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I just moved back to NJ from SC and have two Dachshunds. Soon they will experience snow and ice! There is a small walkway and few steps in the backyard I would normally just throw salt made to melt ice. I know salt is bad for dogs and see they sell special made de-ice products at pet supply. Of course a lot more expensive than regular salt bags.
Are they safe?
Worth using and do they work?
Is the regular salt harmful?
What do you use?
Thanks.
I used this product (safe paws) this May to kill the grass growing between my flagstones. It worked great for that. In fact it killed it all, and none of it ever grew back. I tried it because last winter when I used it for the first time on ice it killed all the grass next to the sidewalk where I used it.
So if you use it, don't use it around anything you want to grow next year.
The link I provided only goes into detail the toxicity of the ingredients of most popular products, whether the mfgt lists their product as 'safe' or not is something it does not deal with. That's up to the owner to research.
Yeah, they sell those all over the internet and stores. I was trying to find out what is safe.
I didn't think of that. Sand is safe and works well on ice?
Thanks.
Sand won't melt ice, it will just give a gripping surface. That may be a problem if your jurisdiction specifies that walkways be "ice free".
The best way to keep ice down from a snowstorm is just to shovel it as often as necessary before it gets walked on, packed down and turns to ice (an ice storm is a different story).
It's easier to shovel 2 inches of snow seven times than 14 inches once.
Keep it shoveled and you shouldn't have issues unless there is drainage issue or something dripping from the roof for example. Salt (or any type of ice melt) is no good for the walkway either, in particular concrete.
As mentioned sand will work. Try and find a neighbor that burns coal. Coal ashes are fantastic for this but unfortunately make a mess. Really good for driveways or somewhere you won't be walking. I have one neighbor that took a few 55 gallon drum of them from me, he puts 5 gallon pails off the side of his driveway which is very steep and long.
No coal burning around here and I can see a big mess with that but thanks.
Of course I will shovel best I can but hard to do when cant walk some days...I have a fenced back yard and open door to let them go out and do their business. There are a few steps I'm most worried about for them and me walking on. I dont want to fall going out there but also dont want to put something down that will harm them.
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Coal ashes are fantastic for this but unfortunately make a mess. Really good for driveways or somewhere you won't be walking. I have one neighbor that took a few 55 gallon drum of them from me, he puts 5 gallon pails off the side of his driveway which is very steep and long.
