# How dangerous is Round Up to dogs?



## Labmom4

The back yard area, where the dogs go poop, is not landscaped and wont be for quite some time yet. It's full of weeds and hubby was going to spray Round Up on it. I was worried about it hurting the dogs so told him not to; I'd weed-eat it instead. I only got 10 minutes into it and had to stop; my arms cant handle it. Think it'd be okay to spray it? They're not out there too much; they go to the bathroom there and I put two of them out there when I leave the house. The rest of the time they're all inside. Even if hubby weed-eats, the weeds will be back in a few weeks. Opinions please? My arms are KILLING me!


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## Shell

Supposedly it is safe once it is dry. Their own data says it is not harmful to wildlife that eats the plants later.

I'm just not a huge fan of spraying weed killer where I know my dog is going to be rolling around and munching on the grass. I just mow everything to the same height and if its pokeweed, I dig it out since that stuff rapidly turns into a tree.


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## winniec777

I would hire someone to take care of it every 3-4 weeks with a riding mower or weed whacker. We have someone who mows our 1.5 acres and trims around all trees, bushes, and other landscaping for $35. If it's temporary until your landscaping is put in, it's a safer option than having chemicals put out there every 3-4 weeks, IMO. Even if you do it for a year, it's only about $400. Worth it to avoid the chemicals.


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## Binkalette

What is the area like? Do you have a photo of it?


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## Labmom4

Binkalette said:


> What is the area like? Do you have a photo of it?


 Probably about 1500-1800 sq ft. of solid low-growing goat heads.


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## Shell

If its all pretty low growing and nothing with thorns/burrs, I'd say leave it. Mow when needed. If you kill all the ground cover before you are ready to put in sod and landscaping, you're going to have problems with erosion and it will turn into a mud pit at the first rain.


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## Binkalette

What I would do is mow the grass VERY short and then get a whole bunch of old newspapers (tons!) and layer them on the area when you are getting close to landscaping it. Layer them nice and thick so no light can get through to the ground. Soak the newpapers down with water every so often to keep them moist and in place. After a few weeks when you are ready to plant, you can till them under and you'll have a great bed for planting! 

Other things I have heard of doing is using a shovel to dig in and and flip the dirt over, grass side down. The grass will decompose and make great compost for your new bed. The other is to get lots of 'weed and feed' corn gluten meal and lay that down thick. It is supposed to kill the weeds and then break down into great fertilizer, but I have not tried it myself. You can also water the area thoroughly, then cover it with a large piece of plastic (clear or colored, it doesn't make much difference) and let it bake in the sun. The weeds and grass will be killed by the extreme temperatures and then you can till it up for a nice planting bed.

I agree with leaving it until you are closer to starting your landscaping project. If it's going to be a LONG time before you do start and you want there to be grass but no weeds, then I would start throwing some grass seed on it and giving it some TLC. The more grass that grows, the more competition for the weeds. Nothing kills weeds better than a thick healthy lawn.


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## Aqua

My lawn is also full of weeds, and i am trying to find a pet friendly weed killer (available in South Africa) to try control my every expanding weed collection. I am not after a perfect lawn, and I don't have the time to do the manual weeding thing! I also no not want to kill off the grass that is there.. and lets face it the weeds grow faster than the grass so if i can control the weeds I wont have to mow so often!


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## wvasko

We have a large place and weed-whack and also on fence lines etc do use roundup for many, many years. Our personal dogs when let out to dump are out 4-5 minutes tops and then back in home. We have never had a problem when it's allowed to dry. Does this mean it's foolproof "NO" it just means we never had any problems. But any pups that were out were supervised cause they sometimes get in trouble doing silly stuff like chewing plants weeds etc. 

Since there is a possibility of accidental ingestion I would not advise it's use as it's a personal choice thing only.


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## katielou

I don't use chemical anything in the garden. A combination of them not working near as well as natural alternatives and them being expensive.

