Has your landscape ‚”gone to the dogs”? Fear not: there’s a way you – and your dogs – can live happily in the same yard.
All it takes is a little understanding about canine behavior and a willingness to tweak your landscape design.
Digging Problems:
The answer to digging problems will depend on why the dog digs, which is why it is helpful to do some detective work while your dog is in the yard.
- Digging to get at food. Digging to get at something that smells good can be easily addressed by providing a ‚”digging area” in the yard, and fill it with sand, soft soil and mulch for easy digging – and fill the spot with bones and treats.
- Anxiety driven or heat driven digging. This can be resolved by providing more shade with trees, or a dog house where the animal feels safe. You can also add a pond or baby pool to keep the dog cool, hydrated and entertained.
- Digging near fence posts or along a foundation. Add a structure that dogs don’t like to dig in – such as a combination of lawn fabric, chicken wire, and topped with ornamental rocks. Rocks around young plants also provide protection.
Treating ‚”Dog Spots”
While you can go outside every so often and clean up the feces and prevent long term problems, urine is another story since it is highly concentrated.
The high nitrogen in dog urine causes a condition called ‚”dog spot” – an initial lush green growth from the fertilizer effect followed by dieback causing unsightly yellow spots on the lawn.
If the dog relieves itself in the yard, there are several ways to protect your lawn:
- Train the dog to eliminate in one area. Teach the dog to “go” in one area of the yard, which can be pleasingly designed for the dog. Design it with pea gravel or mulch – add a marking post like a boulder or even a fake fire hydrant.
- Dilute the dog’s food. This will lower the urine concentration. Moisten dry food with water. You can also use Yucca schidigera supplements (available in health food stores) bind with ammonia in the urine to make it less acidic and harmful to the lawn.
- Plant landscape with ‚”dog spot” resistant grasses. Perennial ryegrass, often used to repair athletic turf, is quick to germinate, very wear-tolerant, and also shows more resistance to “dog spot” than bluegrass or Bermuda grass. Adding clover to the lawn blend adds nitrogen to the lawn, and is also wear-tolerant.
- Water the spots. The ‚”dog spots” can be eliminated by watering the spots after the dog has urinated, or after the feces has been cleaned up.
- Designate Dog Areas. Don’t let the dog have the entire run of the yard. Designate an area for elimination. But this area doesn’t have to be an unsightly prison-like concrete area. It can be designed to be a pleasant small side yard with a combination of tough plants, peastone or mulch for easy clean up. You can also fence out the dog from areas of the yard that are off limits – such as a perennial flower bed or herb garden with an attractive fence. Wire cages around delicate trees and shrubs will prevent urine from reaching roots and trucks and damaging the plant.
- Take Your Dog for a Walk. Of course, when all else fails, there is always the old fashioned back up plan: Walking the dog on a leash in the neighborhood. It’s good exercise – for both you and your dog.
By using these techniques, you will be able to keep your landscape dog-friendly, as well as human-friendly.