Question
I have two problems with my front and back lawn.  My front lawn seems to have an extremely thick thatch layer, I keep raking and getting more and more up, would it be easier just to till and start over?  I have dug up protions of the lawn that had thick weeds, dandelions and sandburs.  I replaced with fresh top soil and grass seed.  
My backlawn in another story, my boyfriend had a rottwieler who had free reign of the back yard and its all dead.  Will my lawn grow again with all the acids from urine and animal feces in the ground?  What do I do to get my lawn back?  

Answer
I recommend the use of a thatching machine (dethatcher also called a verticutter, or slicer) and run it over the lawn to rip it up. Then overseed the lawn with grass seeds and water frequently until new grass germinates.

Where are you located ? in a hot climate ? If so, the type of grass you have may be one which creates thatch aggressively and you may therefore need to dethatch regularily. If you are located in northern half of USA, then I doubt that you have an aggressively spreading grass, and just using a dethatcher once will be fine.

Dethatchers can be rented from equipment rental stores.


Urine and aminal feces are not a problem in the soil. You can reseed. just keep the seedbed consistently moist until grass germinate. Never allow new seeds to dry out until grass has sprouted (water twice daily for 10 minutes during this time).