How do you keep dogs off a lawn?

To keep dogs off a lawn, deter them with spicy or bitter foods, use a sprinkler that they will run away from, set up a barrier so they cannot get in or use animal decoys to scare them away, suggests Dr. Susan Wright. It is important to make the yard look undesirable without harming the dog.

Sometimes dogs can dig up lawns or kill plants by urinating on them. Use the following techniques to harmlessly keep dogs off a lawn, as suggested by veterinarian Dr. Susan Wright.

• Deter the dog with spicy food

Put spices such as crushed red peppers throughout a grass. The dog will smell the spice and not want to go into the lawn.

• Stop the dog by using bitter foods

Dogs also do not like bitter foods. Use bitter oranges and coffee grinds as a fertilizer for the garden.

• Set up a fence or barrier

Build a fence around the lawn, or place chicken wire over newly grown seeds. Dogs will not want to walk on something that will poke them.

• Set up decoy animals to scare the dog

Sometimes decoy ducks, rabbits or deer will scare a dog from coming into a yard.

• Set up a sprinkler

Dogs do not like getting sprayed. Water the lawn with a sprinkler and dogs will not want to go through the water.

• Contact the dogs' owners

Simply ask the owners of the dogs that are coming into the lawn to keep their dog on a leash.