Males tend to urinate in smaller amounts scattered over several locations or against upright structures or foliage. The center of the dog spot dies because of toxic levels of nitrogen, but each spot gets an outside ring of deeper green because the nitrogen concentration around the perimeter is diluted enough to have a fertilizer effect.įemale dogs tend to cause more dog spots than males because they squat and concentrate more urine in a small spot. The same thing would happen if you spilled a commercial fertilizer in a small area. The spots form because when a dog urinates, the high-nitrogen liquid is concentrated in a small spot, which “burns” the grass plants. Since dogs are carnivores, they consume relatively high amounts of protein, which translates to high urea (nitrogen) content in the urine. Urine consists mainly of water and urea, a form of nitrogen, which results from the metabolism of protein. The real culprit is the high nitrogen concentration in the urine that causes the brown spot. it is NOT the pH of the urine that kills the grass. Dog urine has a pH between 6.0 and 8.0, depending on the dog’s diet and health. Turf grasses actually prefer a slightly acidic pH, but can tolerate a wide range – 5.5 to 7.5 or higher and still do well. You will sometimes hear that it is the acidic pH of the dog’s urine that kills the grass and that you should feed your dog tomato juice or cider vinegar to adjust the pH of the urine. That’s where the misinformation comes in. Fixing those spots is one issue, but we’re all interested in preventing those spots from occurring in the first place. In spring, those spots might be quite large because dogs tend to urinate in the same area all winter. One topic which often brings out bad advice is dog spots in the lawn.įor those of us who share our landscapes with dogs, we regularly have to deal with small brown spots caused by urine. Even so-called “experts” on television sometimes give questionable advice based on word-of-mouth information. The gardening world is full of myths and traditions, some of which work and can be explained scientifically and some of which can’t. Courtesy of Diana Alfuth, Horticulture Educator, Pierce County UW Extension
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