Summer Lawn Care And How To Keep Your Pups Safe

Since it’s the summer, you’re likely to spend more time out in the garden. But it’s also rained quite a bit this season, so you might be thinking about tending to your lawn a little.

Are you worried about the lawn chemicals affecting your pup? Here’s what you need to know.

2,4-D is an ingredient found in quite a number of lawn chemicals, and a few studies have suggested that it could contribute to canine cancer. To humans, it can be dangerous too – the World Health Organization has stated that it could be carcinogenic, but that there is not enough evidence to draw completely conclusions.

Sounds bad, right? Well, experts actually say that these links don’t necessarily mean that there is a strong connection between 2,4-D and cancers. The licensure required by the Department of Agriculture means that chemicals such as 2,4-D must be tested in a long series of studies and investigations, such as toxicity studies with rodents. The results from these tests will then determine what goes on the labels of the products.

The conclusion on 2,4-D, according to all these tests, is that it is simply an herbicide that is meant to change the way plant cells grow to kill them. The chemical is used in many forms and varying levels of toxicity, but it should be safe to use on lawns where pups will eventually roam as long as they are left to set for the specified amount of time and all instructions regarding their application are followed.

Of course, it goes without saying that pups shouldn’t be ingesting the chemical itself, so keep it out of reach of curious snouts and paws! Like and share this info with other pup parents!