How to treat grass to prevent brown spots

Question

We have 3 small dogs and live in a rental home. We recently built a dog run on the side of our house, to keep the dogs safe when they go out to pee at night and in the morning. We have coyotes in the neighborhood and several neighborhood pets have become victims. Unfortunately, this means that all their pee is being concentrated in a relatively small area (about 10x6 feet). The grass is all dying due to the concentrated urine.

What's the best method to keep the grass alive? Is there anything i can put on the grass that's not harmful to the dogs that will prevent it from dying? The grass gets a bit of water from the sprinkler system but it doesn't seem to be enough. Unfortunately, the area where the dog run is located is very far from the nearest hose. If more water to dilute the urine is really the only method then I suppose I can invest in a long hose.

Answer 1

There are few ways to address this. None of them include adding anything other then water to the grass.

1. You can alter the urine of your dogs, there are some food additives, but there are unresolved health concerns. The best choice here is to increase water intake. If the dogs already have as much water as they want, not much you can do.

2. Planting different kinds of grass, in this small area on a rental property that could be a problem. If you can plant a more tolerant grass you might need to move the pen to allow the new grass time to establish itself.

3. Replace the grass with gravel, stone, concrete, etc. on rental property this is potentially problematic.

4. Lastly, get a longer hose and water the area well after each dog visit to the area. You might be able to simplify this with a sprinkler on a timmer. You would want to start it as soon as possible after the dogs pee.