Effective Dog Repellant for Grass?

[mystang52]

I'm now up to 4 different dog owners - that I know of - that have let their dogs urinate on my curb's grass strip in front of my house. Each time, I've genuinely told them nicely to please have their dogs do their business elsewhere. And each time, the response has been something to the effect of "the dog likes to do it here." No apology, no promise to not do it again. And then my tone gets firmer, and they still have an attitude of "I-did-no-wrong" and "my dog has a right to go here."
I live in a typical suburban town, one house relatively close to the next. None of these 4 people live near me, so clearly they prefer to let their dogs p*ss and shift somewhere other than their property, or their immediate neighbors'.
I'm Googling grass repellants that dogs won't like, won't hurt my grass, and won't harm the dogs. From what I could research, commercial products are ineffective. It appears Cayenne powder may work.
Does anyone have any constructive suggestions? PLEASE, do not turn this into a dog-loving/hating thread.

 

[Aerides]

I'm Googling grass repellants that dogs won't like, won't hurt my grass, and won't harm the dogs. From what I could research, commercial products are ineffective. It appears Cayenne powder may work.

Are you experiencing damage now? I have a corner lot, and dogs pee on it, particularly the swale area, daily. I can't say I can see where or if I have any issue with the result.

I can't imagine that a dog could be stopped from doing it if they were passing my house on their walk. (But if I were a dog owner/walker, I'd avoid your house if you asked.)

 

[mystang52]

Are you experiencing damage now? I have a corner lot, and dogs pee on it, particularly the swale area, daily. I can't say I can see where or if I have any issue with the result.

I can't imagine that a dog could be stopped from doing it if they were passing my house on their walk. (But if I were a dog owner/walker, I'd avoid your house if you asked.)

Yes, I have 3 round brown spots. Which, by the way, I've pointed out to the dog owners as the reason for my request.

 

[COcheesehead]

You can try posting a small sign. Our neighbors have one that says “be respectful”. In the end it’s not the dog, it’s the owner.

 

[latexman]

In the end it’s not the dog, it’s the owner.

I think it's somewhat cruel to the dog to deny natures call. I know I don't like to be disturbed once flow has been initiated.

That said, we have one yard in the hood with "Do Not Poo" signs. I guess they are okay with "urea treatments". Here's where a good plan pays off.
Before I walk Serenity by their place I make sure we have walked enough so the need isn't urgent at their yard. And, we do have to go by their yard, it's on the most direct way to the Dog Park and Doggie bag/trash stations.

 

[Whisper66]

Dog lover here. To keep dogs out of my wife’s gardens, I use my out of date pepper spray. A shot of that on the ground keeps the dogs away for several days or until the next rain.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

There are some interesting suggestions from a Google search. Since the dogs often re-use sites that have been used previously (that's why they sniff first), I would try, in this order, the following

1- coffee grounds
2- vinegar, citrus, or deterring sprays
3- motion sensing ultrasonic deterrent .
4. motion sensing sprinkler

 

[Gumby]

Are you experiencing damage now? I have a corner lot, and dogs pee on it, particularly the swale area, daily. I can't say I can see where or if I have any issue with the result.

I can't imagine that a dog could be stopped from doing it if they were passing my house on their walk. (But if I were a dog owner/walker, I'd avoid your house if you asked.)

My neighborhood is favored for dog walking, so dogs often pee on the snow shelf (that's what they call the grass between the sidewalk and the road around here) in front of my house. I also haven't noticed any ill effects from it, and I wouldn't care if there were.

 

[youbet]

Does anyone have any constructive suggestions?

We have similar dog pee/poop confrontations in our suburban neighborhood too. Lotsa dogs, not much open area and some owners who are obsessed with not having to clean up after their pooch or having brown spots at their own home.

A long time neighbor across the street and one house down has a couple of small signs saying "Caution - Lawn Chemically Treated." (I don't think there are any chemicals involved beyond routine fertilizer and weed control products.) But the neighbor had the police knock on his door one afternoon to investigate the situation because of a complaint! Apparently some dog walker was paying attention to the signs and didn't want to take a chance. So, maybe the sign strategy is helping a bit.

