying with a product whose label lists bindii and your grass.
• Lawn grubs. Dogs may dig at a lawn with grubs. Confirm grubs before treating, and keep pets off for as long as the insecticide label says.
• Fairy ring mushrooms. Remove mushrooms from the lawn so pets can’t eat them.

New lawns and pets

New turf and seed are especially vulnerable. Paws tear up turf that hasn’t rooted, and urine on new turf burns quickly.

• Fence off new turf with temporary fencing until it has rooted and been mown a couple of times.
• Give the dog another area for the toilet and play while the lawn establishes.
• Water new turf as the watering new turf guide describes; well-watered turf also dilutes any urine that does land on it.
• Check product labels before using any starter fertiliser or herbicide on a new lawn the dog will use.

A pet-friendly lawn year

Storage

Lock lawn chemicals, fertilisers and baits away, in their original containers, out of reach of pets and children. Never leave products, measuring jugs or spray mix on the lawn or the back step while you take a break. See the storing and disposing of lawn chemicals guide.

Greywater and pets

If you use greywater on the garden, keep it away from areas pets can reach. Western Australia’s code of practice, for example, says not to apply greywater where pets, children or people with low immunity can readily reach it. Untreated greywater is generally required to go through sub-surface irrigation.

If your pet is poisoned

• Call your vet or the Animal Poisons Helpline on 1300 869 738 straight away, even if your pet seems well. Symptoms of some poisons start quickly.
• Have the product label or packaging with you.
• Don’t make your pet vomit unless a vet tells you to.
• Keep the number in your phone and on the inside of the chemical cupboard door.

Common mistakes

• Letting the dog onto a freshly treated lawn before the label says it’s safe.
• Leaving snail bait where a dog can reach it.
• Feeding a urine-burnt patch, which adds more nitrogen to an area that already has too much.
• Re-turfing urine patches without changing the watering or toilet habits that caused them.
• Choosing a grass for wear without checking it suits your sun.

Log it

Log treatments in your Lawn Journal with the time and the label’s re-entry directions, so everyone in the house knows when the dog can go back out. Note where urine patches and worn paths appear, too: over a season, you’ll see where a toilet area or path would help.