Your dog will spend a lot of time treading on your lawn. You know this, up-front, and you can choose what chemicals you treat your lawn with accordingly, but unfortunately your dog will also spend a lot of time treading on other people's lawns. These will be sprayed with a barrage of chemicals, many of them highly toxic. Arsenic, lime, mercury and copper compounds are just a few of the many hazardous components. Your dog can absorb these substances through her paws, or get them on her coat. If yours is an outdoor dog, there are many different chemicals present in backyards, and you should be wary of these.

How Your Dog Can Be Exposed To Lawn And Garden Chemicals

Your dog can come in contact with lawn and garden chemicals in a number of ways:

• If she walks over grass or garden soil which has been freshly sprayed, she can absorb the chemicals through her skin or footpads.
• If she walks over dewy grass that has been recently sprayed, the same thing can happen.
• If she eats or licks grass that has been sprayed, she will ingest the chemicals.
• If she brushes against freshly sprayed plants, or rolls in the grass, she could ingest the chemicals while cleaning her fur.
• If she eats poisoned insects, she will ingest whatever killed them.
• If she eats poisoned bait set out for pests, she also is consuming toxic chemicals. Slug bait is an infamous dog poison; the sweet smell and taste make it attractive to most animals.

How To Avoid Exposing Your Dog To Lawn And Garden Chemicals

Although there is not much you can do about neighboring yards, you can take precautions to make your back yard and garden safe environments for your dog.

• Use non-toxic weed killer or an organic product. These are free of harmful chemicals that can poison your pet. You can also use "registered" herbicides and weed killers; these are supposedly safe for animals. If you have any concerns about the manufacturers' claims to pet safety, contact your veterinarian and ask about the particular brand.
• Keep your dog inside for at least 12 hours after spraying your lawn or garden, or if your neighbor has been spraying. This will give the chemical ample time to dry, and your dog may safely walk over the grass without fear of absorption or ingestion.
• Keep your dog in at night for two days after spraying your lawn or garden. The dew each morning will cause the chemical to become moisturized again, and your dog is at risk from chemical absorption and poisoning, just as if the lawn had been recently sprayed.
• Use diluted dish-washing soap -- the liquid kind is best -- to kill garden pests like aphids.
• Make sure lawn fertilizer does not contain moss killer. There is a substance in moss killer that is very harmful to your dog, and can even lead to death if ingested in large enough amounts.
• Use hormonal weed killers. These are another natural way to kill weeds, the hormones basically encourage the weed to "outgrow" itself. This is a perfectly safe weed-killing practice as far as your pet's health is concerned.
• Instead of using metaldehyde to kill slugs, use a container of beer sunk into the ground (if your dog is fond of the drink, use non-alcoholic beer!). The slugs will gravitate to the liquid, and drown.
• Read the labels of your chemicals -- if they say "Keep away from children," keep them away from your dog as well. Make sure that you follow the instructions carefully on the label, especially in the dilution section. If you do not dilute or apply a product properly, this could result in chemical burn on your dog's paws, body and mouth, an extremely painful condition for your pet to endure.

What To Do if Your Dog Ingests These Chemicals

If your dog eats or otherwise absorbs lawn or garden chemicals, the effects can range from extremely unpleasant to deadly. Here are some common symptoms of chemical poisoning:

• Vomiting
• Impaired balance
• Panting
• Twitching of the mouth
• Convulsions
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Drooling
• Foaming at the mouth
• Weakness
• Paralysis
• Loss of appetite
• Coma

If your dog displays any of these signs, treat the situation as an emergency and rush her to the veterinarian. If you know what product has been the poisoning agent, take a sample of it and the label if possible when you take your dog to the veterinarian. This will help him decide what method of treatment to use on your pet.