Generally the dog owners in our neighborhood are pretty good about picking up their dog's poop and try to keep doggie on the street side of the sidewalk and off our front lawn.

 

[youbet]

dogs often pee on the snow shelf (that's what they call the grass between the sidewalk and the road around here)

Here in the Chicago suburbs the area between the sidewalk and street is called the "parkway." It's not the homeowners's property but the homeowner is responsible for maintaining it.

 

[Sojourner]

I'm Googling grass repellants that dogs won't like, won't hurt my grass, and won't harm the dogs. From what I could research, commercial products are ineffective. It appears Cayenne powder may work.
Does anyone have any constructive suggestions? PLEASE, do not turn this into a dog-loving/hating thread.

Hmm, tough one. I would think that if there were any chemical or enzymatic repellents that were effective, they would be available commercially or would be widely known/recommended online. The fact that there aren't probably doesn't bode well for you. Dogs are powerfully drawn to any and all spots—on lawns and anything else—where other dogs have urinated, and I doubt there is much that can be done to thwart that strong instinct. Cayenne powder would have to be applied in large amounts and reapplied frequently, IMHO, to have even a chance of keeping dogs away. I have heard about something called a "pet-safe bitter apple spray" that you might also want to look into. Good luck!

 

[braumeister]

I don't know if it would work with dogs, but when we lived in a more rural area I bought some mountain lion urine (readily available online) and it did a good job keeping the deer out of the garden. Had to apply it every few weeks, but it worked well.

 

[statsman]

Be grateful it's only your grass. The neighbor a few houses down the street has her dog urinate over the top of our next door neighbor's low-growing Salvia. I have one newly-planted mid-sized Salvia nearest the sidewalk that has some brown spotting on it's leaves. I have a hunch why it's happening when none of the other nine Salvia plantings in that planting area have this issue.

 

[razztazz]

I'm sure glad I didn't spend big money on a nice house in a normal middle (no)class neighborhood. I can get neighbors like some of the people here have in a slum or a trailer park. Just where do you have to go and how much money does a workin' person have to spend to have a decent social or community environment?

Everywhere you go you're peace and quality of life is up to the kindness of strangers. I had a GF once. Back in the 90's lived in a neighborhood in Minneapolis (Already a pricey town) where all the houses were in the half o' mill and higher range. Same problems. Noise, dogs allowed to maraud at will, cars blocking YOUR driveway, and more noise. And don't ask anybody to turn it down or keep the dog off the lawn. It won't work and you just make enemies who know where you live.

 

[folivier]

Dogs pee for 2 reasons. One because they gotta go. And two to spread their scent, mark their territory. So if one dog has peed and another one passes by they have to pee there to cover that scent.
So possibly look for something that will cover or eliminate that scent?

 

[latexman]

I don't know if it would work with dogs, but when we lived in a more rural area I bought some mountain lion urine (readily available online) and it did a good job keeping the deer out of the garden. Had to apply it every few weeks, but it worked well.

Wait, what? OP should spread mountain lion urine on his grass to prevent dogs from urinating on his grass.

 

[Kork13]

There are some interesting suggestions from a Google search. Since the dogs often re-use sites that have been used previously (that's why they sniff first), I would try, in this order, the following

3- motion sensing ultrasonic deterrent .
4. motion sensing sprinkler

These options made me (1) laugh -- sprinkler blastsanyone/anything that goes by?? thank you (2) think about it as an engineer. The ultrasonic thing, if it exists, is actually a smart option.

Another fun idea would be to use a moisture sensing circuit, laid in the section of grass the dogs like to frequent, then rigging it to some form of active deterrent. A lound noise (siren, for example) could work for both the dog & it's human. A citronella (or other mild irritant) spraying mechanism could also do it. Anything of the sort. Eventually, Pavlovian conditioning will take over & resolve the problem.

