All good advise, thanks. . . I have a water bowl full of water at all times, so the dogs can drink as much as they want, I don't know how I can force them to drink more. I don't have this problem in the summer time when I water the lawn on a regular basis, only in the winter. But in the winter I can't dilute the urine with water, as we have a well and it all gets taken apart in the winter. I fertilize in the fall, and again this time of year, and that's about it. More fertilizer might help in the future?? Hmmmm. . . thanks again, Maid~

I think it indicates an overall lack of fertility. The spots are caused by the spot fertilization by the dog. You can either follow him around with a hose to dilute the urine right away or try the sugar. Scatter a heaping handful of sugar onto each spot as soon as you suspect a spot is forming. You might need to patrol the yard more frequently. What the sugar does, apparently, is signal the microbes in the soil to populate instead of feeding. But it isn't long before the expanded population of microbes is back to feeding. It is the microbes that decompose the urine. With fescue it could be the plants are dead, but the best solution I've seen is the sugar. Feeding your dog a different diet has been suggested over and over, but I can't remember anyone claiming it worked. Lots of people claim the sugar works. Generally you should probably fertilize the entire lawn. Normally I suggest waiting until Memorial Day but that date is not really cast in concrete. It is just easy to remember.

Thanks for your reply. However, your psychic senses are wrong. I do tend to analyze things, especially when it's regarding a new endeavor/field I have no prior knowledge/experience of. It has yielded outstanding results for me in the past and so I continue to approach things in this manner. Regarding seeding too late - well, first off, I just took possession of the house so I couldn't seed earlier. Also, I live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and if you've ever lived here, you would know that our summer is pretty much about 2 weeks long. lol Anyway, When I did the overseeding, it was about beginning of June and temperatures were about 10 C - 20 C and we've been getting a lot of rain lately. In fact, we're just starting to go up to highs of 20 C - 25 C and in about 5 days is the first day we're supposed to hit 29 C, as per the forecast. I know that Spring and Fall are the textbook times to overseed but our weather/termperatures here does not conform to the norm. Our temperatures in October are already winter temperatures for a lot of places in the States. Also, I did not want to wait until fall because I wanted to get started on thickening the lawn asap. I was confused with this statement though: "But you are just now coming into spring...and fall is just around the corner." Spring is technically done..did you mean, "just coming into summer"? I usually mow at around 4 -5 inches and only take a bit off. I know all about the "only take 1/3 off" and "mow high" recommendations. I only scalped it this one time to prepare for overseeding to facilitate better seed to soil contact. I've read about the roller thing but decided that it wasn't needed. I did not want to compact things any more either especially since I was core aerating. I ran my rake through the soil and seeds to enhance seed to soil contact and this is a technique that has been recommended in several articles and videos. I also did not want to bury the seeds too deep. In fact, I already have baby grass growing to about heights of 2 inches now. I only noticed them yesterday and they are even much taller today. I like your idea of sowing KBG first, then fescue then PRG but here's the thing - I have not found any stand alone seed packages in my local Walmart/Home Depot/Canadian Tire stores. They are all blends. I haven't gone to garden centers though but that's also because I do not want to pay more for something that sells less at Home Depot. Also, I think this says something.. I think that for our climate and grass types, the seed blends probably tend to work better. I think this is evidenced by the fact that I primarily see Scotts Sun and Shade being sold in all these places and not the other types - i.e. high traffic, high heat etc.. Also, this blend tends to get the best reviews on Canadian Tire.com. The other thing too is that I've read blends were made so that the PRG can germinate first and help establish the turf while the fescue and KBG are taking their sweet time to germinate - helps with thickening up lawn quicker and crowding out weeds. If I wanted to wait (or had the luxury to do so - i.e. lawn isn't too bare) the full 21-28 days, then I would probably just seed with pure KBG and not worry about blends. I've decided to wait with the dandelions. I've emailed Scotts and they said to wait after mowing the new grass 3 times before using Killex as it destroys grass seed and new grass. Just wondering why you say spot spraying is far better than broadcast anything. I just feel that if Killex is safe to use on an established lawn, it would be more efficient to just broadcast it, in terms of time and coverage. Regarding my neighbor's lawn - I'm not worried that her lawn looks like crap..I just feel that her dandelions are invading my lawn and I can see that most of the dandelions on my lawn are on the side close to hers. Anyway, I'm just gonna keep mowing high and hopefully it gets thick enough to crowd out weeds and hopefull I won't have too many dandelions and I'll just deal with them as they come.

You're not the only one with the dreaded "pool spot" in their lawns! I spend a lot of my time flying around the place and I amuse myself by checking out peoples gardens as i fly in or out of whatever destination I'm going to... Especially this time of year, they're dotted all over the place, people putting away their pools for the winter, leaving a horrible, compacted bare earth patch in their lawn. Anyway, back on track!!!...sorry.... I used to have this in my own garden. What I did is I dug out 3 inches of the top soil just a little bigger than my pool, put down a fabric weed barrier and put in 1/2 ton of round washed stream pebbles. In the winter I roll a boulder into its place in the centre of the ring. A garden feature, with a few phormiums strategically placed. even a solar light or two for dramatic effect come nightfall. Everyone that comes in my garden, loves it. When the summer comes, I take away the plants and lights, roll the boulder away and set up the pool!! no worries about dead grass or mud patches. I used to do the annual ritual of rotivating and re seeding until i figured out I was going to have to do this every year... lazy way out for me.... hth. Q