You may love your dog and your dog will love your lawn, which means that your lawn is about to get the rough end of the deal when your dog wants to spend as much time as possible rolling around out there and digging. You want a picture perfect linear lawn that is green and stripy, but your dog sees it as a playground.
You need to be able to keep both your dog and your lawn happy, and while it's nice to have a picture perfect lawn, sometimes it is about just allowing your dog to get out there and have fun. If you're planning to do your lawn yourself, making sure that you have the right parts to fix your lawn equipment is the first step to a pet-friendly lawn. You don't want it to be overgrown, and you don't want it to be full of weeds or brambles. You want to keep both your dog and your lawn happy, so here's how to make your lawn pet-friendly.
- Choose non-toxic plants. Nobody wants their dog out in the garden only for them to get sick. Marigolds, sunflowers, zinnias and sage are pet friendly plant options and they can be excellent for your dog to have fun in. Non-toxic plants allow your dog to roll around out there and you can feel confident that they're not going to get sick just based on the garden.
- Make sure that you keep it cool. Where possible, add shade with trees or even shady structures. Most dogs love to hang out outside, but they can get very hot outside. If you're living in a hot place, you should make sure that you have water available for your dog and if you're allowed to keep the sprinklers running.
- Use urine rocks. You may not have seen these before, but you can buy rocks that you put in your pets water so when they are drinking their urine will not stain your garden or your grass. You can use a hose or a watering can to wash out your pets urine, but you can always patch lawn treatments too. And if you see urine spots, using non ionic surfactants will help to condition the soil and nutrients to revive the grass.
- Repair any lawn damage. Grass can fill in the dead or dying spots in the garden, but this usually happens during the warm season when the lawn is starting to break down. If you have severe damage in your lawn, resodding might be necessary. There are plenty of options for redoing your lawn, so don't miss out by having a patchy one if you can avoid it.
- Keep the lawn long. Longer grass is often stronger and more resilient. You can hide and blend in any discoloured spots while they're trying to heal too. So set your mower to the highest setting and give it a high haircut. Your lawn is going to look so much better if you trim it but keep it lengthy so that your dog can still play.