Also just consider WHY it's happening. I assume that this isn't a single person/dog, but rather a string of random people. Why would a bunch of dogs all choose to use the same patch of grass? Smell -- goes back to the standard marking of 'territory'. As one dog urinates there, others will smell it & want to contest ownership of the area. It builds upon itself, until your front lawn becomes every dog's favorite patch of grass. This is why it works to use vinegar (or other dissolving agents to expunge the urine's smell), or masking agents (to cover the smell of other dogs). In the extreme, you could tear out the affected & surrounding grass, treat the soil beneath, and re-sod.

But honestly .... I still love the sprinkler idea.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

There are some interesting suggestions from a Google search. Since the dogs often re-use sites that have been used previously (that's why they sniff first), I would try, in this order, the following

1- coffee grounds
2- vinegar, citrus, or deterring sprays
3- motion sensing ultrasonic deterrent .
4. motion sensing sprinkler

I was taking advantage of the free coffee grounds from a SBUX near my w*rk (back when I went into the office) because it's a good fertilizer, and the grass right up against the street was turning brown. I assumed it was from road salt in the winter and parking on it occasionally when we were expecting a visitor, but it could have been dogs. I had no idea it would repel them, but mystang, if you make yourself coffee in the morning you could put it out on the brown spots, ostensibly to encourage growth rather than discourage micturation.

 

[folivier]

Sprinkler does work. Years ago our lab got into the habit of barking at night. All night. Her pen was about 150 ft from our house and closer to the back neighbors. Finally I ran a water hose from the faucet just outside of our bedroom door to a sprinkler I hung on the fence. Only took 2 nights and she learned that every time she barked it would rain.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Sprinkler does work. Years ago our lab got into the habit of barking at night. All night. Her pen was about 150 ft from our house and closer to the back neighbors. Finally I ran a water hose from the faucet just outside of our bedroom door to a sprinkler I hung on the fence. Only took 2 nights and she learned that every time she barked it would rain.

Unless you own a ranch or farm and your dog is working guarding the sheep she is lonely and that’s why she’s barking. The 1950’s are calling where this type of thing was acceptable before people realized that dogs are pack animals.

I didn’t care if dogs peed on my lawn when I had a house but many do so I won’t let my dogs go anywhere but public places. Female pee does kill grass.

 

[Sunset]

The grass turns brown due to the high fertilizing concentration in the dogs pee. So watering the grass more frequently would reduce the dead spots.

I like the chemical signs treatment, would be most effective if put out for 4 days, then remove them, and then put them back out again, and repeat.

I personally would try the cayenne pepper or even ordinary pepper method, whichever is cheaper in bulk.

Same thing happens to us, but for me, life is too short to worry about dog pee, but dog pooh is something I do dislike since I mow the grass

 

[Trailwalker]

Here in the Chicago suburbs the area between the sidewalk and street is called the "parkway." It's not the homeowners's property but the homeowner is responsible for maintaining it.

That's the case in Wisconsin also. The public road right-of-way extends into front yards whether there is sidewalk or not.

I do a lot of dog walking. If there's a sign on the yard, i will use the leash to prevent urination as a courtesy. Sometimes, a dog just has to go or unexpectedly "marks", and and you can't really stop that mid-stream.

 

[MRG]

Another vote to water the area to reduce the burning of the grass. I'm not sure what else you could reasonably do.

I don't worry about it where we are. Dogs are going to pee. We sometimes have bears that sh!t in our yard, and the HOA won't do anything. [emoji4]

 

[38Chevy454]

If I'm lucky a dog will pee on a dandelion and kill it! Dandelions are a given in Ohio springtime. Living out in the country, dogs being walked pee on the grass along the road. Not something I am concerned with. I agree it seems female dog pee burns the grasd more.

 

[jazz4cash]

There are some interesting suggestions from a Google search. Since the dogs often re-use sites that have been used previously (that's why they sniff first), I would try, in this order, the following



1- coffee grounds

2- vinegar, citrus, or deterring sprays

3- motion sensing ultrasonic deterrent .

4. motion sensing sprinkler

Vinegar and citrus will kill the grass completely.

It’s interesting to learn what the strip of grass between the sidewalk and curb is called in different parts of the country. Here in the DC area we usually call it the tree box.