Pet-Friendly Fertilizers?

[Suzanna828]

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good, boxer-friendly lawn fertilizer. Our yard is a disaster. There is definitely less grass than weed. My father recommend Turfbuilder (sp?), but I'm hesitant to use it unless it is safe for Jake. It's more important to me to have a healthy dog than a healthy lawn! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[KazzMan]

I think most fertilizer contains some sort of chemicals. From What I've read on the labels it is safe for pets once it has been watered into the lawn. I fertilized a month or so ago and watered. I just kept Jackson off for a day or so, took him on a leash in front. We never had any problems, he never got sick or anything. You may want to talk to someone from a lawn and garden shop.

 

[SkippyToo]

As we all have made changes to our homes to adjust to our boxers, I simply plan to have a separate yard or space for them. I will be working on some of the tendacies that they do have to dig and destroy (roses/plants/young trees), but at the same time, when they enjoy their time outside I want them to have some freedom. When they want back in, they are allowed to come back in the house almost immediately. I feel the same way about chemicals that they might be exposed to. I feel better with giving them a separate place to run, where I do not have to worry about how the lawn looks, etc..., when they are out on their own. I will follow this thread, though, to see if there are "safe" fertilizers suggested.

Mary, Bob, Samson, Delilah and Tyra (Zipporah)

 

[ljnash]

I usually just apply fertilizer once in the fall, and I try to do it when I know it is going to rain, so the rain will water it in. If it doesn't rain, then I have to water it in. After it is watered in, I think it is safe for the dogs to be in yard. If the fertilizer has insecticides or herbicides in it, then I'd make sure it was all melted in from water and that the grass was dry so they couldn't get it on their paws and lick it off.

My dogs usually don't eat the lawn grass because it doesn't get long enough. They like to eat the weedy grasses that sometimes grow up because I can't get to them with the mower. I have to hand pull those up.

 

[KazzMan]

Originally posted by SkippyToo
I will be working on some of the tendacies that they do have to dig and destroy (roses/plants/young trees), but at the same time, when they enjoy their time outside I want them to have some freedom.

Good Luck with this!! :p

Jackson rules our backyard. He has never destoyed anything inside our house, but you should our backyard. He has destoyed our bushes, dug holes, trash can lids, sprinklers, chewed up the picnic table and chewed up our air conditioner control wire (Thank God it was not the live power wire!). We have tried to control the digging with, hot sauce, poop in the hole, and every other trick in the book to no avail. It's not like he has dug up the whole yard just a few spots so it's really not that bad. Oh well, you still gotta love him! We just decided a long time ago that the backyard would be his and did really care how it looked.

 

[coveyjt]

Here is a few links I found. ASPCA

Link

I usually use a combination fertilizer/weed killer so it has to stay on for a while, so watering immediatly afterward doesn't work.
I bought a 100 foot temporary fence at Lowes to block off the fertilized area. Of course Powder can jump over or go under the 3 foot fence but I never leave her alone.
I section off my yard and fertilize section at a time over about a week. It might take me a little longer but having a healthy furkid is worth the effort.

 

[bobsmom]

How about eliminating the grass?

We decided a few years ago to take all the grass out of our fenced backyard and replace it with a stone patio, garden paths and planting beds with ground cover. Less to mow for one thing. And its a very natural environment for the dogs. We grow vegetables, perennials in the beds and annuals in pots and fertilize organically for the most part anyway.

We've had a total of 3 boxers back there for extended periods of time. Our late boxer, Remo, loved pullling the eggplant off the plant JUST when it was ripe and carrying it around the yard like little footballs. But, whatever the dogs can't leave alone we just don't plant again. But we've had pretty good luck with several things. They do seem to like tomatoes, though - playing with them, not eating them. The big tomato cages help save some for the humans.

Anyway, going grass-less is something to consider - then you don't have to fertilize it.

Carol

 

[ljnash]

Re: How about eliminating the grass?

Originally posted by bobsmom
We decided a few years ago to take all the grass out of our fenced backyard and replace it with a stone patio, garden paths and planting beds with ground cover. Less to mow for one thing. And its a very natural environment for the dogs. We grow vegetables, perennials in the beds and annuals in pots and fertilize organically for the most part anyway.
Carol

I would love to do that!! Did you do it yourselves or get a landscape company to do it? What size backyard do you have?

 

[bobsmom]

It took awhile...

... but we did replaced the grass ourselves over the course of a few years. In fact we will just be going to get the last load of rock for the backyard this coming weekend. I'm sure a landscaping company could do it quicker - for the right price. The dogs love it and so do we.

Oops, forgot to mention the size of the yard - its modest, probably 30 x 50 yards so not as big a project as some yards would be. Still enough room for those kids to do the boxer burn!

 

[Jaelle]

I made my own compost to fertilize my plants. And my dogs are helping! As the two of them Barf, all the vegetables that are too old to go in the dogs puree goes in the compost, and I can use it the year after (with winter here, it's very long for everything to decompose well) I can put it on the grass and plants! It's safe, economical, and ecological!