Pet Lawn Damage

Hi Everyone!

First time posting here. I was looking for ideas on what other HOA's do when it comes to pet lawn damage. I live in a neighborhood that has 37 units for our HOA and there are around 75 + other town homes in the neighborhood. We all have small lawns and not only do people that live in the neighborhood walk their pets but also people who do no live here. We recently received a bill that was divided between only 5 units for pet repair damage. Our HOA currently bills you if there is repair work that needs to be done in front of your home. As a pet owner, I am happy to pay more for my dogs damage however, it's not just my dog that urinates on my lawn. All the dogs in the neighborhood urinate wherever. I thought it would be fair for all dog owners to split any bills that come for dog damage and not if its just infront of your hour. To be honest, my dog walks a bit before he goes so he typically doesn't go in my yard anyway.

What do other associations do with dog repair damage to lawns?

Yes. I don't think it does either but they are blaming it on the dogs. Which, it probably does cause some damage. :-( I don't mind paying but just trying to see what other associations do for situations like this. You are right though. I would think it would be pretty time consuming to determine what was caused by a dog and what wasn't.

There are some communities that require pet owners to pay some sort of fee (may be a monthly surcharge or annual payment) that covers damage, but as you note, it's difficult to tell if the damage is caused by your dog, your neighbor's dog or someone passing through your community. And dogs being dogs, they're not going to think "well, I won't go on X lawn because I did that this morning - off to the house across the street!" It may be someone without a pet complained about the crap left on their yard and to settle the matter, the board likely decided that all the pet owners should pay because there was no way to know if your dog did the peeing or someone else's.

Usually, the board can only take action if there's proof that Mr. Frankenstein's dog Spot did his business somewhere. If it's in the common area, that's when clean up fees should be charged to the owner. Otherwise, it's probably considered a dispute between neighbors and they'll have to behave as adults to resolve it. As for the common areas, try talking to your fellow dog owners and come up with some ideas for the board to consider - there may not be much you can do about the people passing through, but all of you can set an example on how to be good neighbors.

Personally, I think it's fair for everyone to pay for whatever damage was done on their lawn - if you and your fellow pet owners don't like it, take steps to make the lawn unattractive for dogs (and cats for that matter). I suggest you pay a visit to the local pet store and see if they have products to this end, as well as other tips. You might also Google the topic yourself and spread the word to your fellow dog lovers - here's what I found a moment ago:

Feed the dog a dietary supplement - some bind with the nitrogen in the pee which makes it less harmful to the lawn (as John said, a little pee won't hurt, but too much pee will create those nasty brown spots)

Train your dog to eliminate in one area. Some products have pheromones to encourage the dog to whizz on or near the area you specify - if it goes in that spot, you save the rest of your yard

Apply a lawn repair treatment (if all the pet owners chipped in some sort of annual fee, this could be used in the common area)

Ask the board about planting more urine resistant grass (if your lawn is your responsibility, do this yourself)

Encourage Fido to drink more water - it keeps it hydrated (especially now, as many parts of the country have a heat waive), and the less nitrogen is concentrated in the pee, making it less damaging to your lawn.

Pour water on the area after your dog takes a leak - this helps dilute the urine to lessen the effect of the nitrogen on the lawn. So, it would appear you should add a spray bottle of water to your arsenal of plastic bags to collect the poop and a pooper scooper to pick that up.

Been mulling over how to approach this.

I’m thinking sufficient irrigation will resolve almost all of the dog pee issues.

Our last HOA (120 town homes in a densely populated urban) had impeccably landscaped common areas and perhaps a couple dozen dogs within the HOA. Additionally, neighboring apartment building dwellers with dogs came by and used our common areas multiple times daily because it was not a gated community and there was little green space elsewhere for them to use.

After a while we noticed a few large areas where certain dogs were likely using it over and over. Our landscaper verified visually the cause of yellow grass as dog stains.

What we did:

Previous board before I was elected paid for a DNA testing service to check the doo doo in order to fine the owners. What a waste of money. Never used it. No DNA collected to compare and no means of enforcement for DNA sample collection in the CCR's anyway. Plus many offenders were not in the HOA. Did not work.

Small urine stained areas were popped out and replaced with spots of new sod by the landscaper. What a waste of money. The dogs & owners still came back to the same areas and caused staining after replacing the spots of grass.

We roped off one large stained area and sent out an email to give it a rest and placed little dog signs saying "No pee zone" or whatever and we replaced the sod. Waste of money. Residents and people from neighboring areas still came by and used it anyway because there is no way to police it. New sod turned yellow. Late night dog walkers were especially unlikely to adhere to our request.

We nicely asked a few homeowners we knew were using the same areas near their front doors to take their dogs to different spots so the same area does not get over used. Those few homeowners were gracious and did as we requested. We were able to restore that particular area of grass with additional soil seed and fertilizer over time. Those owners lived across from all three board members so that is likely why it worked.

I assume the HOA is actually responsible for yard maintenance in your neighborhood. If not, please explain what homeowners are responsible for and what HOA is responsible for in regard to yards.

As a dog owner, I can attest to the fact that grass can be killed with a one-time pee . . . it doesn't take massive amounts or urine over the course of weeks to result in dead spots on a lawn.

What makes this more difficult for your HOA is the 75+ townhomes also in your neighborhood. I don't believe it's fair to penalize the few dog-owners in your HOA for an issue that could possibly be caused (or at least compounded) by pet owners from the townhomes.

I might also follow up with the Board and see if pet damage was fixed on lawns where the homeowner does not own a pet. If so, how can the Board determine that the handful of pet owners in your HOA are responsible for that and not the pet owners from the townhomes?

Personally, I think the cost of repair for pet damage should be equally split among all members of your HOA, just like I'm assuming all other necessary maintenance performed on individual yards is equally split among all. Do all owners equally pay for flower bed weeding, even if some take it upon themselves to weed their own flower beds?