Between potty time and play time, dogs can be especially hard on grass. While no grass variety is completely 100% resistant to the ravages of Rover, there are a few types of grasses that recover quickly from urine burning or digging. Grasses that use a stolon or rhizome to spread tend to be those that repair themselves faster than those types that require reseeding. These include Hybrid Bermuda and St. Augustine and are called “Warm Season grasses.”
Brown Patches
If you notice brown spots on the lawn, try to determine if these are places where your dog urinates frequently. There tends to be a higher concentration of nitrogen in urine that can burn spots on the lawn, similar to that of overfertilizing. You can mitigate this type of damage by watering the area to dilute the urine concentration as quickly as possible. Planting Warm Season grasses will also help as these can recover from these burns more quickly.
Wear and Tear
Homes with dogs that spend a lot of time outside often see worn patches in their grass from dogs running, playing, and digging in the grass. Some of this cannot be avoided but of all the grass types, Warm Season grasses will repair holes and divots will replace themselves very rapidly. If you have smaller dogs in an average size lawn, this is likely not a big problem. However, large or medium dogs in a small or medium sized lawn will yield noticeable turf damage as they run and play regularly.
An Assortment of Grasses
A-G Sod offers a number of Warm Season grass varieties. Our most popular are Tifway™ and Celebration® Bermuda varieties. Both these varieties spread and grow quickly and go dormant in the winter. If winter dormancy is a problem, you can “overseed” the Bermuda with Ryegrass in the winter. This is what they do with all those beautiful golf courses in the Palm Springs area. Hybrid Bermuda and St. Augustine also require 25% to 50% less water than the typical California lawn consisting of Fescue turfgrass.
We have a grass variety to suit every need. Contact one of our five farms today to discuss which type of sod is best suited for your situation.
