Anyone have any tips for keeping a lawn nice and green with dogs?? I'm a first time home buyer and I would like to keep the backyard nice, and not have little yellow spots in all of Jake and Allie's #1 areas!! I was thinking of making a little area by the fence where we could train them to go... maybe with little rocks or something over there? Any other suggestions... or what NOT to do? Thanks!

((PS... I'm sorry... I know this doesn't have anything to do with my dogs and my E.. but the next time I have the dogs in the E I'll take some pictures!)) =o)

Gravel area---runs the possibility of too much doggy odor depending on how big your dogs are.

Dogs and lawns are a big challenge. I have the same problem.

The answer is to not let your dog on your lawn. Particuarly if it's a large dog - small ones may not be such a problem - or a small lawn. Sorry!

My husband is determined to have a 'bowling green' for a lawn despite the fact that we have two large dogs who use the lawn for potty & play (and don't use the gravel area consistently). Every year we end up fencing off the grass, re-seeding, and the dogs are quarantined to the deck & gravel - and the leash - for 4+ months. I end up doing an extrordinary amount of walking during these months. (They are awaiting todays outing at my feet as I type).

It will look great for the first month or so, but wear patterns will trample down new paths, playing tears up new areas, and potty burns out new spots (though we did do a 'hose down the pee' campaign for a while last year which seemed to slow down the burns).

I think he now knows the lawn won't be what he wants, but we are still doing this to keep the amount of mud brought in to the house at a low.

Don't bother with much landscaping either...

But enjoy and love your dog!

I guess I got lucky with Moose. he will run to the gate to let us know he has to go. I guess our training him paid off.
It's a little harder to train if your dogs are past puppyhood.
If you catch them in the act (good luck) you have to reprimand them right away and take them out to another area and let them do their buisiness. Once they do then you have to praise them,lots of praise. After awhile they should get the idea..
Good Luck

PS. ...my lawn is hurting this year from all the grubs.

From www.jerrybaker.com (http://www.jerrybaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=2)the garden expert guy:

Q: My lawn has a lot of doggie damage spots. How do I get rid of them?

A: To repair and help prevent the damage to your lawn, you can use a commercial product such as Dogonit. Or you can overspray the turf with 1 cup of Plant Shampoo per 20 gallons of water, and then apply Gypsum over the area at the recommended rate. One week later, overspray the turf with my “Turf Builder Tonic” - 1 can of beer, 1 cup of ammonia, and 1 can of regular cola in your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer. To help prevent doggie spots in the future, feed your pet all natural GreenUm™ tablets or treats. These help to neutralize the damaging effects of the urine.

He's got some good tips on his site for getting rid of grubs, gophers etc., and while I have not tried his commercial products a lot of his "tonics" work great for plants, lawns, etc.

Cheers!

Only have male dogs!

:)

Because female dogs concentrate their urine in one spot they are far more likely to be the source of the yellow patches.

My male dog will pee on top of where the female one goes to keep his dominance establised... double damage.

With ours, we stared with only one dog, a male, and it wasn't a big deal. Then we got a second one a year later, and we have a very small yard, so there isn't much room to spread the damage around. Two play much harder than one. Our dogs (Std Poodles) are also very high on prey drive, and they pretty much lose all sense of training with prey around. (They each took first place multiple times in their beginner & advanced obedience classes which we repeated several times to keep them and us sharp for their 1st two years). They are fabulous in public and in the house. But put a squirrel, rabbit or snake - or the scent of any of these - in their path and their natural disposition to hunt kicks in. I think this also adds to their tendency to mark certain areas, and make potty-in-one-place more difficult.

If your yard is big enough you might consider making one area into a "dog run" where you can let them potty & run a bit & therefore preserve the majority of your yard. We hope to do this at some point when we re-landscape.

This is our second home but our first real yard. My husband and I are going to fence off an area for the dog. We have decided to put up a fence just tall enough to keep Anton our beagle in it. We don't want "gifts" left in our yard. We will keep the small front lawn off limits to potty time and digging.
This will also give the dog his own area away from our backyard when it is fenced in. This way allowing him a place to be with us and with out us in the same area.

Hope this helps.

With my parents dogs, we used brewers yeast. Sprinkling some on their food did seem to cut down on the yellowing effect on the grass.