My best weed control is boiling water followed by a spray bottle of vinegar. Cheap and effective.


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## Labmom4

Oh, this is an oldie. 
I've been handling it by mowing it very short. Though now at this time of the year, everything's dead anyhow, so it wont even be an issue again until next spring. I wasnt comfortable using poisons. 

Katielou ~ I LOVE that statement on your sig. I'd like to steal that for my FB but I'd probably get accused of 'attacking' a few people IRL.


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## Pipspets

My little hound ended up at the vet clinic because of round up ( well, that was the only logical reason we could come up with)

I worked at a big equestrian centre and she had free run of the place and the farm hand was spraying which had never been a problem before but she had a little water hole/pond filled with rocks that she would crawl into head first to pull them out ( her rock habit is another story!) so the theory we came up with was there was round up in the water and on the rocks around the pond. 

It wasn't until that evening that we saw something wasn't right, so rushed her to the vet and she ended up staying overnight. 

If you possibly can go without the chemicals I would. We only ever had one problem ( we were pretty paranoid after that) but it only takes one time and we were lucky.

And just think- you'll save on gym membership!!!


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## JulieK1967

katielou said:


> I don't use chemical anything in the garden. A combination of them not working near as well as natural alternatives and them being expensive.
> 
> My best weed control is boiling water followed by a spray bottle of vinegar. Cheap and effective.


Yep!! Vinegar is a household's best friend!


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## Kyllobernese

I bought a couple of gallons of vinegar but never had any luck with it killing weeds or grass. I used Round Up this spring but as I had had it for a couple of years (never seemed a time when the dogs would not be out on it) so it never worked, probably too old. Never thought about using some plastic over the weeds and grass to kill it off. Will try that next year. I know where the doggy pool on the lawn was sitting, the grass all died off but grew back this year with a little seeding so the plastic would probably work.


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## Nevaeh

Many years ago..about fifteen or so, I used Roundup around our home in Kentucky as the burdock was ENORMOUS, plus huge Ragweed..to which I am allergic, Poison Ivy...everywhere....just terrible. Since we live in a secluded area of 118 acres, but have a lawn of 20 acres, I mow with a riding mower and used to weedwhack. I now have Rheumatoid Arthritis and can no longer weekwhack. :-( It may be a coincidence, but I think not!! FOUR of our beloved dogs died of cancer years back when we were using Roundup!! And they were NOT allowed outside until it was dry. I stopped using it years ago after my dogs died of cancer and I developed RA overnight! I'm open to ANY suggestions as I can no longer pull weeds because of my wrist damage and cannot use my weedwhacker. We live in a remote area and could not afford to hire someone from the city to help weedwhack. The poison ivy grows all over the side of the house, porch, etc. and now the burdock and ragweed are coming back!! I have shrubs planted on three sides of the house, but can do nothing with the far side yet as my husband started an addition there when his spine gave out completely. Today, I tried something I did find on the Net...spraying the weeds with VINEGAR!! I just did that this morning, so we will see what happens to these nasty weeds. I will NEVER use ROUND-UP or ANY poison AGAIN!! My dogs are TOO precious!!


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## BernerMax

Nevaeh said:


> Many years ago..about fifteen or so, I used Roundup around our home in Kentucky as the burdock was ENORMOUS, plus huge Ragweed..to which I am allergic, Poison Ivy...everywhere....just terrible. Since we live in a secluded area of 118 acres, but have a lawn of 20 acres, I mow with a riding mower and used to weedwhack. I now have Rheumatoid Arthritis and can no longer weekwhack. :-( It may be a coincidence, but I think not!! FOUR of our beloved dogs died of cancer years back when we were using Roundup!! And they were NOT allowed outside until it was dry. I stopped using it years ago after my dogs died of cancer and I developed RA overnight! I'm open to ANY suggestions as I can no longer pull weeds because of my wrist damage and cannot use my weedwhacker. We live in a remote area and could not afford to hire someone from the city to help weedwhack. The poison ivy grows all over the side of the house, porch, etc. and now the burdock and ragweed are coming back!! I have shrubs planted on three sides of the house, but can do nothing with the far side yet as my husband started an addition there when his spine gave out completely. Today, I tried something I did find on the Net...spraying the weeds with VINEGAR!! I just did that this morning, so we will see what happens to these nasty weeds. I will NEVER use ROUND-UP or ANY poison AGAIN!! My dogs are TOO precious!!


