Advice sought from anyone who has had to deal with running water onto
pebbles (or gravel) and particularly dog owners experienced in the same...

I have two dogs. As dog pee seems to ruin grass my two are taught to go
wee-wees on a concrete area outside my backdoor. This is ok as I wash it
down every time they wee and the water runs down into two drains outside the
house. However --

Constant washing down means that the area is becoming very damp because it
never gets any sun on it. Part of it is in the lee of the house and part of
it in the lee of the neighbor's fence (fence between our properties which is
vital with dogs of course) and her overgrown mess of a garden (which I have
not had much success in asking her if she wouldn't mind trimming so it isn't
fifteen foot tall in this particular area).

So - I have a damp area outside my house which has two drains in it and is
subject to constant dog pee and washing down. This means that apart from the
dog wee on concrete smell (which I keep to a minimum by washing down of
course) there is a pervading odour of dampness. Not good. My other neighbor
has noticed it and although she hasn't complained at all, I don't like the
nif myself and want to be a good neighbor so I'm looking for solutions.

I am wondering if this would work -

Cover the drains with some sort of decent gauge metal rust proof mesh. Stop
up any gaps under fences between the property. Get a shed load of small
pebbles or large gravel and cover the entire area with same. The mesh over
the drains to be of suitable size that prevents the stones from going down
into the drain.

Every time dogs wee, wash the stones down with the hose as usual. Water goes
down into the bed of stones and hopefully runs down to the drain.

I'm hoping the stones will lessen the effect of water lying on a flat
surface - thus lessen smell of dampness and wee - and help drain it away
into the drains. There is a slight slope in the concrete down to the drain.
Do you see what I'm getting at ?

Any thoughts ? Experience of same ? Alternative ideas (other than get rid of
the dogs - not an option ! Also, I do bleach the area but apparently as
bleach contains ammonia and so does pee, you're kinda adding to the problem
rather than taking it away if you wahs down with bleach over dog pee, so I
have been told).

TIA

Rachael

In article ,
"Rachael Nex" writes:
|
| I'm hoping the stones will lessen the effect of water lying on a flat
| surface - thus lessen smell of dampness and wee - and help drain it away
| into the drains. There is a slight slope in the concrete down to the drain.
| Do you see what I'm getting at ?

Yes, and it won't work. They will actually hold (slightly) more
water than the concrete.

| Any thoughts ? Experience of same ? Alternative ideas (other than get rid of
| the dogs - not an option ! Also, I do bleach the area but apparently as
| bleach contains ammonia and so does pee, you're kinda adding to the problem
| rather than taking it away if you wahs down with bleach over dog pee, so I
| have been told).

Neither urine nor bleach contains ammonia. The former contains urea,
which is broken down into ammonia by bacteria. Bleach contains
chlorine (actually sodium hypochlorite), which can react with
ammonia, but that is not a major issue in this context.

If the worst that you have is a smell of dampness in an area that
is perpetually damp and sunless, you are doing well. Sorry.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Rachael Nex
writes
I have two dogs. As dog pee seems to ruin grass my two are taught to go
wee-wees on a concrete area outside my backdoor. This is ok as I wash
it down every time they wee and the water runs down into two drains
outside the house.

Having trained them thus far, any chance of training them to wee right
next to the drains? (Though I expect this has occurred to you too...)

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Rachael Nex" wrote in
:

So - I have a damp area outside my house which has two drains in it
and is subject to constant dog pee and washing down. This means that
apart from the dog wee on concrete smell (which I keep to a minimum by
washing down of course) there is a pervading odour of dampness. Not
good.


Is it just a 'damp' smell, or is it more 'drainy' ?

If the smell is noticeably unpleasant, could it be it's something living /
decaying in the wetness, like a sort of stale composty / stagnant kind of
smell?

Jeyes Fluid is quite good on stale things - worth a try, (though you might
just end up substituting the 'jeyes' smell for the dank one.)

Do the dogs only wee in the garden, or would it be possible to encourage
them to wee more while out on walks by varying their routine to make sure
they get a walk about the times they particularly need to go?

Appreciate this possibility depends very much on your local area and
circumstances...

I take it that the garden isn't large, so there's no possibility of
rerouting the dogs to a more distant location - perhaps a shrubbery or
something? Shrubs can take dog wee much better than grass does.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
. 240.10...
"Rachael Nex" wrote in
:

So - I have a damp area outside my house which has two drains in it
and is subject to constant dog pee and washing down. This means that
apart from the dog wee on concrete smell (which I keep to a minimum by
washing down of course) there is a pervading odour of dampness. Not
good.


Is it just a 'damp' smell, or is it more 'drainy' ?


Just damp.

If the smell is noticeably unpleasant, could it be it's something living /
decaying in the wetness, like a sort of stale composty / stagnant kind of
smell?

I think I wash the drains down too often to suffer from much hanging around
in there really.


Jeyes Fluid is quite good on stale things - worth a try, (though you
might
just end up substituting the 'jeyes' smell for the dank one.)


That would be fine by me !

Do the dogs only wee in the garden, or would it be possible to encourage
them to wee more while out on walks by varying their routine to make sure
they get a walk about the times they particularly need to go?

