Like you, we have pets that are part of our family. The health and safety of these furry, four-legged companions is important to us. That’s why we understand the conundrum that pet/lawn owners find themselves in. You want to have a beautiful lawn, but it’s not worth any risk to your pet.
As a responsible pet owner, you want to make the best possible decisions.
For that reason, you might be looking for pet safe lawn care. You don’t want to feel as though you must choose one or the other. You want the best of both worlds.
By asking the right questions about safe lawn treatments for pets, you can ensure that your pet’s safety is not compromised.
Here are 5 questions that we recommend asking.
- Are Your Products Safe for Pets?
- How Long Should I Keep My Pet Out of the Yard After an Application?
- How Should I Prepare for Your Visit to Ensure Pet Safe Lawn Care?
- Isn’t it Safer for My Pet if I Handle Lawn Care Myself?
- What Other Steps Can I Take to Protect my Pet?
By making smart choices with pet-safe lawn care service in your area, you can have a beautiful lawn that does not put your pet at risk.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into each of these questions and why they matter.
1. Are Your Products Safe for Pets?
When it comes to pet friendly lawn care, you want to make sure that any products being applied to the lawn won’t make it unsafe for your pets to be out there. Your dog has its face close to the ground and sniffs around. And he or she has their bare paws on the grass. You do not want to worry about products being harmful.
At Seacoast Turf Care, we use pet safe products. We only use products continuously and thoroughly tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The key, of course, is that these products are applied properly.
Even if it is a safe product, there are still protocols to follow. This is why it’s better for a professional to handle your applications. A pet safe lawn care service will have safety at the forefront of every treatment.
2. How Long Should I Keep My Pet Out of the Yard After an Application?
In order to keep your pets safe during the application process, we recommend keeping them inside for two hours. This is the maximum time it takes for liquid products to dry. The same is true for kids (and for you).
It’s not that the application will harm them. But this is strictly to avoid tracking products into the house. In those two hours, you can feel confident the product has dried.
Once the liquid dries on the plant material, it is absorbed and bonded and will not get picked up on skin or paws.
Of course, we also use granular products which will work their way down into the soil where they remain undisturbed by pets or people. With granular products, you do not need to worry about dry time.
3. How Should I Prepare for Your Visit to Ensure Pet Safe Lawn Care?
If you have pets that spend a lot of time in your yard, it can be helpful to communicate this to your lawn care provider. While you should definitely be keeping pets inside during the application process (so they don’t track products inside…and so they don’t escape), you still should communicate about how to handle gates.
Do you want your lawn care technician to close and latch the gate even if it was open upon their arrival? Communicating ahead of time is important to ensure your pet’s safety.
In addition, if your pets have toys or food bowls in the yard, it’s a good idea to move them prior to an application.
4. Isn’t it Safer for My Pet if I Handle Lawn Care Myself?
Some people ask about turning to DIY lawn care for safety reasons. But the truth is, this might actually be more risky. That’s because you’re now the one handling and storing lawn care products.
As we’ve mentioned, even safe products can become unsafe if applied improperly.
In addition, storing lawn care products can pose a huge risk to pets. If you have chemicals or bags of granular products stored in a shed or garage, your dog could easily get into that. Even accidentally leaving a bag in the yard or having your dog outside while you’re working can create a risky situation. Ingesting chemicals is always a potential danger.
Instead, if you invest in a pet safe lawn care service, you can feel confident these risks are mitigated. A professional will make sure that products are applied properly and you won’t be responsible for storing them.
5. What Other Steps Can I Take to Protect My Pet?
If your dog spends a lot of time in your yard, another huge component of safe lawn care for pets is investing in tick control. Here in New England, ticks are a major concern.
A tick bite can actually be life-threatening in some cases. Ticks can carry and transmit deadly diseases like Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Ticks are not just a risk to your pets but to your entire family. Pets just happen to spend a lot of time in the grass and have fur, so ticks can sometimes be hard to spot.
Be sure to ask your lawn care provider about whether they offer professional tick control to help keep your pets safe. At Seacoast Turf Care, we also tell people that they should still follow their vet’s recommendations for tick control for their pet (even if we are treating their yard).
Choosing Pet Friendly Lawn Care
At the end of the day, you deserve to be able to have the best of both worlds—the best-looking lawn that is still safe for your pets to play in, too.
Having a great lawn should never have to come in the way of your pets’ safety.
When you make a wise choice in your lawn care services in Southern New Hampshire, Maine, & Northeastern Massachusetts, you can have it all: A beautiful lawn that is also safe for your pet to spend time in. It boils down to choosing a conscientious and responsible lawn care professional.
In general, lawn care can feel like a lot of work and when you add in your worries about your pets, it can feel like too much. But when you choose to partner with a lawn care professional, you can let go of the burdens and simply get back to enjoying your lawn.
Want to learn more about what makes us a great choice for your lawn care needs? At Seacoast Turf Care, we service towns such as Stratham and Exeter, NH, Amesbury and Newburyport, MA, and Kittery Point and York, ME, as well as the surrounding areas. Get lawn care pricing for your Southern NH, Southern Maine, or Northeastern Massachusetts property.
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