Goats. Weedkiller of choice in these parts. I hear they LOVE poison ivy. We are getting a pair very soon.


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## Kayota

Shell said:


> If its all pretty low growing and nothing with thorns/burrs, I'd say leave it. Mow when needed. If you kill all the ground cover before you are ready to put in sod and landscaping, you're going to have problems with erosion and it will turn into a mud pit at the first rain.


Yeah, my whole yard is weeds and I just... don't care. The dogs don't either.  A guy that my dad pays comes to mow every 2 weeks or so.


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## Greater Swiss

This thread reminds me of something I was considering for our back yard. Clover....apparently it is becoming quite the thing, to do yards in clover instead of grass, or even better there is something called "micro-clover", which is even smaller. Barely needs mowed since it grows so short....and if you don't mow it there are clover flowers all over your lawn. The big bonus to the entire thing....apparently clover crowds out weeds, so eventually you will have a pretty much weed-free lawn. Something I'm seriously considering! Just thought I'd throw that out there since it would eliminate the need for Round Up. I will say, we do have some clover growing in our lawn naturally, and there aren't any weeds in those spots....other than that though, I don't have any experience doing the clover lawn thing.....


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## Shell

Greater Swiss said:


> This thread reminds me of something I was considering for our back yard. Clover....apparently it is becoming quite the thing, to do yards in clover instead of grass, or even better there is something called "micro-clover", which is even smaller. Barely needs mowed since it grows so short....and if you don't mow it there are clover flowers all over your lawn. The big bonus to the entire thing....apparently clover crowds out weeds, so eventually you will have a pretty much weed-free lawn. Something I'm seriously considering! Just thought I'd throw that out there since it would eliminate the need for Round Up. I will say, we do have some clover growing in our lawn naturally, and there aren't any weeds in those spots....other than that though, I don't have any experience doing the clover lawn thing.....


I've been adding White Dutch Clover seeds to my lawn for about 2 growing seasons. I love the clover but it has both positives and negatives. 

Pros- It is very dog urine resistant. It doesn't grow too tall so mowing isn't needed where the clover is. It does crowd out other weeds.

Cons- it dies in winter earlier than the grass so those spots get muddy faster (it does come back well in spring though). It will spread to neighboring lawns so if you live in a very picky neighborhood, that might make your neighbors unhappy. It doesn't crowd out grass which means the grass still needs mowing. 

Overall, I like the clover and it has done well in filling in bare patches of lawn with a soft and pretty green plant. But it won't solve a poison ivy problem etc.


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## Kyllobernese

I am afraid if I killed off the weeds on my lawn, I would have a lot of bare patches. I just keep it mowed short and I do like a lot of clover as it is hardier than any grass I have planted. I am going to mow it for the last time this year if I can get the lawn mower out of the garage without being stung by the big nasty hornets who have a nest the size of a football hanging from the rafters. Will try tonight after dark and hope they are all sleeping.

Tried to buy some wasp spray but they were all out of it at the feed store.


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## So Cavalier

We had a agility trial where the grass was full of clover. LOTS of dogs ended up getting bee stings. The bees were everywhere.


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## luv mi pets

I use round-up along the fence rows. I have to keep the fence rows cleaned or the electric fence for the horses would not work and I would have horses running free down the road. So not cool. For a couple of years I did the weed wacking. That was a lot of work. A couple of days of rainy weather and some hot days and the weeds took over. I spray Round-up wait a couple of hours before I let out the horses or the dogs. The big dogs can not get near the fence line due to the e-fence. The small dogs are only out in the pasture if I am out there. I have not had any problems so far. 
As far as yard weeds-I let them be. Sometimes I am thankful for the weeds. At times they are the only thing green in my lawn.