They do get walks at all times (soon as I get up being one of the times) and
the elder one prefers to pee whilst out - but the younger one absolutely
will not wee (or poo) on walks. He is most odd. He's now eighteen months and
just won't do it. We have stayed out for *hours* to test him - he just gets
into the house and rushes to the backdoor to be let out for a wee. He's very
particular about going toilet in the areas he was taught to go as pup - and
he had got so used to going in the garden outside the back door by the time
he was ten weeks old that he sees walking areas as a no-go area for wees !
Ditto the grassed part of the garden. Most obedient he is - and now probably
pretty confused as mummy can't seem to make up her mind when she wants him
to pee as far as he's concerned.


Appreciate this possibility depends very much on your local area and
circumstances...

I take it that the garden isn't large, so there's no possibility of
rerouting the dogs to a more distant location - perhaps a shrubbery or
something? Shrubs can take dog wee much better than grass does.


We got a flower and veggie plot at the end of the garden that is fenced off
to stop the dogs eating the fruit and then a grassed area that I have only
just managed to get grass growing on again this year (then the concrete bit
next to the house). Up until this year it was a dust bowl as I had two adult
dogs (one now rehomed) who used to pee all over it. I stopped the adults
going on the grass when I got the pup and had to reseed the lawn. The
dustyness was making life in the garden pretty unpleasant and when it
rained - the mud, jeez, you can imagine three dogs covered in mud waiting by
the kitchen door...
There's not a large area of grass in proportion to the size of dogs though
;-)

I do encourage them to go up there now as the grass is much healthier as I
did it with hardy seed, but the younger one still thinks he's not allowed to
"go" up there (I guess it's because he wasn't around when they were allowed
to originally pee on the grass) ! This is ok when it is daylight as I can
march them straight up the steps (all eight of them - steps this is not dogs
!) to the grass but at night - well, my eyes are crap during the day and
even with a security light out there I am wary of traversing the stairs at
night.

Poor dogs are confused ! I'm wondering what it would take to turf the
concrete over or am I just on a loser there ?


Rachael

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Rachael Nex" writes:
|
| I'm hoping the stones will lessen the effect of water lying on a flat
| surface - thus lessen smell of dampness and wee - and help drain it
away
| into the drains. There is a slight slope in the concrete down to the
drain.
| Do you see what I'm getting at ?

Yes, and it won't work. They will actually hold (slightly) more
water than the concrete.

Damn.


| Any thoughts ? Experience of same ? Alternative ideas (other than get
rid of
| the dogs - not an option ! Also, I do bleach the area but apparently as
| bleach contains ammonia and so does pee, you're kinda adding to the
problem
| rather than taking it away if you wahs down with bleach over dog pee,
so I
| have been told).

Neither urine nor bleach contains ammonia. The former contains urea,
which is broken down into ammonia by bacteria. Bleach contains
chlorine (actually sodium hypochlorite), which can react with
ammonia, but that is not a major issue in this context.

Ok - thanks for the info. I stand corrected.

If the worst that you have is a smell of dampness in an area that
is perpetually damp and sunless, you are doing well. Sorry.


Argh ! Thanks anyway.


Rachael

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 13:29:33 +0100, Klara wrote:

In message , Rachael Nex
writes
I have two dogs. As dog pee seems to ruin grass my two are taught to go
wee-wees on a concrete area outside my backdoor. This is ok as I wash
it down every time they wee and the water runs down into two drains
outside the house.

Having trained them thus far, any chance of training them to wee right
next to the drains?

Heh yus - has occured to me but they are right next to the house and one is
next to the backdoor which may mean dog pee up the wall and door of the
house ! Not sure this would be better.


On the compost, shirley?


I heard that dog pee is bad for compost - course, too much human pee is also
bad for compost and with two big gsds we're talking baout alot of pee.
Anyway - I got a compost *bin* and I can't see them cocking their legs high
enough to get the right angle. ;-)


Rachael

In article ,
Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat wrote:

I heard that dog pee is bad for compost - course, too much human pee is also
bad for compost and with two big gsds we're talking baout alot of pee.

It has to be a HELL of a lot! Bacteria are pretty efficient at breaking
down aerated urine - and a suitable compost heap will ensure that the
urine is aerated.

The objection is to dog faeces, anyway, because of the diseases that
are carried by dog and cat faeces. Urine is usually sterile, and
doesn't contain any resistant spore/whatever diseases anyway, so no
form of urine is a problem on a compost heap in moderate quantities.

Anyway - I got a compost *bin* and I can't see them cocking their legs high
enough to get the right angle. ;-)

Now, I agree THAT is a problem :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat wrote:

I heard that dog pee is bad for compost - course, too much human
pee is also
bad for compost and with two big gsds we're talking baout alot of
pee.

It has to be a HELL of a lot! Bacteria are pretty efficient at
breaking
down aerated urine - and a suitable compost heap will ensure that
the
urine is aerated.

The objection is to dog faeces, anyway, because of the diseases that
are carried by dog and cat faeces. Urine is usually sterile, and
doesn't contain any resistant spore/whatever diseases anyway, so no
form of urine is a problem on a compost heap in moderate quantities.

Anyway - I got a compost *bin* and I can't see them cocking their
legs high
enough to get the right angle. ;-)

Now, I agree THAT is a problem :-)

Potty-train them and empty the contents into the compost heap
manually.

Franz