Why Dock Rocks?
When we moved into our new house, everything was immaculate! In particular the garden had been well cared for and had beautiful borders and a well manicured lawn. It didn’t take us long, with 3 dogs, to put pay to the lovely lush lawn that had been so kindly left to us by the previous owners.
The other half isn’t a great DIY-er, and I’m sure he won’t mind me sharing that with you! He is, however, very keen on a nice lawn, so when the brown patches (and in some places bald patches!) started to appear he was on the case.
There appeared to be a couple of different products available on the market that professed to greatly reduce, or even eliminate the brown patches that our dog’s urine was causing on the garden. However, it was Dog Rocks that really grabbed our attention. How could some simple stones thrown into the dog’s water bowl really help our scorched grass? Read this dog rocks review to find out…
What are they?
Dog Rocks are 100% natural and are mined in Australia. The purpose of the rocks is to filter out impurities from the dog’s urine, such as tin, ammonia and nitrates, which are responsible for ‘burning’ the grass when the dog pees on it.
So how do you use them?
Each pack has approximately 2/3 stones in it, and after giving the stones a little rinse, they are placed in the dog’s water bowl. Each pack of stones lasts up to 2 months, when the stones then need to be replaced. And it’s as easy as that! It is recommended that you let your dog drink from as few other sources as possible i.e. puddles, ditches etc thereby ensuring that they’re predominantly only drinking the ‘filtered’ water.
Do they work?
I’m the biggest cynic alive, and I did have a little snigger to myself as the first batch of stones went into the bowl. I really didn’t see how a couple of rocks could really make a different – but boy was I wrong! You have to leave your lawn for approx 5 weeks before you see any results, so it’s not a quick fix. I did take a break for a couple of months not long after using them just to see whether the improvements in the lawn were a fluke or as a result of the Rocks. And I was amazed even further. The brown patches which had disappeared leaving our lawn to recover and become green again, started to reappear. We’ve been using them for well over a year now and have had really good results with them.
Pros and Cons
On the upside I really think this product makes a difference and for that reason are worth having in your life. At approximately £10 a pack, some would argue that it’s another expense to add to the long list when owning a dog, but I would argue that £5 per month its quite a cost effective method of keeping the lawn looking green and lush! Some people find that their dog pick the stones out of the bowl, although I haven’t had that problem. If this happens you can use the stones in a jug to filter the water before putting it in the bowl, although this isn’t supposed to be as good as having them in the bowl itself. If you’re unsure, and like me didn’t think they’d work why not buy just one pack and give them a go? I suspect that like me you won’t be disappointed.
I have not been able to find these. Where are they sold?
Hi Deb,
You can buy them on from our shop if you’re still looking for them. I’m not sure where you are in the world, but we can probably send to your country if its not the UK!
Pet365
That is the proper blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize a lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would need…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply great!
Hi,you can buy them on ebay.co.uk I did that and im waiting for the result.some people may say this rocks are expensive but i dont think so cause you have to replace them every 2 months so its not that expensive I think.good luck to everyone…
I have bought these in Australia and they definately work, just put them in the water bowl and the dogs wee no longer burns the grass. I recommend them. Just google….dog rocks, but look around as they come in different size bags and are not cheap.
Do these ‘rocks’ harm cats? The cat and dog drink from the same bowl.
Dog Rocks are completely safe for all household pets. Emma at Dog Rocks
hi there,
great blog about this product, i’ve been thinking of buying it and have seen at hardware stores. my lawn has brown patches and some are bare, my poor puppy is ruining my lawn, haha! i really want to give this product a go. but my main concern is, have your dogs tried to eat the rocks?
thanks
Hi Belinda. If your dog does try to eat the rocks then you can put them in a jug of water and decant from there into your dogs water bowl. They will still work the same. Emma
Hey guys, have the rocks, yee ha, we’re down in aust. and been using them for around 6/7 months. I see on reading the site that they need to be replaced every couple of months. I notice this morning that our lawn is browning in patches, as pre rocks. My question is were we lucky getting this length of time out of them or is it the fact that i wash them every couple of weeks. “you wash the bowls so why not the rocks”, i think to myself. Don’t care if i have to buy new rocks, just wondering.
We buy beer, cigs, lollies, etc etc etc, so whats a few bucks for a couple of rocks. it’s worth it in the end
ta Peter.
Hi Peter. Dog Rocks need replacing every 2 months. This is because they work by absorbing the impurities from the water and after 2 months they have reached their saturation. Emma at Dog Rocks.
I have used these in the past and they realy work! Only need them in the summer though so greatly reducing costs.
Having been using these rocks for almost 2 years and both my cats and dog drink from the same bowl with no adverse affects to the cats.
Would recommend these dog rocks to anyone
If you use lawn fertilizer, the product does NOT work!
This detail is not mentioned on the box and description.
Just as it is not mentioned either that must be held 10 hour, stones in 2 liters of water after which you give water to the dog.
I can send pictures as dog urine burns pitch with rocks dog after 10 weeks of use rocks dog
I have a 60kg dog and we have a 10ltr bucket for his water bowel. I want to know how many rocks to put in it and because of his slobber we change the water every 2 days. will the rocks still work?
we have tall fescue lawn, and have spent over 100 dollars on these dog rocks for about 4 months and i can tell you they are not working at all
So can you use filtered water instead of rocks in ordinary (softened?) tap water. Someone said summer only. Is this right?