It is important to be fully aware of what you are using on your lawn. This is especially true if you have pets that often walk around in your yard. A majority of dogs don’t simply walk around in your yard even, they roll and jump around in it. Thus, what you are using to care for your lawn is likely to be exposed to your dog on a regular basis. This can be a big problem if you are using pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals on your lawn. Below, we will be going over how safe chemicals that you might be using on your lawn are for your pets and how to make your yard safer.
Keep Poisonous Plants Away:
One of the things that you are going to want to do is to keep away potentially toxic plants from your dogs and cats. There are all kinds of different plants that can cause serious health complications to your pets. Some of the plants that you are going to want to avoid having in your yard are azaleas, begonias, and even clematis. Avoid having any type of species that can cause harm to your pets.
Read The Labels:
Whenever you are planning on putting chemicals in your yard, you will want to be sure that you are reading all of the labels on the products that you are using. A majority of fertilizers and insecticides pose a significant risk to your pets. As a rule, you should be reading all of the labels and factoring in potential risks prior to applying anything to your yard. While organic yard products are likely to pose less of a risk, even organic products pose some sort of risk to your pets. Some of the organic products can pose just as much of a risk as a less organic option. By reading the labels prior to applying, you should be able to follow the labels guidelines which can reduce the risk of using any product that you plan on using on your yard which typically requires you to keep your pets away from your yard for a specific period of time to avoid overexposure.
Tips For Making Your Yard Safer:
1. Keep Your Dog Away
If you are going to be treating your yard with pesticides, you will need to keep your dog away from your yard for as long as the label indicates. The longer you are able to keep your dog away from the yard after you use pesticides – the better. Various lawn chemicals have been shown to remain on the grass for as much as 48 hours after application. Thus, you want to avoid letting your dog go into your yard for at least this amount of time. That way, you give your yard time to absorb the pesticides to minimize the exposure that they are going to be faced with when they do go in your yard.
2. Wipe Down Your Dog
Along with keeping your dog off of the yard for a minimum of 48 hours after placing fertilizer down, you are going to want to wipe down your dog’s paws and coat prior to letting them inside of the house. This way, you will be able to keep the pesticides from being tracked in. It can also keep the chemicals from staying on your dog long enough to get absorbed through his/her skin.
3. Watch Your Dog
Instead of leaving your dog outside to do whatever he or she wants, you are going to want to watch your dog and keep an eye on your dog for a good period of time to ensure that he or she isn’t eating the grass or licking the grass even days after application. The chemicals are likely going to be remaining even at that point in time which means that you should keep your dog from eating the grass.
4. Watch For Signs Of Reactions
When you are going to be using chemicals on your grass and yard, you are going to want to watch for possible chemical reactions. This includes everything from skin rashes to vomiting. Along with this, you want to watch for other potential reactions including eye irritation and even respiratory problems. All of these symptoms or signs can be a direct result of being exposed to lawn chemicals. Thus, you should keep an eye on your dog to ensure that they are not exhibiting these symptoms and if they are, you should take them to a veterinarian immediately.
5. Not Just Insecticides
Many assumed that just insecticides were dangerous for dogs. However, more research indicates that everything from insecticides to both herbicides and fertilizers can be just as dangerous for your pets. Therefore, you are going to want to be sure that you are not using these things often and that you are exercising caution if you are using them.
6. Safer Products
There are products on the market that are ‘greener’ and much safer for both humans and animals. Therefore, it would be wise to consider the safer alternatives that you can use on your lawn. Rather than even risking exposing your pets to the harmful chemicals that you place on your lawn, you should attempt to look for some of the different products that are not going to be harmful to your pets. A majority of lawns are not going to require many chemicals beyond the nutrients applied in fertilizer products. Therefore, it is always a better idea to opt for safer products and less when dealing with lawn chemicals.
Overall, there are a lot of different things that you are going to want to be aware of when it comes to using chemicals in your yard if you have pets according to Discover Ziehler. Your pet’s health should come first and there are plenty of different things that you can do to minimize the negative effects you place on your pets by using safer products and by giving your yard time after placing the chemicals on it, to begin with, prior to letting your pets on it.