Is Dog Poop Killing Your Grass? How To Fix Brown Spots

You water it. You fertilize it. Maybe you even paid someone to lay new sod. And your lawn still looks like a patchwork quilt of brown and yellow spots. If you have a dog, there's a good chance you already know who the culprit is. The good news: this is one of the most fixable lawn problems there is.

Why Dog Poop Is Not Fertilizer

It's one of the most common myths out there. Cow manure feeds pastures, so dog poop must help grass too, right? Not quite. Dogs eat a high-protein diet, so their waste is packed with nitrogen. A little nitrogen helps grass grow. A concentrated pile of it burns the grass underneath and leaves a dead spot that can take weeks to recover.

And it doesn't just break down in a few days. Dog waste can sit in the yard for weeks, smothering the grass while it slowly leaches into the soil. In the Florida heat and humidity, it also draws flies almost immediately.

Poop Spots vs. Pee Spots: How To Tell

Urine spots are usually round, often with a ring of extra-green grass around the edge where the nitrogen was diluted just enough to act like fertilizer. Poop spots tend to be smaller, uneven, and sit right where waste was left. Most dog-owner lawns have both. Fixing the poop part is the easy half.

How To Fix The Brown Spots You Already Have

Step one: remove all the waste, including the old, dried-out piles hiding in the grass (before you mow over hidden dog poop and scatter it across the turf). As UF/IFAS Extension and the UF/IFAS St. Augustinegrass guide note, you can't fix a lawn spot that's still being burned by concentrated nitrogen. Step two: water the damaged areas deeply to flush excess nitrogen out of the root zone. Step three: give the grass a few weeks. St. Augustine, the most common lawn in Pasco County, spreads by runners and will often fill small spots back in on its own. Bigger dead patches may need a plug or a piece of sod.

How To Keep It From Happening Again

The single biggest thing you can do is pick up waste consistently, at least once a week, and twice a week if you have multiple dogs. The longer waste sits, the deeper the damage. Watering the spot where your dog pees right after they go helps too. Some owners also train their dog to use one mulched corner of the yard, which saves the rest of the lawn.

Let Us Handle The Hard Part

Weekly pick-up is the part that keeps lawns green, and it's also the part that's easiest to skip. That's where we come in. Scoop Dog grid-searches your whole yard every visit, fence line and flower beds included, so nothing sits long enough to burn your grass. Weekly service starts at $14.99. Get your free instant quote for Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, or Dade City and give your lawn a fighting chance.

Get Your Green Lawn Back Without Lifting a Finger

Every pile left on the lawn is another brown spot in the making, and in Florida heat it happens fast. You shouldn't have to spend your weekends playing catch-up. We grid-search your whole yard every visit and haul it all away, so your grass can finally fill back in. Weekly service starts at $14.99 with no contracts, and every visit is backed by our Spotless Yard Guarantee: if we miss a spot, tell us within 24 hours and we'll come back and re-clean it free. Still not happy? That visit is free.

We're local, and we serve dog owners in Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Land O' Lakes, San Antonio, Dade City, Lutz, New Tampa and Plant City. Get your free instant quote in about 60 seconds, with no phone call needed.

Keep reading: How Often Should You Actually Scoop? We Did the Math So You Don't Have To and The Florida Heat Is Turning Your Yard Into a Fly Breeding Ground.

About the Author

Tiffani, Owner of Scoop Dog

U.S. Army veteran and Zephyrhills dog mom to Luna and Snickers. Tiffani personally scoops yards and walks dogs across Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Land O' Lakes, San Antonio, Dade City, Lutz, New Tampa and Plant City, and writes every guide from what she sees in local backyards each week. Read her story.