Why is it okay for your dog to shit in my yard?

[Anonymous]

A little rat poison goes a long way...people shouldn't be trespassing on my property.

[Anonymous]

But why should the homeowners have to spend money to come up with solutions to keep trespassers off their property? Dogs should be leashed and when a dog is leashed the owner does have control over where that dog goes and so has control over where it poops. I love dogs. I have dogs. It is my responsibility to make sure my dogs do not run loose or poop on other people's property. I choose to have dogs and I assume the costs of doing that. I do not expect other people to do so, whether they have dogs of their own or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A little rat poison goes a long way...people shouldn't be trespassing on my property.

One problem with poison is that you can't control who consumes it. In the worst case, it could be a trespassing child, and no one wants that to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little rat poison goes a long way...people shouldn't be trespassing on my property.

One problem with poison is that you can't control who consumes it. In the worst case, it could be a trespassing child, and no one wants that to happen.

True...I only use on an edge of my property where people used to let their dogs run off leash. That problem no longer exists. I have generally good neighbors otherwise, so they seem to know not to let their dogs shit on other peoples lawns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People saying that you need to accept dogs pooping on your lawn as part of living in a neighborhood are crazy. I live in Del Ray, the houses are not far apart at all, lots of people have dogs, and no dogs have ever, ever pooped on my lawn. I've never observed any owner picking dog poop off of my lawn. Because the vast majority of owners are respectful. By all means, take your dog for a walk - they can poop on the sidewalk and you can pick it up, they can poop at a dog park or city park and you can pick it up. You have a lot of options besides my lawn.

Wait, you would rather have a dog poop on the sidewalk than on the grass? And also, are most dogs willing to poop on the sidewalk rather than on grass?

No.

[Anonymous]

PP, then the owner should make sure the dog who prefers grass is not pooping on someone else's grass. Use a leash.

[Anonymous]

People saying that you need to accept dogs pooping on your lawn as part of living in a neighborhood are crazy. I live in Del Ray, the houses are not far apart at all, lots of people have dogs, and no dogs have ever, ever pooped on my lawn. I've never observed any owner picking dog poop off of my lawn. Because the vast majority of owners are respectful. By all means, take your dog for a walk - they can poop on the sidewalk and you can pick it up, they can poop at a dog park or city park and you can pick it up. You have a lot of options besides my lawn.


Wait, you would rather have a dog poop on the sidewalk than on the grass?

Yes, I would absolutely rather have a dog poop on a public sidewalk than my grass, assuming that the owner is going to pick it up either way. My kids roll around and play on my grass. They do not roll around and play on a public sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People saying that you need to accept dogs pooping on your lawn as part of living in a neighborhood are crazy. I live in Del Ray, the houses are not far apart at all, lots of people have dogs, and no dogs have ever, ever pooped on my lawn. I've never observed any owner picking dog poop off of my lawn. Because the vast majority of owners are respectful. By all means, take your dog for a walk - they can poop on the sidewalk and you can pick it up, they can poop at a dog park or city park and you can pick it up. You have a lot of options besides my lawn.

Well, I'm the person who got yelled at for inadvertently letting my dog poop on someone's yard. This was in Del Ray, so apparently I'm the only disrespectful person living here. (Okay, there are two of us, because the guy who told me get my dog off his fucking lawn in front of my 2-year-old while I tried to apologize wasn't exactly respectful either.) I also see A LOT of unpicked-up poop on sidewalks around here, especially in the winter. And I've been followed around by creepy old ladies who want to make sure I have poop bags with me, which is annoying on an different level.

Why do I have a dog again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I don't understand is why these dog people don't just have their dogs poop in their own yards--why do they deliberately take them out to poop on someone else's property? It's gross even if they try to pick it up.

I am going to be generous here and assume that you've just never had a dog, so you don't understand what's involved. Responsible dog owners don't just let their dogs out into the yard to pee and poop. Responsible dog owners take their dogs for walks - because dogs need exercise beyond just being cooped up in a yard. It's on those walks that dogs pee and poop. (This is even assuming that the owner has a yard.)

There probably are some dogs that have precision training as to where they are going to pee and poop. I don't know any of those dogs. (No, I take it back - I know one of those dogs.) Responsible owners do what they can to make sure their neighbors are not inconvenienced by dogs. People who put up signs asking for dogs not to be "curbed" on their lawns - we try to respect those signs by leading the dog away from those lawns. But for the most part, dogs pee and poop where they like, and you pick up the poop. That is life in a city. If you don't like it, put up a sign. If you still don't like it, and it bothers you enough that you are considering poisoning your neighbors' pets (as I saw one monster of a PP suggested), then there are lots of places where you can get away from the trouble of having neighbors - it would probably be great to move to one of them.