Looking at your pictures. I would not spray the weeds just yet. I would wait until you are going to do the landscaping. A good rainfall and erosion will surely happen.


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## nbsandhills

I found that vinegar alone doesn't work real well alone.

I did make a concoction of Vinegar, Dawn Dish Soap (the blue kind is the only one that works) and epsom salt. Mix it all together in a spray bottle and spray away. It works on even the tough rag weed and canadian thistle. I spray it on first thing in the morning. Even with all of the rain we've had, the weeds are still gone and I've just had to do some touch up along the fence.


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## xoxluvablexox

Greater Swiss said:


> This thread reminds me of something I was considering for our back yard. Clover....apparently it is becoming quite the thing, to do yards in clover instead of grass, or even better there is something called "micro-clover", which is even smaller. Barely needs mowed since it grows so short....and if you don't mow it there are clover flowers all over your lawn. The big bonus to the entire thing....apparently clover crowds out weeds, so eventually you will have a pretty much weed-free lawn. Something I'm seriously considering! Just thought I'd throw that out there since it would eliminate the need for Round Up. I will say, we do have some clover growing in our lawn naturally, and there aren't any weeds in those spots....other than that though, I don't have any experience doing the clover lawn thing.....


I'm going to have to tell this to my parents. Their back yard is naturally covered in clover, a mixture of different grasses, a few hundred dandelions, and some weird vine thing that grows along the ground. Oh, not to mention the random bamboo shoot that escapes the section of the garden they're supposed to stay in. Needless to say, it's somewhat of a hot mess. 

There has to be a way to make the clover take over the yard faster or something.


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## JeJo

nbsandhills said:


> I found that vinegar alone doesn't work real well alone.
> 
> I did make a concoction of Vinegar, Dawn Dish Soap (the blue kind is the only one that works) and epsom salt. Mix it all together in a spray bottle and spray away. It works on even the tough rag weed and canadian thistle. I spray it on first thing in the morning. Even with all of the rain we've had, the weeds are still gone and I've just had to do some touch up along the fence.


Thank you for the share. I'd like to try your concoction as it sounds safe enough. How did you measure your ingredients -equal parts of each?


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## Abbylynn

I am not recommending this product to kill weeds. I sprayed my window blinds outside draped over the top of the picnic table to clean them .... hosed them off ... and the run off killed everything in it's path.

But if you have any weeds where the dogs don't go ........


0912130848a (1) by Leah Lu, on Flickr

I ruined the yard! Lol! 


0912130847 (1) by Leah Lu, on Flickr

Dad went and bought some to kill the poison ivy at my one Sister's house. Haven't asked if it worked yet .......

Lol! This is the first year we haven't had to mow the grass under the picnic table! 

EDIT: Then again .... I am not so sure this is good for the water table.


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## nbsandhills

My concoction for weed killer : 

1 Gallon Vinegar
2 Cups Epsom Salt
1/4 Cup Dawn Dish Soap


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## JeJo

nbsandhills said:


> My concoction for weed killer :
> 
> 1 Gallon Vinegar
> 2 Cups Epsom Salt
> 1/4 Cup Dawn Dish Soap


Thank you!


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## melaka

So Cavalier said:


> We had a agility trial where the grass was full of clover. LOTS of dogs ended up getting bee stings. The bees were everywhere.


I was going to mention that. My parents have a lot of clover in their yard, and there always seems to be a lot of bees around. They keep it mowed short because they worry about the dogs getting stung.

I'm lucky that while I have a lot of weeds in my back lawn, there's also some hardy grass that seems to be taking over. I also have a vine thing growing over half of it, but it grows slow and smells nice (minty) when it's mowed, so I don't mind it. My front lawn is very dense and mostly weed-resistant.


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