Advice sought from anyone who has had to deal with running water onto
pebbles (or gravel) and particularly dog owners experienced in the same...

I have two dogs. As dog pee seems to ruin grass my two are taught to go
wee-wees on a concrete area outside my backdoor. This is ok as I wash it
down every time they wee and the water runs down into two drains outside the
house. However --

Constant washing down means that the area is becoming very damp because it
never gets any sun on it. Part of it is in the lee of the house and part of
it in the lee of the neighbor's fence (fence between our properties which is
vital with dogs of course) and her overgrown mess of a garden (which I have
not had much success in asking her if she wouldn't mind trimming so it isn't
fifteen foot tall in this particular area).

So - I have a damp area outside my house which has two drains in it and is
subject to constant dog pee and washing down. This means that apart from the
dog wee on concrete smell (which I keep to a minimum by washing down of
course) there is a pervading odour of dampness. Not good. My other neighbor
has noticed it and although she hasn't complained at all, I don't like the
nif myself and want to be a good neighbor so I'm looking for solutions.

I am wondering if this would work -

Cover the drains with some sort of decent gauge metal rust proof mesh. Stop
up any gaps under fences between the property. Get a shed load of small
pebbles or large gravel and cover the entire area with same. The mesh over
the drains to be of suitable size that prevents the stones from going down
into the drain.

Every time dogs wee, wash the stones down with the hose as usual. Water goes
down into the bed of stones and hopefully runs down to the drain.

I'm hoping the stones will lessen the effect of water lying on a flat
surface - thus lessen smell of dampness and wee - and help drain it away
into the drains. There is a slight slope in the concrete down to the drain.
Do you see what I'm getting at ?

Any thoughts ? Experience of same ? Alternative ideas (other than get rid of
the dogs - not an option ! Also, I do bleach the area but apparently as
bleach contains ammonia and so does pee, you're kinda adding to the problem
rather than taking it away if you wahs down with bleach over dog pee, so I
have been told).

TIA

Rachael