Huh??!! I should inconvenience myself by selling my home and moving elsewhere because the dogs needs come before mine?

What are your needs when it comes to responsible dog owners cleaning up after their dogs? I fail to see how this affects you at all. As has been pointed out many times previously, you have no way to stop wild animals from using your yard as a toilet, and no one cleans up after them.

My neighborhood has no sidewalks. The closest public park is one mile away, and parents don't want us walking our dogs in there at all. So, yes, my dog might poop on the edge of your yard. No, not several feet off the curb, but within one foot of the curb. Frankly, since our County (Arlington) considers that public right of way, and can choose at any time to put a sidewalk there, I don't consider that individual property. I always clean up after my dog. Always. I fail to see that this is so heinous that you are considering ways to kill my dog.

PP here and not the poster who suggested poison. The feces and urine kill the grass and flowers.

What I would suggest is using the baking powder or another non-toxic repellent as suggested by another poster but maybe starting two feet in from the grass line/edge continuing inward towards the door of your property. That way you can make sure that the dog and its owner adhere to that rule AND they pick up the dogs feces.

And no matter how you slice it, nobody but nobody likes feces on their lawn, doorstep. Remnants draw flies and other critters seeking territorial rights. Nobody is saying dogs and people shouldn't co-exist but just as you would expect me to have self-control and not blast my music and cut across your yard as a short-cut, I expect the same respect in turn from you and your dog.

But as was pointed out, the first few feet of yard in sidewalk-less neighborhoods is the public right-of-way. Do you yell at people who step up on the curb near your house? We are not talking about cutting across the yard, but adjacent to the curb. You know, the part of the yard that the county reserves the right to pave over.

[Anonymous]

Again, I think the idea that you can stop a dog from urinating and pooping on a walk is ludicrous. IT CANNOT BE DONE. Even if your dog has just gone on your lawn, they sometimes stop and go again.

Yes, you don't walk them up on people's yards, but on the public right of way. Which the homeowner DOESN'T own.

[Anonymous]

OP here -

I don't like the idea of anything poison. I live across from a school, lots of kids in the neighborhood. I also don't want to hurt the dogs - its not their fault their owners are rude and self-centered.

I think what I WILL do next time though is confront the dog walker which might be embarrassing enough to make them stop.

Also, for those people who said "why do you care...the owner is picking up the poop...". they don't all do that! I bet there are quite a few who don't assuming that the grass will camouflage it! Which means we will step in it when we cut our grass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a dog owner and we cannot control where our dogs go and picking it up is what is required by law.

HOWEVER, I do not let my dog go up on people's laws and keep him about a foot or two from the road into their yard. I find it really disrespectful for people to allow their dogs to roam all up on other people's yards.

He should have scaled the dog back and it should not have shit close to your front door. That is rude.

My thoughts exactly.

[Anonymous]

People saying that you need to accept dogs pooping on your lawn as part of living in a neighborhood are crazy. I live in Del Ray, the houses are not far apart at all, lots of people have dogs, and no dogs have ever, ever pooped on my lawn. I've never observed any owner picking dog poop off of my lawn. Because the vast majority of owners are respectful. By all means, take your dog for a walk - they can poop on the sidewalk and you can pick it up, they can poop at a dog park or city park and you can pick it up. You have a lot of options besides my lawn.


Well, I'm the person who got yelled at for inadvertently letting my dog poop on someone's yard. This was in Del Ray, so apparently I'm the only disrespectful person living here.

Um, thanks for sharing that you aren't in the majority of dog owners who I have observed behaving respectfully, I guess?

[Anonymous]

Here's the thing. It's MY YARD. I don't want your kids playing in it, your dog pooping in it, or you and your girlfriend strolling across it to examine my new flowers. If I know you I'll invite your kids over, and show you my flowers. If you come to visit and your dog uses the yard, I'm good. But strangers should not be letting ANYTHING under their control roam into other people's property. And I have no idea where your dog should poo. That's YOUR problem, not mine. Rude rude rude.

[Anonymous]

Of course you can't stop the dog from pooping/peeing while on a walk but you have control over where that dog does it. Not in someone's yard. It's not that difficult.