How to stop dog pee ruining your lawn

Many dog owners are worried about dog pee ruining their lawn. Lets look at the problem and possible solutions.

What is it about dog pee that is ruining your lawn?

A common belief is that the urine of bitches burns your lawn and that the urine dogs fertilises it. On the surface this is a reasonable explanation based on anecdotal evidence.

However, there is another explanation…Nitrogen!

In low concentration the nitrogen in your dog’s urine fertilises the grass encouraging growth but in high concentration it burns it.

The girls tend to squat and so the urine is concentrated in one area.

The boys like to spray it around, covering a greater area.

What about pH levels?

This explanation seems to be based on the desire to sell you products that alter your dog’s acid / alkaline levels. This is NOT something you want to do without first taking veterinary advice since you could easily be damaging your dog’s health!

The solution is dilution!

If your lawn is important to you then go buy a watering can and use it as soon as possible after your dog has used the area to eliminate.

The other option is training

Teach your dog to eliminate in a specific part of your garden.  This is best achieved by taking him on lead to a specific area of the garden.  You could also use a different substrate e.g. bark chipping and train your dog to just go on there.

What about a pee post?

 
 
 

This is a logical idea for the boys who like to raise their leg. It should also retain the dog’s odour encouraging him back. A quick look at reviews on Amazonsuggest it does not work, however I wonder how many owners put the effort in to take their dog on lead over to the post to pee?


Mike Garner is a dog trainer and behaviourist at Rainbow Dogs in Brighton & Hove, Sussex.

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